Have your cake and eat it too! Clean eating peanut butter blondies

I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. I find it really difficult to pass up desserts, cake, brownies, cookies, ice cream....you name it!  The problem is, my body doesn't like them as much as my mind does. Seriously, when you eat clean, your body just runs like a well oiled machines. Its like putting premium gas in your car vs. regular, synthetic vs regular oil, you get it? When I eat overly processed desserts I get a major belly ache, between the sugar, flour, whatever...it hurts! 

Today I was hosting a baby play date with my girlfriends. The babies are finally starting to play a little more and the mommies get to enjoy some adult conversation. 

I thought this would be the perfect time to try out a new recipe. I had guinea pigs, er, friends to try it out. 

So last night I made two desserts, traditional (boxed) brownies and clean eating peanut butter blondies.  I wanted to have a back up in case my friends hated the clean stuff...

These were super simple to make...

Ingredients:

Cooking spray (I use trader joe's coconut oil spray)
1 can of chickpeas, drained (don't freak out, just go with it)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup agave (you can also use pure maple syrup)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chocolate chips
sea salt for sprinkling

Directions
Preheat oven to 350
Spray an 8x8 or 8x11 pan with cooking spray
In a food processor, combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and process until smooth
Fold in chocolate chips
Spread batter evenly in a pan 
(optional) top with 1 tbsp of chocolate chips
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and edges are a tiny bit brown (it may look underdone, but you don't want to overcook them or they'll dry out)
Allow to cool for 20 minutes
Sprinkle with sea salt and cut into squares


The result? They were a hit!

My girlfriends LOVED them! Notice, the regular brownies weren't touched! 

Let me know what you think!