MANY apologies for those of you who got an email about this recipe and then couldn’t find it! My email scheduling got ahead of my blog/recipe scheduling and that email went out mistakenly. So – – I’ve decided to publish the recipe since I’ve gotten a couple of requests for it. Again, please forgive my absentmindedness! Hope you enjoy!
Saffron Road contacted me last year (yes, I’m way late in sharing this on my blog!) about creating a recipe for their website using one of their vegan products. Since I was already familiar with the company – and have been a big fan of their awesome Wasabi Crunchy Chickpeas – I was happy to accept the challenge. A huge box of goodies (simmer sauces, vegetable broth, crunchy chickpeas) arrived a few days later and I got to work. I made several things, but they wisely decided to go with these utterly decadent chocolates.
I used their Sea Salt Crunchy Chickpeas because crunchy and salty pair so well with sweet and creamy chocolate, don’t you think? The dried blueberries add a nice chewy texture and an added touch of sweetness (of course you could sub dried cherries, cranberries or even crystallized ginger). Pure maple syrup adds just a touch of smokiness. These are very easy to make (especially if you opt to use vegan chocolate chips instead) with no coconut oil, cane sugar or gluten.
The full recipe is below, but please check out the recipe on their site. There are lots other plant-based recipes there as well.
- 1 cup cacao or cocoa powder
- 1 cup high-quality cocoa butter
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. liquid stevia
- ½ cup Sea Salt Crunchy Chickpeas, plus more for top
- ½ cup dried blueberries, plus more for top
- Put the cacao or cocoa powder in a small glass bowl and set aside. Set chocolate bar silicon mold(s) onto a small baking sheet – or line a large baking sheet with wax or parchment paper (to make bark). Set aside.
- Pour the ½ cup crunchy chickpeas into a quart-sized food storage bag, seal, and using a rolling pin or hammer break the chickpeas into pieces. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the cocoa butter with the maple syrup, stirring occasionally. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and liquid stevia.
- Pour the cocoa butter mixture into the bowl with the cacao powder and using a whisk, stir until the cacao powder has dissolved completely and there are no lumps. Taste for sweetness and adjust if necessary. Stir in the crushed crunchy chickpeas and dried blueberries.
- Divide the chocolate between the silicon molds – or spread onto the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle additional whole crunchy chickpeas and dried blueberries on top. Tap the molds/baking sheet on the counter a few times. Chill chocolates/bark until firm. Remove chocolates from mold; or if you made bark, break chocolate into pieces. Store chocolates in an air-tight container.
- To make this super easy, use about 1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips (I love stevia-sweetened Lily's Sweets brand) in place of the cacao powder through the stevia. Melt the chocolate chips over low heat in a double boiler. Follow instructions from there.

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oh WOW!!!!! Yum!!!!! I’d LOVE some!
This is brilliant, the perfect salty/sweet combo!
Those look absolutely delicious. I’ve never had salted crunchy chickpeas before but I like the idea of them. I’m imagining a nice hot cup of tea and one of these little treats on a cold afternoon. Mmmm.