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!
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Anon – Don't apologize for a long comment. I love them! :) Thanks so much for taking the time to write some feedback. You should try again using the kind of peanut butter that's just peanuts and salt. Nothing else! I'll add a link in the recipe to my homemade peanut butter recipe. I'm happy that your mother liked them too and enjoyed them cool. And wow, thanks for following. I love having new readers. :) Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this recipe !! I couldn't go to sleep and I wasnt hungry for dinner so I decided to make these at 10 pm hahaha probably not a good idea but because these are healthier than normal cookies, I decided it was okay (excuses, excuses) and they came out great! A little darker than the ones in your picture but maybe it's because I didn't use all natural peanut butter (even though the jar claimed it was). And best part is my mother loved them! She usually hates sweets but she ate half the batch. She said they are yummier when they're cool because I only had mini chocolate chips so they were still melted. Anyway, will make this again tomorrow ! Sorry for such a long post but just wanted to thank you! Your food blog is the only one I read now:)
Sami – Well if they're gooier, isn't that a good thing? :) So happy that you still liked them! If you're not sure of your peanut butter, just dump some peanuts in a food processor and process until there's peanut butter!
Die Groblers – Thanks for your tip! I wonder if I have a really good processor because this recipe has always been super easy for it. Or maybe the chickpeas I have are just softer? :) I'm also going to try different flavors. I have one planned for today! So happy that you enjoyed them. Thanks for the feedback.
Re: Posts about it food processors burning out… I figured a way to save on the amount on processing time is to put the chickpeas (and the nuts) through a fine setting on the meat mincer first.
I tried this yesterday. My concern was that it was going to taste like chickpeas. It doesn't. It's divine. Hot or cold, it's nice. I use these as fillers between meals and after gym. I will definitely try them with different flavors also. Coffee, chocolate and cinnamon comes to mind… And of course different nut butters. ;)
I'm a diabetic and always on the lookout for healthier recipes (If I'm going to eat carbs, I at least want them to be more wholesome than sugar). Just made these with coconut nectar instead of honey. Very good! Funny thing is… they look nothing like the picture, haha. I didn't have the greatest of natural p-butter on hand, so mine ended up much more gooey. Oh well. Still taste great, thanks for sharing!
hansismyhoney – So happy that you all enjoyed them! Thanks for leaving feedback. And you know what? I've never tried hummus… it always kind of scared me.
Meredith – So happy that they worked with your substitutions! I hope that you're able to make some more chickpea cookies soon. I'd be interested to see what you do. :)
Hannah – I'm happy that you tried a second time with natural peanut butter! Thanks for the tip. Hopefully that'll save some other readers from messing up their cookies. :)
Anon – Several people have left the nutritional profiles but I think 130 or 140 was the average. Happy you liked them! :)
Anon – Unfortunately not. The people who have tried with normal peanut butter have all said that they come out oily. These shouldn't be oily at all, so I'm afraid it won't work. :(
Is there a way to make these with normal peanut butter?
These are great about how many calories? I did make them and then I told people what was in them :)
I just made these and they are YUMMY! to say the least. I actually had to make two batches because, warning to you and all your subscribers…..DO NOT USE BETTER N' PEANUTBUTTER. It makes them extremely runny and taste weird. I had never tried it before so I didn't know it didn't have the same consistency of regular natural peanut butter. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
I made these low-carb by using a rounded quarter-cup of granulated Splenda instead of the honey, and 3-4 tablespoons of extra liquid to compensate for the liquid from the honey. And, of course, sugar-free chocolate chips (made from cocoa, sugar substitute, and butter).
They weren't that sweet, so I will probably up the sweetener next time. And trust me, there WILL be a next time! The flavors and textures are great. I can't wait to try making all sorts of cookies with chickpeas! It's a brilliant grain-free solution.
just made these with my 5 year old, love how fast they were to put together, and yes, all 3 of my girls and I inhaled them in 2 seconds!!! Can't believe there were chick-peas in there–way to give hummus a run for it's money!
Liberty – Haha. They are! I hope your tweaks work out. :)
Anon – It was the regular peanut butter. Someone else mentioned using regular peanut butter and having them be oily so I'll add a note to make it clear that one should definitely not use normal peanut butter. I hope the natural peanut butter ones will come out better for you. :)
Just made these yesterday. They were really good but a little to oily not sure if it was cause I used regular peanut butter. I will definately be making more with correct ingredients.
These look sehr lekker! – cannot wait to tweak this a little bit to make them breakfast quality – like these http://bit.ly/O1mA7P
BLessings!!
Anon – Aww, too bad. But at least they seemed to really like them! And that you were able to trick them. That's a nice feeling, isn't it? :) Thanks for letting me know!
Thank you. They are quick to make and taste heavenly. Unfortunately, my husband and buddies eat almost all of them. They had no idea what was in the sneaky treat. My celiac son and all family members thank you.
Kelseu – Yay! I'm happy you liked them. Thanks for telling me. :)
Anon – Hmm. I have no idea. I think there seems to be some differences with the chikpeas, but do you think that your oven temperature could be off? I've put an oven thermometer several times, only to find out that the temperature was off! But the thing is, these don't really need to look done. There's no egg so you just want them to get a little baked. I hope you can give it another try. Just take them out sooner! :)
I had to go to the store and buy chickpeas immediately after finding this on Pinterest. They look so good!!
After watching them bake in the oven for almost 10 minutes at 350, I noticed that they didn't exactly look like they were ready just yet so I kept them in a little longer. How do you make yours look lighter? Of course mine turned out darker because I baked them for about 20 mins and even turned out a little toasty at the bottom, but even at 10 mins they didn't look as ready as yours in those photos <3
Thanks in advance!
Love the cookies! They taste so yummy! Mine don't look as pretty as yours, but they taste wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!