Roasted chickpeas...savoury & sweet

So many preschools and primary schools are nut free- for good reason! If you're looking for a yummy snack that will satisfy your little ones craving for nuts without breaking the rules...I've got two options for you...chickpeas...either sweet or savoury.

If you are like me (a cheapskate) you will want to do these with dried chickpeas, it's more time consuming but saves you about $8 and considering how quickly they are being eaten here....that's a good saving! If you're using the tinned chickpeas you can skip all the instructions under the dried heading.

This makes a lot of chickpeas!  One tin per flavour.  I have done it with tinned chickpeas and with dried.  The dried are better, but for convenience feel free to use a tin!


Dried chickpeas:
Ingredients
2 cups dried chickpeas
water
Method
Firstly place the chickpeas in a bowl (a big one- they will double in size)
Cover with water to a few inches above and leave site 12 hours or overnight.
Drain the chickpeas and rinse, inspecting for any that are an odd colour.
Place a large pot on the stove and add the chickpeas.  Add enough water to cover the chickpeas with a few inches to spare.
Bring to the boil then simmer for 60 minutes.
Drain.

Now we can all work together from here on in!

Sweet Chickpeas
Ingredients
1/2 of the chickpeas you have cooked or 1 tin
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsps honey
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt flakes.
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Rinse the chickpeas in a colander and pop off all the skins (if you want to- it does add to the texture to remove them).
Lay them out in a single layer on a lined oven tray.
Roast for 45 minutes or until dry (get one out and test it- it should crunch!).
While they are roasting, combine the honey, coconut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt flakes in a jug.
Pour the hot chickpeas into a bowl ad pour over the contents of the jug.
Stir until they are all coated.  Pour back onto the baking tray and bake for another 10 minutes.
Wait until completely cool before storing in an airtight container.

Savoury Chickpeas:
Ingredients
1/2 of the chickpeas you have cooked or 1 tin
2 tbsps olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon salt flakes
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Rinse the chickpeas in a colander and pop off all the skins (if you want to- it does add to the texture to remove them).
Pour the oil, herbs and salt into a bowl and add the chickpeas.
Stir to coat all of them.
Lay them out in a single layer on a lined oven tray.
Roast for 55 minutes or until dry (get one out and test it- it should crunch!).

Wait until completely cool before storing in an airtight container.