Vegan High Protein Cookie Dough Bars

1. The night before you want to make this, soak 1 cup of dry chickpeas in water overnight. Once they’re ready, cook them until soft. This should give you about 300g of cooked chickpeas, which is what we need for this recipe. Alternatively, use canned chickpeas instead (although I really recommend cooking your own, it’s super easy!).
2. Mix the Chia seeds with 6TBSP of water and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
4. Add 100g of the quick oats to a blender and blend until finely ground. Then, also add in the cooked chickpeas, dates, almond butter, oat milk and soaked chia seeds. Pulse until well combined and a relatively thick ‘dough’ is formed.
5. In a large bowl, gently fold in 50g of roughly chopped dark chocolate and the remaining 100g of quick oats into the dough.
6. Line a baking dish with baking paper, and then press the dough into the baking dish with your hands or the back of a spoon. Once the dough is evenly distributed and flat, sprinkle on the remaining 20g of dark chocolate. Press them in a little too.
7. Place in the oven for 15-20 min, then take it out and cut into bars. Let it cool before removing them from the baking dish.
Enjoy on their own or crumbled on top of vegan yoghurt! These bars are super filling and can be made ahead of time, so they make a brilliant breakfast on the go. I’ve even taken them in lieu of lunch with me sometimes, when I know I have a busy day ahead 🙂