The key to good falafel, whether baked or fried, is to ditch the canned peas.
This may be a stretch but I believe falafel is the chickpea's best form. It's also it's purest. I can speak to that now that I better understand falafel!
The very first time I made falafel, I wanted it to be as healthy as possible. So I used canned organic chickpeas (WRONG!) and baked them. What I ended up making were these weird green, flat pancakes that were hard on the outside and mushy on the inside. Even though the outside was hard, they did not hold together well when I took them out of the oven. Here's a picture:
