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Gluten-free: 18 fabulous flour-less desserts

Whether your household is entirely gluten-free, you're expecting gluten-free guests, or you're experimenting with a new diet, this list will satisfy dessert cravings of all sorts. 

Almond butter chocolate chip chickpea cookies

The Pastry Chef's Baking
There are no crisp edges to this cookie and I'd advise you to let the cookies cool completely before tasting them or else they might be too gooey.

By Carol Ramos, The Pastry Chef's Baking 

1-1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter (don't use regular peanut butter) or almond butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (80 grams) honey  

1 teaspoon baking powder

A pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it

1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined.

2. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.

3. With wet hands, form into 1-1/2-inch balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes (or up to 15 minutes). The dough balls will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven. They will not set like normal cookies.

5. Store in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the fridge) for up to 1 week.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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