These chickpea cookie dough bites are a fun sweet way to eat chickpeas in healthy dessert form. Coated in chocolate with a boost of protein. Vegan, gluten-free and comes together with simple ingredients.
Chickpeas In Dessert
It actually works surprisingly well. And honestly, when I think of chickpeas I’m most often thinking hummus or stews and not so much dessert. But I remember doing a cooking demo at my old job when I got to demonstrate and try chickpea cookie dough for the first time. I was expecting to hate it, but not only did I love it, but so did all the kids that attended the demo.
You might be concerned that chickpeas will end up having a beany taste in desserts. Luckily, chickpeas are very mild in flavor, so it’s not too difficult to mask them in a treat like these Chickpea Cookie Dough Bites. If you were a fan of my chickpea blondies, I think you’ll also love these energy bites too.
Why Add Chickpeas to Dessert?
I’ve mentioned it before when talking about balancing our plates, but aiming for more legumes in our life is very beneficial to us from a health perspective. Eating beans is associated with reduced chronic disease risk and longevity. [1] They can provide vital nutrients like protein, fiber, folate, vitamins and minerals. And for vegans, these nutrients are important to get. So if you are a bean lover, continue embracing beans. If you aren’t quite there yet, that’s okay! Adding them into things you enjoy might be your gateway for enjoying them and reaping the benefits.
Key Ingredients
- Chickpeas: I recommend fresh made chickpeas, but you can also use canned as well
- Maple Syrup: To help bind and sweeten the dough
- Brown Sugar: Gives a little hint of that molasses flavor that I love in cookies
- Nut Butter: I used peanut butter because it’s the cheapest, but this works with other nut butters too
- Oat Flour: Helps thicken our dough so we can roll it into dough balls
- Dark Chocolate: To fill and coat our dough balls with
How to make these cookie dough bites
For best results, make sure to dry off your chickpeas really well with a kitchen cloth. Make sure to remove any excess chickpea skins if they happen to fall off.
Place all your ingredients except the chocolate to a food processor and blend until a dough forms. You can add your chocolate chips and pulse a few times to get them to mix into the batter.
Chill your dough and then scoop it into dough balls using a cookie scoop, placing each ball onto a parchment lined tray or plate. Place in the freezer to help firm them up even more as you melt your chocolate.
You can melt your chocolate in the microwave or on the stove top. When using either method, remove from heat once the chocolate is mostly melted and continue to stir it around until fully melted. Then allow to cool a bit before dipping your cookie dough pieces to fully coat.
Place the dipped bites back on to the parchment lined tray and allow the chocolate to harden for a few minutes in the fridge before enjoying.
Tips for making these sweet treats
- After rinsing and draining your chickpeas, make sure to place in a clean kitchen cloth and gently rub the chickpeas dry. The rubbing motion will help to not only dry your chickpeas off, but also remove some loose chickpea skins from the chickpeas. This will help to make the chickpea dough much smoother in texture.
- Let your cookie dough chill before rolling into bites. Allowing your dough to chill will allow it to firm up properly and make it much easier for you to roll into dough balls.
- You can use canned beans to help save time with this recipe, but if you have an option to use freshly cooked chickpeas, highly recommend it! Using freshly cooked chickpeas will help reduce the chance of a beany flavor.
- Do feel free to adjust the sweetness of your cookie dough as desired. Personally this level of sweetness worked best, but you might like just a little more sweetness. I’d recommend adjusting the brown sugar first before opting for more maple syrup to help maintain the doughs consistency.
- You can skip making these into bites and enjoy by the spoonful or make it into a dip by adding a little almond milk to help thin it out.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have not tested this recipe for baking. I imagine that it likely would not be a good idea to bake as the chickpeas might cause the dough to dry out a bit when baked. Instead, I’d recommend trying this chocolate chip cookie recipe instead if you are looking for a baked version.
This cookie dough recipe has a couple of nutritious things working in it’s favor. First, we have chickpeas, which add a bit of protein, iron and fiber to our bites. Second, we are using less sweetener compared to traditional cookie dough recipes. Third, we are also including oat flour, which naturally has more fiber and b vitamins attached.
In this application, yes! Swapping for an almond flour should work as a great replacement for oat flour. You may need to add just a little bit more to the dough for it to firm up, but you can adjust and add a tablespoon at a time extra if the dough doesn’t hold it’s shape.
Storage Tips
Once made, these cookie dough bites should be stored in the fridge or in the freezer. If storing in the fridge, make sure to store in a airtight container for up to 5 days. This recipe also freezes well. Just store your leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
More Bean Based Dessert Recipes
Chickpea Cookie Dough Bites
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12–14 bites 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These chickpea cookie dough bites are a fun sweet way to eat chickpeas in healthy dessert form. Coated in chocolate with a boost of protein.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1,15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 cup peanut butter or cashew butter
- 1/4 cup gluten-free oat flour
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup vegan mini chocolate chips, optional
- 1, 4oz bar of vegan dark chocolate
Instructions
- Place rinsed and drained chickpeas in a clean kitchen cloth and gently rub the chickpeas dry. Remove any excess chickpea skins that come off in the process.
- Place chickpeas along with nut butter, oat flour, maple syrup, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a food processor. Begin to pulse on high continuously until a dough starts to form and there are no chunks of chickpeas visible.
- If adding chocolate chips, add them to the food processor and pulse a few times to mix them into the dough. Then, place the dough to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Prepare a parchment lined tray and with a cookie scoop or tablespoon measure, scoop some dough into your hands and begin rolling them to form a dough ball. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Place the tray into the freezer to firm up a little more.
- Melt the chocolate. If using a microwave, place chocolate into a microwave safe dish and microwave in 15 second intervals until chocolate is mostly melted and stir with a spoon until chocolate is fully melted and smooth. If using the stove top, bring a small sauce pan up to medium-low heat and add your chocolate and continue to stir until mostly melted. Remove from the heat and continue to stir until smooth then allow to cool off a little.
- Take your cookie dough balls out of the freezer and once chocolate is cooled, take two forks and dip the cookie dough balls into the chocolate making sure to completely coat. Allow excess chocolate to drip off and then place the coated dough balls on the parchment paper.
- Once all cookie dough balls are coated, place the tray in the fridge for a few minutes to allow the chocolate to harden, then enjoy!
Notes
Let your cookie dough chill before rolling into bites. Allowing your dough to chill will allow it to firm up properly and make it much easier for you to roll into dough balls.
You can use canned beans to help save time with this recipe, but if you have an option to use freshly cooked chickpeas, highly recommend it! Using freshly cooked chickpeas will help reduce the chance of a beany flavor.
Do feel free to adjust the sweetness of your cookie dough as desired. Personally this level of sweetness worked best for me, but you might like just a little more sweetness. I’d recommend adjusting the brown sugar first before opting for more maple syrup to help maintain the doughs consistency.
You can swap out the oat flour for almond flour. Note that you may need to add a little more almond flour to the dough for it to firm up.
Keywords: no bake dessert, chickpea cookie dough bites, chickpea cookie dough, vegan cookie dough
Resources
Mudryj AN, Yu N, Aukema HM. Nutritional and health benefits of pulses. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2014 Nov;39(11):1197-204. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2013-0557. Epub 2014 Jun 13. PMID: 25061763.
Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought in the comments below! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats
★ Catherine
Loved these! I’ve tried chickpea cookie dough recipes before and didn’t like them, but these really did the trick. Tastes like real cookie dough with no hint of beans. I used almond flour instead of oat flour with no issues. Going to remake in a larger batch to freeze them, they seem like they will freeze well.
★★★★★
That makes me so so thrilled Leah! I froze mine too and it definitely worked like a charm. Thank you for the valuable feedback!
Made these for Mother’s Day and they were AWESOME! Thank you for sharing! Love your recipes.
★★★★★
Best thing to hear! Thank you for trying this and my other recipes. Literally makes my day!
It’s a great recipe!
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Thank you!
Just made these and they are delicious! Thanks for all the great ideas and recipes!
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You are so welcome! Thank you so much for making this Anna! 🙂
Delicious! They turned out great! Tweaked the recipe to meet our needs: Added our organic plant protein powder (shared the website link for it) and subbed the oat flour for coconut flour that I had on hand (changed the amount used as its super absorbent).
These ended up being a hit with our whole family and also some guests – I shared the recipe with them as they have a hard time getting their kids to eat anything healthy! Thankyou! <3
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That’s so amazing to hear! And so glad it still worked with these tweaks. They sound delicious and always love a great way to add in some protein. Thank you Kayla for the super kind comment and for making this! 🙂