The Original Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites Recipe (aka Chickpea Cookies)
Chickpea cookies with no flour, no oil, no white sugar. These are just full of chickpeas. And they’re my very favorite healthy cookie so far!* I don’t know if they really classify as cookies so I’ll go with cookie dough bites.
And as a bonus, they’re grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan. Just in case that matters to anyone out there! And if you’re worried about the chickpeas, don’t be. I don’t like chickpeas and won’t eat them but that didn’t prevent me from inhaling these.
* 2017 update: this post is 5 years old and I have a new favorite. :D You HAVE to try these paleo chocolate chip cookies if you haven’t already! There’s also a vegan option. And for hot summer days, these no-bake oatmeal cookies (naturally gluten-free + vegan) are my favorite!
- Nutrient-Rich Ingredients: Packed with protein and fiber from chickpeas and natural peanut butter, these bites are as nourishing as they are delicious.
- Naturally Sweetened: Maple syrup or honey provides a subtle sweetness, eliminating the need for refined sugars.
- Diet-Friendly: These bites are gluten-free, dairy-free, and grain-free, making them suitable for various dietary needs.
- Kid-Approved: Their cookie-dough-like texture and chocolatey goodness make them a hit with both kids and adults.
One thing I’ve learned since starting this blog is that people really love closeups of melted stuff. So there you go. :)
These aren’t the most beautiful cookie dough bites, but fresh out of the oven, with all that gooey chocolate, I bet you can’t tell that these are made with chickpeas. Or are grain-free. But cold? Yuck. These need to be warm!
You can either freeze the balls and pop a few in the oven whenever it’s on, or simply put them in the microwave until they’re warm and gooey again.
By the way, if you’re a peanut butter lover like I am, you have to try these healthy peanut butter balls. They’re also gluten-free and vegan!
Ingredients Notes
These are just notes on select ingredients. Please scroll below for the full recipe!
- Chickpeas: Also known as garbanzo beans, chickpeas provide the creamy base for these bites. Use canned chickpeas for convenience, and make sure to rinse and drain them well to remove any briny flavor.
Chickpea flour won’t work. I don’t think plain hummus will either. I haven’t tried anything other than chickpeas, but others have used butter beans, navy beans, red kidney beans, great northern beans, and lentils with success.
I generally don’t like goodies made with those types of beans, but I love these cookies made with chickpeas. Please use chickpeas unless you have an allergy! - Peanut Butter: This should be the kind with only peanuts and salt. No added fat or sugar. Be careful because there are some “natural” brands out there that aren’t really natural.
I find that this peanut butter is usually expensive, so I make my own. Here’s how to make peanut butter! All you need is peanuts and a food processor (which you already have to pull out for this chickpea cookie recipe!).
Other nut or seed butters also work great. I use sunflower seed butter for a nut-free version. - Maple Syrup or Honey: make sure to use maple syrup for the vegan version. For a totally sugar free version, some commenters have used 30 drops of Stevia and cacao nibs with success.
- These need the chocolate. Don’t go making them without the chocolate and then tell me that they weren’t sweet or gooey enough! These would be incredibly boring without the chocolate.
- And for some weird reason, these cookie dough bites do not taste yummy in dough form. Baking them somehow brings out the sweetness and peanut butter flavor. Or maybe it’s just all that melted chocolate.
- Doing this in a blender won’t work and might kill the blender. Making these in a Blendtec blender or something equally powerful might work but I haven’t tried it.
- Adding random stuff like eggs… probably won’t work either. ;) Experimenting is great but I think this is a bad recipe to experiment with.
- Do not double the recipe! It might be too much for your machine and could damage it.
- Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge: A creamy, caramel-like fudge made with just four ingredients. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and comes together in minutes.
- Peanut Butter Apple Crumble: A delightful twist on a classic dessert, combining tender apples with a peanut butter oat topping. It’s gluten-free and vegan.
- Peanut Butter Protein Balls: Perfect for on-the-go snacking, these no-bake bites are packed with protein and flavor, and they’re easy to customize.
- Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies: Soft, chewy, and flourless, these cookies are a simple yet satisfying treat that’s naturally gluten-free.
- Healthy Peanut Butter Ice Cream: A rich and creamy no-churn ice cream that’s both vegan and paleo-friendly, offering a guilt-free indulgence.
Chickpea Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (205 grams) canned chickpeas well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel1
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 10 tablespons (160 grams) natural peanut butter SunButter Natural or almond butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (80 grams) honey or maple syrup or agave for vegan
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips use vegan and dairy-free chocolate chips, if needed
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined.
- Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.
- With wet hands, form into 1 1/2" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. The dough balls will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven. They will not set like normal cookies.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the fridge) for up to 1 week.
Notes
- My can of chickpeas was 400 grams, 240 grams without the water, and I used all but a few tablespoons of the chickpeas.
- Don’t even try with regular peanut butter! They’ll come out oily. You MUST use natural peanut butter.
- If you need grain-free baking powder, you can use 1 part cream of tartar + 1 part baking soda + 2 parts arrowroot.
These were amazing. I made them tonight and had to eat 3! oh dear! I am SO making these again – I don't even feel too guilty about eating them!
Noel – So so sorry for the slow reply! I somehow missed your comment. I drain the chickpeas, rinse them off with water, and pat them dry with a paper towel. I hope it's not too late. :)
Happy Gidget – Wow, thanks for the amazing comment. Totally made my day! I'm happy that you and your body could deal with these and that you even liked them. And great that you liked the batter and the bites cold! It makes me so happy to know that people with dietary restrictions can enjoy these. Thanks again for the feedback! I really appreciate it. :)
You are amazing! I am so glad your photo popped up in my FB/Pinterest feed. Dark chocolate is almost the ONLY indulgence I allow myself and then, only very occasionally. I voluntarily gave up gluten when I discovered that it stops my metabolism dead and then, let sugar go as well. Since then, my palette has become more discriminating and processed foods are just TOO much and 'sweet' things are far too sweet. However, YOUR cookie bites are absolutely PERFECT! I loved the batter. I loved them cooked. I loved them cold. Even if they are not perfectly healthy, they are certainly made of ingredients my body can appreciate. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Heya! Came over here from Pinterest. I was wondering if you drain your chick peas or use the liquid that they come in?
Thanks so much!
mas_vale – SO sorry for the delay in my response! I didn't see this until now. Natural peanut butter is just nuts and maybe salt. That's what "real" natural peanut butter is. Regular peanut butter has added fats (including the bad types of fat), added sugar and some other added stuff. If you make these with regular peanut butter, they'll come out oily.
Shannon – Yay! It makes me so happy to hear that people eating gluten-free enjoy this recipe! Thanks for letting me know. :)
Anne – Please do! I bet you'd enjoyed them. :)
It looks like a dream! I need to try it soon!
I just made these after my daughter and I went gluten-free two weeks ago. She's been craving treats. These turned out GREAT! Like, surprisingly great. Yay. Thanks for the recipe!
What is the difference between natural and regular peanut butter and where can I find natural peanut butter??? Thank you.
Fatemeh – So happy that you liked them! And you should have kept the ingredients a secret from the husband. :) I'm here on Facebook if you want to add me! Texanerin Baking
Tom G – Thank you for posting the nutritional info! I'm sure it'll help someone. I really appreciate it. :)
Hi there. I'm not sure if needed, but I've put your recipe into my recipe thingy on MyFitnessPal using local UK ingredients. I've put in 14 servings and came to the following values per serving:
kcals 133
Carbs 12g
Fat 8g
Protein 5g
Fiber 1g
Sugar 9g
I used:
Meridian Natural – Smooth Peanut Butter – No Added Sugar & No Added Salt, 165 g
Ktc – Chick Peas (Canned In Salted Water) 240gr Drained, 240 g
Rowse – Blossom Honey Pure & Natural, 4 tbsp (20g)
Generic – Baking Powder, 3 g = (1tsp)
Nestle – Milk Chocolate Chips, 90 g
No pinch of salt added, as the chick peas were in salted water whilst in the can.
I hope this helps someone who might be looking at nutritional values, etc.
I just made these today but my food processor is not the best and it wasn't "Smooth" but that's ok, they tasted divine. My husband could tell they weren't "real" chocolate chip cookies but he liked it. Then when I told him how I made them he got up and left and refused to eat anymore lol. I went and had 4 more considering the health benefits of garbanzo beans it seemed illogical to not eat these cookies! Thank you for a great recipe and please tell me what food processor you used.
Fatemeh Loves
*Please visit me on facebook if you are there as I would like to get updates on your recipes sooner!
Kathleen – I hope you like them! You're the first person who has mentioned that they like the metric amounts. Thank you so much for saying that! I sometimes wonder if it's even worth it. Now I know. :)
I'm getting ready to make these right now, and I want to thank you for giving us metric amounts. So many food bloggers do not do this, but for those of us who use grams, it makes a difference. Thanks!
Kathleen
Heidi – So happy that you like them and will make them again! Thanks for reporting back. :)
These are incredible! So easy and healthy! I will make these often!
Kim – I'm happy they passed the kid test! I don't even think my blender could handle this. I always need to add liquid for it to succeed in anything. I'm happy that you were able to do it in your small processor. :)
ksmith615 – It's so fun to trick the guys, isn't it?! Happy that these were a success for you. Thanks for the comment!
Poet4Him77 – Happy that you liked the dough! And that Peter Pan natural worked. I hope they were too greasy. :) Thanks for letting me know!
Haley – Yay! So happy that you were able to veganize them. Thanks for the feedback. :)
I LOVE THIS RECIPE! They are delicious. Very vegan friendly with the substitute of vegan chocolate chips!
Erin, these are AMAZING!!! It's so hard to believe these are made from chickpeas. They are so YUMMY! I actually like the cold dough better than the cookies. :) I used Peter Pan Natural PB and that worked out OK.
Keep the grain-free recipes coming!
I love a good recipe where I an hide the "healthy" and convince my boyfriend they are every bit as unhealthy as the original peanut butter chocolate chip cookie! He had NO idea what was in them. Love it. Many thanks!
I just made these today. They passed the kid-test. After my oldest daughter ate one, I told her that there were garbanzo beans in there and she was surprised.
The only downside is that it was pretty messy. I actually tried it in my blender first because my food processor is really small and then I had to move it over because my blender was not doing a good job. So it's probably my own fault. Not the best cookies in the world but good for a healthy cookie.