Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dessert Hummus

I've been (morbidly) intrigued with the whole dessert hummus thing ever since it took the food blog world by storm.  If you Google "dessert hummus" you get dozens of different recipes and variations.  As near as I can tell, it originated with the very talented Evan at The Wannabe Chef.  I used his recipe as a base, and tweaked it a bit to suit my own tastes.

I was incredibly skeptical about this.  While I love hummus, I didn't really believe it could be made into a decent dessert.  It's an appetizer; it's a great snack; it's a fantastic sandwich spread, but beans for dessert just doesn't even sound that appetizing.  I couldn't imagine it being good.  I was SO WRONG.  This stuff rocks my socks.  I actually used my finger to get every last bit out of the food processor.


Usually desserts aren't the healthiest things in the world, but sometimes you can find a dessert that is at least not bad for you.  This is not only not bad for you, it's actually GOOD for you!  Chickpeas are low fat, low cholesterol, high fiber, high protein, and an excellent source of folate and zinc.  They may also assist in lowering cholesterol in the bloodstream.  Natural peanut butter is low in cholesterol and is a good source of niacin and manganese.  It's a good source of protein and is full of mono and poly-unsaturated fats, or the good fats that help lower cholesterol and have heart-protective benefits, and here's an entire article about the health benefits of pure maple syrup.  So yay!  An actual healthy dessert.  I'm so excited.

Spicy Dipping Sauce

Today I set about inventing a spicy dipping sauce to go with yesterday's Black Bean Taquitos.  This way Drew and I can have ours with a little more kick while the boy still has his bland enough to suit his palate.  It came together quickly and easily, and the taquitos reheated beautifully (in the oven at 350° for about 15 minutes) for lunch.

Spicy Taquito Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of Something Creamy.  The "something creamy" is entirely up to you.  Vegan choices are pureed tofu, thick cashew cream, plain soy yogurt, Vegenaise, etc.  Non vegan choices are sour cream, plain yogurt, mayonnaise, blahblah you get the picture here
• 1 TBSP salsa of choice
• 1 canned chipotle pepper + 1 TBSP of the adobo sauce
• Dash Cayenne
• 2 to 3 TBSP water
• Splash lemon juice

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in blender and blend on high until smooth, creamy, and completely mixed.