Looking for the chickpea cookies from Pinterest or Facebook? Here’s the original recipe! Scroll to the bottom of the post for a how-to recipe video.
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!
I used homemade peanut butter in these cookies but store-bought (the kind with just peanuts and salt) works just as well.
Here’s how to make peanut butter! There’s also a video included. All you need is peanuts and a food processor (which you already have to pull out for this chickpea cookie recipe!).
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.
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!
Please read the following before asking a question! It will probably answer it. :)
- Tons of people have posted the nutritional analysis for these. They’re supposedly anywhere between 80-130 calories, which seems like a huge range to me. Please use a recipe analyzer like on CalorieCount if you need more information.
- You can use almond butter, sun butter, or whatever nut butter you like.
- The peanut butter should be the kind with only peanuts and salt. No added fat or sugar.
Be careful because there are some “natural” brands out there which aren’t really natural. I find that this peanut butter is usually expensive so I make my own.
You can make your own in only 5 minutes with a food processor. Check that out here. - 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!
- 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.
But thanks to the experimenters who left feedback, I’ve been able to update the recipe with alternatives to honey and peanut butter. Thanks everyone!
For my readers who are really sensitive to gluten, you might want to read my post on Is Honey Gluten-free? - For a totally sugar free version, use 30 drops of Stevia and cacao nibs.
- Do not double the recipe! It might be too much for your machine and could damage it.
- For a vegan version, you can’t use honey. Use agave.
- For a dairy-free version, use Enjoy Life chocolate chips. They’re just as delicious as regular chocolate chips. SO good!
And thanks for everyone who has pinned and left feedback. I really appreciate it. :)
Want more gluten-free treats? Here are some of my favorites!
Grain-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites (gluten-free with vegan and dairy-free options)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 14 1" cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel1
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter, SunButter Natural or almond butter - room temperature2
- 1/4 cup (80 grams) honey (agave or maple syrup for vegan)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder3
- a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it
- 1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips (use vegan and dairy-free chocolate chips, if needed)
Directions
- 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.
- 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.
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2106 comments on “The Original Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites Recipe (aka Chickpea Cookies)” — Add one!
37 comments are awaiting moderation!
Amanda – So happy that you enjoyed them! Thanks for linking to me. :)
Brandy – Thanks for letting me know that you liked them! I hope your kids liked them too. And that they got some in the end! :D
1 Fit Mama – Haha. It just makes me happy when I read that everyone else likes them room temperature or cold!
Amanda – If you go to the first page of comments and Ctrl + F, type calorie, and you will find a lot of different opinions. I'm happy to hear that you liked them! :)
Lina – Nope, room temp is fine. :) Happy you liked them!
hello,
i made these last night for first time..oh so yummy..but do they need to be refridgerated?
thanks
Lina
Just made these and they are awesome!!! The chocolate didn't ooze like yours, but they are delicious. Do you know how many calories in each?
These are amazing! Don't freak out but I love them just out of fridge:) So yummy-I can't stop eating them. Down to my last two bites and saving to enjoy while I watch my DVR programs tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
MMMM! This is my 3rd recipe that uses chickpeas instead of wheat flour & the ONLY one that I can even tollerate the taste of. I love these! I made 5 (one for each me & my 4 kids), but have eaten 5. Don't tell my kids. Gotta put more in the oven before my kids find out I ate theirs :)
I just wanted you to know I made these and they where a HUGE hit, I linked your recipe/site to mine :) http://amandasouriol.com/higher-vibrations/
Anon – Kidney beans?! Wow. That is awesome. I'm so happy that they came out well. Thanks for letting us know that kidney beans also work!
Jenn – Great! I think someone asked about using sunflower butter, so now they have their answer. I love that you were able to adapt it to suit your needs. Thanks for the feedback. :)
Meribeth – Excellent! I seem to be the only one who dislikes them room temperature. I'm happy that you both liked them!
Anon – Thanks for the fat note! (that sounds weird, huh?) People don't seem to realize that it's healthy fat, so I'm happy you made a note about that.
Anon – Thank you for the info about chickpea flour! I might try pan toasting it like you said. I'd hate to waste the stuff. I've made pasta with it, and while the pasta tastes pretty unpleasant by itself, adding lots of flavorful sauce takes away the taste. So there's always that. :)
Erin, this is about the chickpea flour smell. Chickpea flour is referred to as besan flour in the Indian cuisine & is used extensively. When you pan toast the flour lightly, it gives it a nice nutty aroma & flavor. We use chickpea flour instead of wheat flour for breading or tempura batter. You can try this website for chickpea/besan flour recipes: http://www.themahanandi.org/. Hope you find a use for the flour.
Onion Pakora ;http://www.spicytasty.com/
Posted by Nithu on Oct 11, 2011 in Appetizers, Featured | 11 comments
Pakora is a deep fried snack(fritters). It is made of besan (gram flour) and rice flour along with green chilies, curry leaves and spices….
I just made these today. They're sooo good and I only tried them warm. It's gooey and just simply delicious. No one can tell that there are chickpeas in them. I could make 13 of them out of this recipe, 40 grams per cookie.
One cookie is 160 calories and 80 calories from fat. But most of the fat calories are the healthy fats since it comes mainly from peanut butter.
My friend and I made these together today and we thought they were wonderful. They were just as good after they cooled of as they were right out of the oven.
I just tried this and used sunflower seed butter instead as we are nut free and it turned out splendid. We also used the Enjoy Life chocolate chips so that it was fully dairy and soy free. GREAT little baked nugget of meltiness!
I made these last night and even after telling everyone what was in them, they were a huge hit. I didn't have chickpeas, but after seeing these on Pinterest all week, I was set on making them so used kidney beans successfully! Kids are loving that they can get their protein at breakfast through a cookie!
spin mommy – So happy that everyone liked them! :)
Eric W. – Thanks for your comment! I don't think you need to be concerned about my dislike for them room temperature because I seem to be the only one that dislikes them cold. It's just that they're so gooey when warm. You just can't compare the two! I'm going to look into bessan laddu now. Thanks for the tip. :)
Anon – Several commenters have used different types of nut butter and everything has turned out well so far. But I can't imagine the flavor being nearly as nice!
Anon – Nobody has mentioned Stevia yet and I don't use it so I'm afraid I don't know. Please let us know if you do try it! Good luck. :)
There are a lot of comments, so I apologize if this has been mentioned before. How do you think Stevia would work in place of the honey? Thanks, Cindy
What if I use almond butter, do you think that will taste ok?
A friend linked this recipe to me. I have a dairy allergy in my household, so this is really up my alley. Your mention of grain-free is intriguing, but you've basically got an analogue to the South Asian sweet known as besan laddu. However, your description of the cold state tasting nasty is concerning. You might offset this by tuning the recipe more to the South Asian cuisine or European cuisine by going with the use of tahini (sesame paste) or non-grain flours, such as amaranth or almond along with chickpea flour.
so yeah made these…loved the raw dough…loved them cooked…loved them cold…so umm yeah about to make them again :D btw kids ate them and had absolutly noooo idea hehe
cityatnight – I'm so happy that you enjoyed them! Thanks for the feedback. :)
Anon – Haha. I'm happy you could trick your husband into liking these! Unfortunately mine came into the kitchen and found out what I was up to the very first time I made these. Now he just calls them the "weird things." Thanks for the nice comment and leaving feedback!
just made these and they are SO GOOD. you deserve big kudos for coming up with this. i'm doing the Engine 2 diet plan so i'm also taking baby steps with my husband to see how far i can push the vegan thing with him. these are a godsend because as long as he thinks there's still some chocolate involved he's cool. he took one bite of these and before he'd even swallowed he says "awesome!" that's the gold standard in our kitchen. thanks!
These were unbelievable!! Easiest cookies I've ever made, and beyond delicious. I am forever in your debt for sharing this recipe!