Norwegian version of this blog entry is found here.
After having used chickpeas in cakes throughout this year, as readers of this blog are well aware, I have now got a small challenge in connection with Christmas cookies. I’m sure chickpeas will do well in gingersnaps and other Christmas cookies, both as gluten and egg substitute. But I need so small amounts that I will have difficulties making chickpea puree using the large blender I have. Why not make a big portion of pureed chickpeas, sufficient for several rounds of cake baking? Should not all be needed for cookie making, cake hummus is also an excellent starting point for making regular hummus with garlic, tahini (sesame paste) and olive oil, or why not falaffel or vegetar burgers? Or you can freeze the cake hummus in smaller portions for later use.
To puree the chickpeas in a blender, you will need to add a liquid. Since I will bake dry cookies, I have added oil to the peas in the ratio of 1:5. That is slightly less than 20 g of oil per 100 g chickpeas. If you want to use 50 g chickpeas and 70 g fat in the recipe, you will thus need 60 g cake hummus and 60 g fat, 10 g fat is already in the cake hummus. A good illustration that mathematical skills from school can get practical applications in the kitchen …:-). Here is how I did it:
350 g cooked chickpeas (possibly canned)
70 g vegetable oil (sunflower or canola is fine)
If the chick peas are canned, you could rinse them in water, and then bring them briefly a full boil in 2 volumes of water, to remove any canned taste.
Drain the peas and put them in the blender. Blend until the peas start to break down, then add the oil and continue to blend until it comes together as a smooth paste without apparent grains of peas. You will need to use a spatula to push the peas down towards the blender knife, but make sure not to touch the rotating blades with the spatula. Scrape the puree out of the blender and over in suitable storage box. Cake hummus can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days, or frozen in smaller portions (70 g each) for later use.
Cake hummus can be used as a substitute for eggs and / or gluten in egg free and gluten free cookies. My plan is to replace one egg with the same weight of cake hummus, i.e. approximately 70 g kakehummus per egg.
Report on successful attempts will eventually appear on the blog. In particular I want to try to make “Berliner kranser”, which otherwise is not possible without boiled egg yolks.
Here are some blog posts where I have used cake hummus (unfortunately not yet translated to English):
Ginger cookies
Choconut cookies
Teabriks
Krum Cakes
To make real hummus from cake hummus, you basically dilute the mixture with a little more olive oil, 1-2 crushed cloves of garlic, lemon juice and a spoonful or two of tahini. Salt to taste.
Blog post by Anne Spurkland published 12 December 2012
Updated 10th August 2014
Translated to English 23rd March 2015