Chocolate Chickpea Breakfast Brownies

It’s official, we are losing our minds….or we have ghosts.  I’m not sure which explanation is scarier.

The other day, Tim was refilling his water bottle from the pitcher in the fridge.  He closed the door and seemed to be looking around for something.  After watching him for several minutes, I finally asked what he was looking for.

“The top to my bottle,” he said. “I swear I left it right here on the counter.”

We looked all over the kitchen.  No bottle top.  We expanded our search to the family room. No bottle top.  We look in, under and around everything.  No bottle top.  Just as we were contemplating interrogating the dog (she was looking a little guilty about something), calling in a paranormal expert, or summoning Beetlejuice we opened the fridge, and there is was…the bottle top. Hmmmmmm.  Those ghosts can be sneaky little demons.

Then this morning, I decided to wear earrings, something I have not been doing a lot of in the last year and a half.  I grabbed a pair on my way out of the bedroom, but then stopped to do something else, putting down my sweater, phone , earrings, and water.  Two minutes later, I returned to grab everything, but the earrings were missing.

I carefully shook out the sweater, got down on my hands and knees to search the floor, looked under the bed, in the bed, on the dresser, in the dresser, on the bathroom counter…no earrings.  I checked my pockets, retraced my steps at least five times, tried calling, “here earrings, earrings, earrings,…” but nothing worked.

How is it even possible to lose something that quickly? And I hadn’t even gone that far! The worst was, I couldn’t even blame the dog this time since she was downstairs. I definitely would have seen her enter the room.  Stealthy she is not.  I love her with all my heart, but she is definitely more like a steamroller than a wraith.

Just as I was about to give up all hope of ever seeing the earrings again, I put my hand up to the side of my head…and felt something in my ear.

Yeah, turns out my earrings were in my ears the whole time.

Those ghosts sure are tricky.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas, drained, but not rinsed, liquid reserved
• 8 large dates, pitted and soaked in hot water for 15 minutes to soften)
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup of the liquid from the can of chickpeas (aquafaba)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease an 8×8 baking pan
2. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.
3. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before removing from pan.

Can top with nuts or chocolate chips before baking, or when it cools, top with peanut butter “icing”

Peanut butter “icing”

Mix 1 cup (unsweetened) peanut butter with 2-3 Tablespoon s of either coconut oil or maple syrup and spread on top.  Can also sprinkle with chocolate chips or nuts. ** The creaminess and smoothness of your peanut butter “icing” will depend on what type of peanut butter you use.  All brands are not created equal.

Enjoy!