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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mmmm they are just about to come out of the oven, kitchen smells wonderful!
AllBlueZoo – Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for letting me know! I might have to try them your way and see which is better. :)
Sarah F – Thanks! I hope you like them. :)
Anon – Thanks for the tip! Maybe my food processor is just more powerful than a "normal" one. It didn't have any problems blending it smoothly. Thanks again for letting us know. :)
granolamommie – Chickpea flour is gross. At least in my opinion! And you're right – the peanut butter hides the chickpea flavor. :)
I might have to try them. I've baked with Bob's Red mill that uses chickpea flour and hated it- but they look soooo good!! And I bet the peanut butter masks the chickpeas
These look amazing! I can't wait to try them!
Oh boy – the almond meal/flour worked wonderfully and even my chocolate hating husband gobbled up 3 of them with his coffee! I did only use 1 cup of almond flour but did everything else exactly as you set out. I needed to bake them a few extra, ended up being about 13.5 minutes. Now I must go put them somewhere out of my sight!
dilan – Frightened? So was I! And hahaha. I love that you ate 8 of them. I'm happy you liked them and thanks for letting me know. :)
I tried this recipe today, I am from Turkey and it does not actually get along with our country's taste. So at first i was frightened.
But still i tried, and then i ate 8 of them.
They are AMAZING! Thank you very much.
Anon – Do people avoid eggs, too? I know vegans do but I thought the honey canceled these out for them.
Brittany – I'm happy you liked them! Thanks for letting me know. :)
Martina – I hope they still come out with maple syrup! It has such a different consistency, but it does sound yummy! And you're right about the calories, they're not low calorie, but think about the ingredients. Peanut butter is a really high calorie food, but the fat is the "good" fat. And okay, chocolate chips are just bad. But I still think these are incredibly healthy compared to a normal cookie. :)
AllBlueZoo – Hmm. I'm thinking that wouldn't work, but you never know. I hope it wasn't a total disaster! Almond flour and chickpeas aren't at all similar in texture which worries me.
Anon – I've used lots of different brands (and I live in Germany so brand names wouldn't help) and I used homemade peanut butter . I'm sorry they didn't look how you wanted. :(
We just made a batch ours did not look anything like yours. Do you use a certain kind of peanut butter and certain chick peas? They were ok but yours looked amazing..
Wonder how almond meal would do instead of the chickpeas? I don't have any chickpeas on hand but do have almond meal – I'll give it a whirl and report back!
These look fantastic but look to be a bit on the high side for one dough bite. I added the ingredients into MFP and came up with the following:
Calories 143
Carbs 15
Fat 7
Protein 5
Fiber 2
Sugar 8
I substituted Maple Syrup for Honey so I could cut down on the sugar a bit. I'll give these a try for sure though. :)
Just made these to go with our gluten free pizza tonight! Thanks for the great cookies!!!
Brittany Walker
walkermommmy2@ymail.com
These are no egg too! you should add that to your no flour, no sugar, etc list.
Trying to find the nutritional info on these.. Carbs, cals, fiber etc.
Thanks
Ashley – So happy that you liked them! They're not supposed to be hard like a normal cookie, but gooey (at least when warm!) Thanks for letting me know how they came out. :)
Nomi – Yay! That's great to hear. Thanks for leaving feedback!
Made these today and they were a hit! I was able to use sunflower butter and it worked well! Thanks for your post!
Made these today… Super delicious!!! Don't know how solid they're supposed to be but mine aren't really solid at all.. regardless they are super yummy and I want to eat every last gooey bite of them :)
Miryam – That's a good tip! Thanks. :)
Tanya – I hope everyone likes them! Thanks for the comment. :)
Anon #1 – Thanks for letting us know that it worked without a food processor! I'm happy they worked out. :)
Anon – Clogged around the blades?! Yikes. Maybe next time you could put the chickpeas in the food processor (since they didn't seem to clog around the blades) and then add the other stuff. Just an idea! I'm thrilled that it still worked for you. Thanks for letting me know!
I made these and they were wonderful! The only problem I had was getting the stuff to mix well in my food processor – I think the peanut butter just clogged around the blades. So, I put it in a bowl and used a hand held mixer. I think next time I'll try to squash the chickpeas by hand first before mixing in a bowl. Thanks for the great recipe!
Just took these out of the oven. Yum! I really like them. You'd never guess they were made out of chickpeas.
I don't have a food processor, so I had to use my mixer and then squash some tough peas with a spatula, then mix again. So they were a bit 'chick-pea-chunky', but not bad. I also used a cookie scoop (small) and got 24 bite-size cookies.
Thanks for sharing!
I am trying these now! My first batch is in the oven as we speak! The true test will come when I give one to my husband and one to my three year old. Thank you for sharing your awesome blog!
Hey,
one thing I forgot to mentioned that I actually put in my method instructions.
Using a cookie scoop works really well in shaping the balls. A bit less of a mess with my hands :-) Also I think I under baked mine last time so since I am now making them again I am going to bake them for an extra 5-10 minutes :-) I want the crack look to it!!
Mark – Thanks. I hope you can try them out!
Carrie – I'm happy you found me too! It's good to hear that you liked them and thanks for pinning and the feedback. I'll go check out your post now. :)
Um…don't have a photo, since they are gone already but pinned and made your cookies last night! DELICIOUS! Thank you – so glad to have found you!!
Yum!! These look so delicious!Thanks for the interesting recipe.Fantastic Cookies recipes
kbonikow- Runny?! That's strange. Mine was really thick and sticky. I forgot to take pictures of the dough, but you can see here in Miryam's post what the dough should look like.
Cookie dough balls
Maybe your chickpeas were exceptionally watery? I can't imagine a more runny peanut butter than what I used, so it can't really be that. Sorry I don't have a more solid answer for you! I hope they were still edible. :)
Yum, I just made these delicious looking cookies! Mine however didn't come out looking like yours! Mine were quite runny when I put them on the cookie sheet, so when they cooked, they flattened out quite a bit? Any idea why??
christenjackson – I hope you like them! :)
I will definitely be giving these a go. :D Thanks for the interesting recipe.
Elissa – I'm happy you still liked them without the chocolate! And thanks for letting us know about your agave sub. :)
Janell – I hope you get the chance! They're quite yummy. :)
Yadira – Thanks for your comment! It seems that peanut butter varies a bit from brand to brand. I just threw my peanuts in the food processor and it was pretty runny. I'm happy you still liked them. :)
Chocolate Inspector – I agree that real chocolate peanut butter cookies are better. So much better! But I'm like you and I'd rather eat several of these than eat just two regular peanut butter cookies and then feel guilty. But to be honest, I never eat two. I eat like 8. Thanks for the feedback!
MrsB – Yay! I'll go check out your post later. Thanks for leaving your link. :)
I made these yesterday – they were a hit with the kids :) Here's my blog post – http://www.crankymonkeys.com/blog/baked-chickpea-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-balls/
Tried this with Cannellini beans since I didn't have Chickpeas, and I loved these!! I used my Pampered Chef scoop instead of rolling balls and it was easy. Do make sure each cookie gets its fair share of chocolate chips.
Have to admit, it's never as good as the real deal, but these were so worth it to not have the guilt and I was super satisfied and got to eat 4. And I don't have the sugar high and yucky feeling after eating the regular cookie dough.
Glad I found this on PInterest! Thank you Texanerin!
I just finished baking a batch of these and I really liked them. I even liked the cookie dough. I'm waiting to see how they taste at room temp.
I followed the recipe, but halved it because I had a smaller can of chickpeas. For some reason I had to bake them for almost 20 minutes. Might be the PB brand (it's natural, only ingredient is peanuts but it isn't runny as you describe yours) or the extremely hot and humid weather of the Caribbean.
These look so good….a great reason to try chickpeas!!! Thanks, can't wait to try them!
I baked these tonight but without the chocolate because I didn't have any. Still REALLY good. I like the dough too though. My 4 year old daughter gobbled them up!
I also used Agave instead of honey. Worked great.
Jen – I hope you will. :)
Anon – I hope you'll also like them baked! Thanks for letting me know you liked them in dough form. :) It seems like everyone else likes it but me.
Miryam – You are fast! And your TN comments always make me laugh. :)
Allison – That's the spirit! Don't tell husbands or kids anything. They'll never know. :) Thanks for leaving feedback. I'm happy to know that agave works!
Anon – Just pop them in the microwave before you give them to your girlfriends! Let them experience the gooiness. :) I'm happy these still worked with the more processed stuff, but it's definitely strange. I thought that they'd be even drier with it.
Melissa – I'm glad to hear that! My chickpea experience is pretty much limited to this recipe, so it's good to know that different brands of chickpeas might be different. I'll be sure to continue buying the brand I get! And thanks for letting us know about your agave substitution. Other people have also mentioned using it so I'll add it to the recipe.
I just made these last night, and they were a hit! (Even at room temperature. ;) I was out of honey, so I substituted an equal amount of agave nectar and they turned out great. I even like the dough, which hasn't been true of every chickpea-based dessert I've tried. (I'm starting to think some chickpeas are stronger tasting than others.)
Just adding my two cents…I followed the recipe really closely but ended up with more than 14 cookies (about 24–what a shame!) and I had to cook them for about 15 minutes and they still weren't as "set" as I thought they should be. I used "natural" Jif which is definitely more processed than real natural pb so maybe that was part of the problem. But based on the description in the recipe, the flavor is right (really good warm). And you warned us that they are gooey! Overall I like them and I predict my girlfriends and I will pig out on these over the weekend.
Found the recipe on Pinterest and I am hooked! These are delicious. I just had my first bite out of the oven and had to let you know. :) I didn't have any honey, so I used some Agave and I like how they aren't overly sweet. The real test will be when the husband gets home. Think I'll make him taste one before I tell him what is inside! :) Thanks for the great recipe.
Oh ok. My husband just tried it and thinks is the best thing ever. He used to eat cookie dough all the time as a kid, you know in TN they eat this kind of stuff!!
Anyhow, recipe already posted. am I fast or what? :-)
ummm holy cow found this recipe on pinterest!!! yuummmy as a dough! cant believe you dont like it raw! im so excited to try it warm, cold and room temp. thanks so much :)
How interesting! I'm definitely going to have to try this out sometime. I pretty much love anything with peanut butter and chocolate so I'm sure I'll like these!
Miryam – I don't like the dough unbaked, but I love it baked! For some reason, it seems to get sweeter. Or maybe I'm just weirded out by the chickpeas. Eating baked chickpeas seems much more "acceptable" to me. You know I'm weird with a lot of stuff. :)
Those candied almonds are just terrible. Terrible because they're so addicting. I've banned myself from making them because they seriously led to a several pound weight gain in a few days. Terrible. I hope you found some coconut sugar! They come out even yummier with that. :)
You don't like the cookie dough recipe you came up with? What are you saying? These are fantastic!! I was thinking that you could even add these on ice cream, yummy!!
…and yes I still have the almonds and the pudding with bananas to make you made a while ago :-) Soon, very soon!!
Anon – Thanks for doing that for us! It's not great like you said, but think about how much healthier the ingredients are in comparison to a normal cookie. :)
Miryam – YAAAAY! You made one of my recipes! :)
2. Haha, they look healthy. That's true. You can see in the picture where they're stacked on a plate that they're crackly and don't look like a normal cookie. Oh well.
3. True! And I'd like to add that people shouldn't try with peanut butter chips because they don't melt like chocolate chips.
4. I think the only person who found it a little lumpy used an electric mixer instead of a food processor so nobody needs to worry about lumps. :)
I didn't know how big chickpea cans are in the US. I should have probably made the recipe so that it would use the whole can. Whoopsy!
I LOVE cookie dough but not this cookie dough. I'm happy you enjoyed it though! I can't tell you how excited I am to see your post. YAY! Thank you so much for leaving this super thorough review. :D
OK first of all, OMG Erin, these are SENSATIONAL!! These are GENIUS to say the least. My daughter is eating them right now as we speak :-) me too!!
What I have found about making these:
1. I do like them cold or warm, and even raw, although the warm ones are a bit better. I like feeling the melting warm chocolate in my mouth, it gives it a nice touch.
2. I think these look healthy if you shape them like a cookie, otherwise they are good. I think some people may find them weird looking because they may appear to look healthy, but like I said, if you shape them like little cookie balls they don't. These also don't taste like they are healthy at all, just like cookie dough.
3. I totally agree with you Erin. If you take out the chocolate chips these may not be good, so DO NOT SKIP THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS.
4. I didn't find out that the mixture was lumpy or that it had chunks in it. As long as you pulse it in the food processor for a couple of minutes or so you will be good!!
I did actually made them with the entire 15.5 oz can of chick peas and added a 1/3 cup honey instead of the 1/4 cup. I got 15 large cookie dough balls.
I always though cookie dough was nasty with all of the sugar, flour and raw egg in it. These BY FAR exceeds the conventional cookie dough recipes out there. Now I can add cookie dough to my diet :-)
I think I got decent pictures so I am going to post this very very soon. What a winner recipe Erin!!
130 cal per piece – not great, but not awful either!
Becka – I definitely know what you mean. They're just kind of funky at room temp! Although I usually only bake "healthier" stuff, I don't want them to taste at all healthy. :) Food processors are a pain to clean (this is coming from someone who leaves it in the sink until I use it again… yikes. But I use it almost every day!) but I think it's worth it to drag it out. Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Now everyone else will know what happens with a mixer. You have a great day too. :)
These were delicious but it burned the motor out of my food processor. It was smoking and everything:( I have a cuisanart which is a good brand!
UPDATE: I ate 2 for breakfast. :) I didn't warm them up and they were still quite tasty. And they didn't fall apart! I ate them with my hands and they held together perfectly. Even though I do still like them at room temp, I will say they taste a bit "healthier" this way, if you know what I mean. Last night, I actually felt guilty eating them! Today… not so much. ;)
I guess there might be tiny pieces (I wouldn't necessarily call them chunks) of the beans still there, but it's hard to tell since there are also the crunchy bits of almonds from the almond butter. Now that I've mixed them in a regular bowl and have seen that the bowl cleans up well, (I guess from the oil in the nut butters,) I might drag out my food processor next time if I want to try for a smoother consistency. The thing is just a pain to clean!
Just wanted to come back with a follow-up. ;)
Have a great day!
Anon – I hope you do make them and that you like them! I'm so happy that people are leaving feedback because one person on the internet saying that chickpea cookies are really a good thing just isn't believable. :)
Anon – Thanks for the tip! I'm happy they still came out for you. :)
Julie – I hope they turn out well and I'm looking forward to your update!
Phyllis – I hope you liked them in their baked form too! I just didn't want people to expect the cookie dough to taste good, like normal cookie dough. But baked? I really think they're similar! Thanks for the feedback. :)
Kelly – I know, right? They'd just be funky without the chocolate chips. That's my opinion anyway. And I love that you saw this and made this within less than an hour. That's just like me. I see a recipe and immediately get up to make it. I just can't wait! Thanks for the nice comment. :)
Miryam – I guess you saw these on Pinterest? It seems to have exploded over there. You have to make them! I really think you'd like them. The texture isn't exactly like a cookie, but when warm, you can't really tell a difference. That's why I said to only eat them warm a dozen times. I can't wait to hear what you think!
Jennifer – Hahaha. That made me laugh. Thank you and thanks for letting me know that you liked them. :)
Becka – I'm happy that your additions worked! When they're warm, they're pretty gooey, but I'm not loving the cooled version. I bet your way is better if it added softness. There should absolutely be no chickpea chunks, so if you got rid of all those, I'm guessing it was the extra almond butter. Thanks for letting us know that it works with a mixer! But for anyone else who reads this, there should be absolutely no chunky bits in the dough! That sounds like it'd be terrible. Thanks again. :)