Well guys, it’s time for another Friday Focus recipe, and this is one is pretty frickin’ exciting. Last week, as you know, I had the absolute joy of attending the Health Blogger’s Community Health Blog Awards – and I won Best Irish Blog! I still can’t even believe that as I type it…! Thank you again for all of your amazing votes, support and kind messages and comments before and since the awards – it overwhelmed me completely and means a LOT that my blog has reached so many of you guys – and best of all, in the EXACT way I want it to.

So! At the event, I got to try a LOT of incredible new foodie snacks – check out my Instagram for my reviews of these as I try them! My favourite for sure was a totally delicious pack of Roasted Cacao Chickpeas from a company called Spiced Nutrition (you can find the link to their website here !) I had the pack pretty much finished by the end of the weekend, and I knew I had to try my hand at my own recipe for these – at least until Spiced get some goodies going in Ireland! I added a peanut flavour twist to half of my batch, and both were delicious! Now, to the chickpeas!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp date or maple syrup (or honey) (I used Meridian Foods Date Syrup)
• 1 400g tin of chickpeas
• 2 tbsp cacao powder (I use the Aldi Ireland brand)
• Optional: 1 tbsp That Protein Peanut Protein Powder (you could use peanut flour or actual smooth peanut butter either!)

Method 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan oven). Line a baking tray with tinfoil, and grease it a little with olive or coconut oil.
2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, and place in a small bowl.
3. Take a paper towel, place on top of the chickpeas and ensuring you’ve got a grip on the sides of bowl, tip upside down so that the excess water drains into the towel. Alternatively, you could spread the chickpeas onto a tray and pat dry.
4. Add the date/maple syrup to the chickpeas and mix well.
5. Next, add your powders – cacao, and peanut powder/butter if using!
6. Stir everything up together so that the chickpeas are well coated. If you feel they are a little dry/powdery, add a touch more syrup.
7. Spread the chickpeas out onto the baking tray, and when the oven is ready, roast them in the oven for 15-20 minutes, checking halfway through to turn them.
8. If you feel they’re crispy enough after 15 minutes, just pop them out then – and if at 20 minutes you think they’re not quite there yet, give it another 5!
9. Leave to cool on the baking tray for about 10 minutes – then try to resist eating them all at once!
10. Store in an airtight container for about a week!

Enjoy guys! I am SO excited to see your creations of this recipe – it was a must for me and one I’ll be making again and again for sure! As always, tag me if you try the chickpeas out – @theirishbalance on Instagram or Twitter!

Ciara 🙂 x