This article appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of Pulse Crop News.

Two Alberta dietitians – one with experience as an Alberta Pulse Growers intern and the other living with Celiac disease – have blended the nutrition of chickpeas together with the taste and texture of cookie dough to market what they call Chickie Dough.

Staci Fudge and Karmel Greter started selling Chickie Dough at Edmonton’s City Market Downtown in Spring 2014 to rave reviews, and added the Strathcona Farmer’s Market for the summer.

“Dessert hummus is a growing trend in online recipe forums, but we have never seen it sold in stores or at farmer’s markets,” Fudge said. “This is a very new venture, but it has had a great response. People are so familiar with the savoury version of hummus that it didn’t take much to appeal to their sweet tooth while being healthy.”

Greter developed the initial recipe after discovering many uses for chickpeas in cookies while looking for a sweet gluten-free treat that she could take to parties. However, Greter enjoyed the modified cookie recipes more as a dip without the baking, and many people agreed.

“We were always looking for glutenfree options for her, especially sweet foods because that’s harder to find,” Fudge recalled. “We both really like to cook and go to farmer’s markets all the time, so we decided to sell this dip that our friends really like.”

During the peak market season, the long-time friends use seven kilograms of dry chickpeas to make the base for 200 containers of the delicious dip that comes in a variety of flavours. Fudge said that all flavours are gluten-free, and at least one flavour is always made peanut free and/or vegan.

The first Chickie Dough flavour was oatmeal chocolate chip, which remains immensely popular and is always offered at the farmer’s market alongside the peanut flavour Chickie Dough. The pair also offer other feature flavours like double chocolate mint, maple walnut, trail mix, banana bread or pumpkin spice.

Some of Fudge and Greter’s favourite things to dip in Chickie Dough are fresh fruit (apples, bananas, strawberries), dried fruit (banana chips), graham crackers, pretzels, and rice cakes.

“All of the dips are high in fibre, high in protein and low in sugar,” Fudge said. “Our product is a smart alternative to other sweet dips laden with butter, cream cheese and sugar. People can go ahead and indulge knowing that their choice is dietitian made.”

Fudge and Greter met in high school and then took their dietitian training together at the University of Alberta. Fudge credits her APG internship for the U of A program in 2012 with reinforcing for her the many health benefits of eating pulses like chickpeas and how versatile Alberta-grown pulses are for cooking.

“We are both Registered Dietitians who utilize pulses in our own diet and promote pulses to our clients,” Fudge said.

Both women are employed by Alberta Health Services. Fudge works in Retail Food Services and Greter works at the University of Alberta Hospital.

They are currently exploring options for accessing a commercial kitchen to build Chickie Dough’s popularity, as well as looking for other products that might be a hit like Chickie Dough.

Fudge and Greter offer samples at the City Market Downtown that has moved indoors to Edmonton’s City Hall for the winter so that potential customers can try before they buy. Chickie Dough is currently sold at the market every other week, and their schedule with feature flavour is available on Twitter and Facebook.

For more information about Chickie Dough, email chickiedough@gmail.com.