These healthier, soft batch chocolate chip cookies contain no flour or sugar

I’ve been baking since the first grade after being gifted a little red Betty Crocker Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. Cookies were my specialty almost from the start. Over the years, I’ve had ongoing conversations with people about what constitutes a good cookie. No nuts in mine, thank you very much. And no fruit, except maybe raisins and only if they’re in oatmeal cookies. I’ll eat a hard, crunchy cookie if I have some hot coffee to dunk it in (hello, Oreos and Girl Scout Thin Mints), but my preference has always leaned toward the soft, almost cakelike or chewy variety.

The first time flourless chocolate chip cookies made with garbanzo beans came up on my Pinterest feed, my immediate reaction was, "No, thank you!" But then, the more I thought about it, the more the idea intrigued me, so I filed away the concept to play with someday.

Fast forward a few years: I had revamped my diet, taking myself off most white-colored food to lower my intake of starch. I don't know about you, but I crave certain things while on a special diet. For me, it's usually chocolate, and usually in the form of a good chocolate chip cookie. Wanting to stay on point with my diet didn't mean I couldn't have a treat occasionally. At the time, I found that the key was making that treat count, having it be tasty while not sending my blood sugar spiking or setting my diet back by days.

With white flour off the table, I thought about adapting my favorite cookie recipe to use whole wheat flour. Then I remembered those garbanzo bean cookies and thought, why not try using beans?

Since the "dough" is primarily garbanzo beans — high in fiber with a relatively low glycemic load — I opted not to seek out sugar-free chocolate chips. Instead, I chose to use good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips that I usually keep in my pantry. As my auntie says, good chocolate chip cookie dough should just be an excellent vehicle for the star: the chocolate chips!

You guys! These babies rock! You’d never know that there was no wheat flour in these cookies, and trust me, YOU CANNOT TASTE THE BEANS! These cookies are super moist, cakey and soft — my favorite kind of chocolate chip cookie!

You’ll need nut butter to help bind the dough. Choose a natural ground butter, not a big commercial brand with added sugars and oils. Better yet, if you own a food processor, make your own. I always have whole almonds, peanuts, walnuts and cashews in my pantry in both raw and roasted, salted varieties. You can make nut butter from either type. Though, when I use raw nuts, I toss them on a sheet pan and toast them in my toaster oven to wake up the oils and enhance their flavor (350 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes, shaking the pan periodically; cool the nuts for 10 minutes before processing). Raw nuts will also need some salt when processing. I love the natural sweetness from the nuts, but you could add a touch of honey, agave or maple syrup if you like sweeter nut butter.

Making nut butter can strain your food processor, so you’ll need to let the machine cool down every few minutes. I run it for 2 minutes on and 30 seconds off until the nuts go from coarse meal to clumpy mess to smooth nut butter. Take the opportunity to scrape down the sides while you’re in the cooling-off period. Depending on your food processor's power and the kind of nut you’re processing, expect it to take about 6 to 8 minutes to achieve a smooth butter consistency while processing 2 cups of nuts.

I’ve made these cookies with 15-ounce, 15.5-ounce and 16-ounce cans of garbanzo beans successfully. For the 16-ounce can, if your food processor struggles to make a smooth batter, add a tablespoon or two of cold water until it smooths out (batter should resemble thick peanut butter).

Makes 2 dozen cookies

1 (15-ounce) can of garbanzo beans, rinsed well and drained½ cup natural peanut or almond butter1 egg2 teaspoons vanilla extract½ cup super-fine almond flour (from blanched almonds)1 teaspoon baking powder¼ teaspoon salt¼ cup monk fruit sweetener or other cup-for-cup sugar replacement1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.

Place the beans, peanut butter, egg, vanilla, almond flour, baking powder, salt and sweetener into a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer the dough to a medium-size mixing bowl and fold in the chips.

Using a cookie scoop, small ice cream scoop or tablespoon, scoop out mounded dough rounds and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart. These cookies won't spread, so once you’ve filled the tray, wet the back of a tablespoon and flatten the cookie by half; otherwise, they will stay in a round dome shape and won't bake properly.

Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

If using raw peanuts, roast them in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes until they’ve lightly browned, released some of their oil and are fragrant. Let cool for 10 minutes before processing.

Makes 1 cup

2 cups roasted peanuts½ teaspoon sea salt (only if nuts are unsalted)

Outfit your food processor with the s-blade. Add the nuts and salt, if using — process for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and let the machine rest for 30 seconds. Repeat twice to three times until the nuts go from coarse meal to a big clump, to a thick paste, and finally to smooth peanut butter.

Tip: Buy raw and roasted shelled peanuts with their skin on. According to a paper published in the National Library of Medicine, peanut skins are a good source of antioxidants. "It has been noted that when peanuts are consumed with their skins, their antioxidant capacity doubles and roasting can at times actually increase this capacity as well," the paper states.

Recipes are copyrighted by Anita L. Arambula and are reprinted with permission from "Confessions of a Foodie."

Arambula is the food section art director and designer. She blogs at confessionsofafoodie.me, where the original version of this article was published. Follow her on Instagram: @afotogirl. She can be reached at [email protected].