Grain and gluten free hazelnut bean blondies make for a sneaky high protein dessert made with a base of creamy white beans, hazelnuts, and coconut sugar. You might be surprised by how delicious these vegan blondies are, and you can't taste the beans one bit.
First off, roast the hazelnuts in a 300F oven for 8-10 minutes. Roughly chop and set them aside.
Now heat the oven to 350F and line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper. Don't have a square pan? See my trick below.
Add the beans and nut milk to a food processor and blend until very smooth. Add the coconut sugar, nut flour, flax, arrowroot, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, coconut oil, and vanilla. Process again until everything is fully combined.
Remove the blade from the processor. Add the hazelnuts and chocolate chips and fold them in with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Scoop the bean mixture into the prepared pan and, if you have it, add four tablespoons of hazelnut butter. Smooth everything out with a spatula (this will marble the hazelnut butter into the squares). The mixture will be quite thick. Bake for about 35 minutes at 350F. They'll feel firm to the touch and be lightly golden when they're done.
Cool completely before removing from the pan. They taste best chilled, especially with the topping (see below).
I don't have a square pan, so I use dried beans to fill in the extra space. It works well in a pinch.
Topping
Melt the chocolate chips with the coconut oil, then stir in the hazelnut butter and salt. Pour onto the cooled squares and then store them in the fridge. The topping will be partly solidified, and really tasty.
Notes
1. If you have hazelnuts that are already roasted, you can use them in place of roasting your own.
2. If you're using store-bought hazelnut butter, take a peek at that recipe anyway. It has some maple syrup and a couple other things in it, so you might want to add those to your topping as well.