Move over Nutella, I’ve found a chocolate spread that’s richer, thicker, cheaper and easier to get my hands on. I’m not sure I’ll ever look back.

I’ve been reading Hannah Kaminsky’s Bittersweet blog for a few months now. The blog features vegan versions of everything wonderful. For the most part she deals with sweets. As I’ve said countless times here, I’m not a huge fan of sweet – eating them that is. I do love to see beautiful dessert photography though.

Up until this afternoon I hadn’t actually felt the urge to make anything on her site, though I’ve enjoyed following it and have taken many of her suggestions to heart in my own cooking and eating. I’m not vegan so I don’t generally go out of my way to keep animal products out of my baking (though I do pay attention to this when preparing other foods), on the rare occasions that I even bake.

When I read her enticing argument for the use of chickpeas in a sweet context I decided to give it a go. Hey, you don’t have to convince me to use an ingredient in an unusual fashion. As a proud Aquarian (someone once told me that members of my zodiac group are known for eating weird food combos), I happily push the boundaries of savory/sweet/spicy or even hot/cold whenever I can. Beans for dessert is not actually all that weird if you think of sweet red beans in Asian cuisine.

Gathering all the ingredients together I made a batch of Hannah’s chocolate hummus. I couldn’t help lick the spatula and every other surface that came into contact with the spread. Absolutely perfect. And because I can’t leave well enough alone, I might have to see what happens with a bit less sugar and something spicy, or maybe even swapping out the olive oil for sesame next time.

Give it a try, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.