Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas

Many thanks to all your feedback on yesterday’s post - I really appreciated and enjoyed all who reached out to share their own stories and with questions! Now on to the good stuff….

Everyone has a go-to 3pm snack, and for a while on one of my work teams, it was these cinnamon-sugar roasted almonds. We somehow justified scarfing down the entire jar of them in one thirty-minute meeting because they were “almonds”. So let me introduce to you a much lower calorie, much lower in fat version of those candied nuts. But first, I want to spend just a couple of more minutes talking about the two wonderful ladies who made up this team alongside me for half a year. We shared laughs, tears, (way more) than just sugared almonds, and are now the closest of friends outside of work. We actually talked about roasted chickpeas once! So in honor of them, let me introduce to you these Crunchy Cinnamon Honey Roasted Chickpeas!

Roasted savory chickpeas are all the rage these days. If you roast them with a little salt and pepper, they make excellent crouton subsitutions in salads. They hold up wonderfully in soups instead of crackers. You can sprinkle Parmesan cheese on them, or roast them with a little rosemary. You can pack them for a high-protein, no-processed snack for in the middle of the day. Or, you can turn them into DESSERT. Hello, yes, obviously best option.

These really couldn’t be easier to make. Roast at 400 degrees F for 30-40 minutes, checking for crunchiness levels throughout. Let them cool before you cover in melted honey and cinnamon. They will be a little sticky, so if you really would prefer to package them up and take them to work I would recommend swapping out the honey for your choice of sugar with a little oil to hold it together - maybe a little powdered Stevia with coconut oil, etc. Once those ingredients are combined, you have yourself a lovely little snack that will last several days. I would say that these crunchy delights are A-OK in my book (see below). However…grandma didn’t think they were sweet enough. I really think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and stop gifting these healthy treats to grandma and just bake her some Tollhouse cookies like she wants!