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.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, see my disclosure.
Join over 12,400 readers and sweeten up
your inbox with new posts for free!
This subscription is free of charge and can be canceled at any time.
2106 comments on “The Original Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites Recipe (aka Chickpea Cookies)” — Add one!
37 comments are awaiting moderation!
I’m going to try these and skin the chickpeas. This a trick I learned from a natural food store that makes delicious hummus. You just pinch them between your fingers and it slides off. A little time consuming but worth it. Of course they must be canned or cooked for this to work.
That sounds great, Adrienne! I hope that you liked the cookies. :) A few other people have said that they skinned the chickpeas. It seems to work well!
Thank you for the recipe. I used Bee Free apple honey and it gave the cookies an amazing rich apple flavor. I don’t eat chocolate so minus the chocolate and just used everything else as a regualr peanut butter cookie and they were the best I had. Complete with organic cane sugar on top after I flattened them. Mmm :)
I’m really intrigued by this Bee Free Apple Honey! I just looked into it and it sounds really nice. :) I’m so happy that the cookies came out well for you! Thanks so much for the feedback. :)
I made these today, and they were excellent! I used 1 c dried chickpeas, ground into flour. Added heaping ½ c peanut butter, 1 tsp vanilla, ¼ c sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, pinch salt. Stirred all to mix well. Batter was too dry, so added water for moister consistency. Stirred in ½ c chocolate chips. Baked at 350 for 15 minutes. Made 24 fluffy cookies –- But try not to eat too many! Thank you for a great, healthy, wheat-free cookie recipe!
Wow! What interesting changes you made. You’re adventurous. ;) I love it! I’m so happy that it worked out for you and that you enjoyed the cookies. Thanks so much for the tip that dried chickpeas work and thanks for the rating!
Doing this in a food processor also kills the food processor :( Please be cautious unless you own a Vitamix or fancier food processor – my brand new Cuisinart food processor is now dead.
I’m so sorry to hear that, Kelly! You’re the first person who has mentioned that this killed their food processor (without tripling the recipe or something like that). I’m wondering if your food processor was a lemon. Had you made anything else prior to the cookies? It seems very odd that this recipe would kill a brand new food processor. Sorry again! :(
I tried it with my Vitamix and all of the peanut butter just went straight to the bottom. Every other time I’ve made it with my food processor and it came out great. Sorry to hear about your food processor. Love the recipe!!!
So happy that you liked the recipe! Thanks for the feedback. :)
Mine came out too oily! I used Smucker’s brand Natural Peanut butter. Its just peanuts and salt…?
Suggestions?
You’re the first person who has mentioned them being oily using a totally natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt, like you said). The only thing I can think of is that the oil had settled at the top of the jar and perhaps you didn’t mix it in well into the peanut butter before measuring? That’s the only thing I can think of! I haven’t tried Smucker’s Natural. Is it more runny / oily that regular peanut butters? If so, I’d try making homemade peanut butter. I hope the next time comes out better! :)
No, Smucker’s seems more solid/thick than other brands. WE used a batter mixer to fully incorporate the separated oil into the jar, too. I just rechecked the label and they do not add oil. It is natural separation.
They taste fine still!
These are terrific! I have to confess though, I made a small batch first and they were not sweet enough for my taste, so I added 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to the remaining raw dough. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I’m happy that you liked them with the additional sugar! :) I bet these would be even better with some brown sugar. Thanks for the feedback!
I’ve never tried sunflower seed flour in anything so I have no idea if it’ll be good in this cookie recipe (it could be awful for all I know!) but I hope you’re able to find some good recipes using that type of flour. And sorry for the slow reply! I’ve been dealing with Christmas madness… ;)
Hi
I am wondering if you have made them with chickpeas not from a can? I’m curious if they would turn out the same
As long as you soak them and cook them according to the package directions, they should be fine! :)
I couldn’t wait to make these when I saw a post on Facebook. I used almond butter and agave nectar. Great out of the oven but after a week in the fridge and a quick reheat in the microwave they were even better. The chocolate kind of soaked into the cookie. Mmmmmm. I can’t wait to try rolling them in chopped nuts. Thanks for posting that recipe. I am making them for my vegan niece for Christmas.
Those sound like some great changes! So happy that you liked them. :) And microwaving the leftovers is definitely the way to go! I hope your vegan niece will enjoy these. :)
Awesome! Sharing today on my FB page!@sugarfreemom.com
Awesome! Thanks a bunch for sharing. :)
Somewhere I saw this recipe (and misplaced it so I had to come find the source!) but where I’d seen it, there was reference to using PB2 also, instead of actual peanut butter. How do you think that would work?
I’ve never used PB2 before but I believe you add water to make it the consistency of natural peanut butter, right? Just make it as you normally would and replace the peanut butter with it. :)
They are not even remotely as good with pb2 IMO. Use the real stuff here.
I haven’t even tried PB2. I’m all for using the real stuff!
Made them and absolutely loved them. My boyfriend even approved of them and he doesn’t like chickpeas. Used agave syrup and sugar free chocolate chips….all I can say is YUMMMM :)
Yay! So happy that you and your boyfriend liked them. They can be hard to pass off on the boys sometimes. ;) Thanks for the feedback and the rating!
I love this recipe….. I am totally hooked on it…. I love that is no sugar or flour with it:) i made 2 batches, one following this recipe and 2nd batch i let it roll in crushed almonds before placing in the oven
Sorry for the slow reply, Rita! I’m so happy that you liked the cookies. Crushed almonds sounds great. I’ll have to try that at some point. Thanks so much for the feedback and the rating! :)
A friend/co-worker at my place of employment asked that I bake her your Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites (Chickpea cookies). At first I was puzzled to see that there was no four, sugar or butter in the recipe. I did make the cookies according to your recipe and found that they were quite good, even my husband enjoyed them. Thank you for creating an cookie that is healthy and nutritious. jo Anne
Sorry for the slow reply, Jo Anne! Do your colleagues often ask you to make them baked goods? ;) That’s so nice of you to bake these cookies for them! I’m happy that you and your husband liked them. Thanks a bunch for your feedback!
I just made them and took the,m out of the oven….Oh my bean, these are sooooooooooo good. I can see this is gonna be a problem. I love garbanzo beans and this was so easy.,..ummm I’m wondering if I should share or not…..lol thanks for posting!
Hahaha. I love this comment! Thank you! So happy that you liked them. :)
These look amazing! I saw the post on Instagram with a TON of shares but no link back. I googled and found you and I’m so glad!
Instagram post: http://instagram.com/p/bEnQDzEOcP/
Thanks so much for googling to find the source! I really appreciate it. :) The link doesn’t seem to be working. What’s the name of the user? I’ll find it that way. :) Thanks again for letting me know!
Looks like the instagram was taken down. It was from This FB Post: https://www.facebook.com/stacy.stacks/posts/749875071709091:6
Which also gives the recipe in its entirety.
And hey, no problem! I’m a blogger too, and It made me wince to see all the shares you were missing!
Oh, goodness. 341,000 shares. I’m on it! :) Thanks again for letting me know and understanding how frustrating this is. ;)
I used unsweetened cocao chips as I couldn’t find sugar free chocolate chips.
Wal-Mart actually sells those now. Fixing to make the cookies with them.
Ahhh, thank you for sharing this recipe! These are def. going to help get me through studying for finals ;) Only wish I found the recipe sooner!!!
I’m weirdly intrigued. How do they taste in comparison to traditional chocolate chip cookies?
Not really the same. These are more doughy and less cookie-y!
Would I be able to use SunButter Creamy?…
Yup! That’d be fine. :)
These were to die for! I made them for my dairy/gluten/sugar intolerant daughter and served among other desserts for a table full of guests. These were gone so quickly! I then notified the guests of the ingredients and enjoyed the oh-so-puzzled looks on their faces.
I had to use carob chips instead of chocolate chips, but nobody even noticed!
Wow, that’s awesome! I’m so happy that you and your guests enjoyed them. :) And that must have been fun to surprise them all with the ingredients. :D Thanks a ton for the feedback and happy Thanksgiving!