About a week or two ago when I was getting ready to transition to my week of overnight shifts for my internship, I decided I needed some motivation to stay up later than 2 a.m.. I figured I could slowly train my body to get used to going to bed at a later time, so getting off of work at 8 a.m. wouldn’t seem like such a ridiculous idea. What better way to stay awake than making something that smells delicious in the oven in the middle of the night?
The actual baking time for this recipe really only takes about half an hour or so, but the prep time leading up to it literally took about 8 hours. If you just slightly freaked out over how long this is going to take, don’t worry – it’s nothing that requires constant attention. It’s a good recipe to work on if you’re at home all day running around doing laundry, chasing after kids, going to the grocery store, or even if you’re just having a lazy day sitting around watching TV on the couch.
The reason it takes so long is because the key to these chickpeas being perfectly crunchy is for them to be 100% dry before throwing them in the oven. The drier they are, the crunchier they get. Any moisture left in them would give you soft, mushy chickpeas, and I don’t know about you, but that sure doesn’t sound appetizing to me at all. It is also for this reason why this recipe is a good, easy one to work on if you’re craving that sweet, crunchy snack.
Before you start, make sure you rinse the chickpeas under cold water for a few minutes to get rid of the extra starch that’s on the outside. During this time, the thin, semi-translucent outer shell may come off – that’s okay. Leaving them on is totally optional because unless you’re extremely OCD like I am, otherwise spending an hour in front of the sink trying to peel away the outer shell on EVERY.SINGLE.CHICKPEA is entirely unnecessary….
When I first started on this, I tried to convince myself that whatever shells came off during the rinsing process will be perfectly fine, and that it wouldn’t bother me one single bit if I left the other non-naked peas alone. Well, a few minutes into the rinsing, I quickly realized that my OCD tendencies were going to take over, because picking every single shell off of every single chickpea quickly became an obsession.
Once you’re satisfied, lay the chickpeas on a paper towel-lined baking sheet to dry. For me, the process took me all day, simply because it gave me something to do and I had all day to do it. Every few hours or so into the evening, I would periodically stir those peas around on the paper towel, making sure that they’re nice and dry. If you want, you can even change the paper towel underneath every once in a while so the peas have a dry surface to dry on. If I had the time, I totally would’ve just used my hair dryer and blew hot air over them to speed up the process…
When your chickpeas have dried, throw in them in the oven to roast for the first half of the cooking time. Take them out, drizzle a little bit of EVOO, then toss them in the cinnamon sugar mixture and throw them back into the oven to cook some more. I think I went a little cinnamon-happy with mine, because let’s face it – one can never have too much cinnamon.
Once the roasting is done, leave the chickpeas in the oven with the oven door cracked open as they cool. They’ll be crunchier this way. I remember I put these in the oven at 3 a.m., and when they were done, my kitchen smelled amazing at 4 in the morning.
- One 15-oz can of garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas)
- 1 tablespoon EVOO
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with
- Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a large strainer, rinse and drain the chickpeas very well to remove the starch. Spread them out onto prepared baking sheet and pat very, very dry. The drier the chickpeas, the crunchier they will be. The skin of the bean may peel off as you pat them dry. That is ok. You may remove the skins or leave them on. I like to remove them, but that takes time and is not mandatory.
- Once 100% dry, place chickpeas into the oven and roast for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove from the oven and drizzle with olive oil. Using a large spoon or spatula, mix the beans around to make sure they are all evenly coated. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle over beans. Mix around very well to heavily coat each bean. The beans will be flavorless, so you want to make sure each one is thoroughly coated. Add more cinnamon-sugar if you'd like. Place back into the oven and roast for another 15 minutes.
- Leaving the chickpeas inside, turn the oven off and crack open the door slightly. Allow the chickpeas to sit inside as the oven cools down for 30 minutes. This will help them get crunchier as opposed to sitting at room temperature. Chickpeas are crunchiest on day 1. Store at room temperature.
Who needs coffee to keep you awake when you can make cinnamon sugar roasted chickpeas instead?!
Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
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