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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I’ve made these many times and I only use regular peanut butter and they’re awesome. Not too oily at all.
Great to hear! :) It seems like the oil content varies from brand to brand. Happy you picked one of the good ones! ;)
Ok, how about without honey? I don’t do sugar/honey/agave at all. Do you need it to hold it all together?
Yes, you need some kind of liquid sweetener as it’s the only liquid in the cookies. Without it, they’d probably be crumbly and fall apart. Is there any liquid sweetener you could use? Stevia perhaps?
I was thinking the same thing after making a batch last night as I found them super sweet. Might try halve the sweetner and replace with water to the same consistency.
That could work! But I’m wondering why they came out super sweet. Did you by any chance use milk chocolate chips?
These are “I’d-better-hide-some-if-I-want-one” good!
Haha. Happy that you liked them! :)
I love this recipe! Just made it for the first time today. I used part honey and part maple syrup, and used skippy natural pb with honey. will make again!
Mmm! That sounds awesome. So happy that it worked out for you! Thanks for the feedback. :)
Hi admattai!
What kind of maple syrup did you use and could you taste it in the cookie? I’m new to this raw baking thing and currently debating between using maple syrup, agave, and honey. What sweetener do you find works best?
Hi, Lauren! I’m not admattai (I’m thinking they might not come back and see your comment) but I thought I’d answer anyway. I’ve used regular maple syrup in these and regular honey and I couldn’t taste either in the cookie. Just peanut butter and chocolate! The thing is that these aren’t raw. Or do you not want to bake them?
Hey! Could you use raw honey? I have everything else! :)
Hi! Yes, raw honey is fine. :) Sorry for the slow reply! I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies. :)
Oh my, Erin! These were delectable!!! Just what I was craving. My husband and I are doing a cleanse (Standard Process) and I was dying for some sort of cookie. These were fantastic! Thank you :)
So happy that you liked them, Alex! :) Thanks a bunch for the feedback and the rating! And so happy that you found a cookie you can eat during the cleanse. :)
Hi! These cookies look yummy! I want to try this recipe but I was wondering, do you think it will work the same with dried, soaked, chickpeas? That’s all I have in my house right now! If so, should I boil and cook them first until they are soft? Thanks in advance!
Hi, Claire! Yes, you should soak them and cook until soft (follow the package directions because I’m not sure exactly how long that takes) :) Good luck! I hope you’ll like them. :)
Hi Erin,
Asking for a friend. Any alternative to peanut butter? Nut allergies:-/
Cheers!!
Yup! Check out the ingredient list. I’ve linked to Nut Butter (which is ground up sunflower seeds). :) I hope that’ll work for your friend!
Thanks Erin. Might try myself different versions! Always forget about good old sunflower seeds.What a great idea.
Let me know what you come up with! :)
Yuummy! I used oily butter and we still love them but definitely will try with normal butter too to see the difference. What a great healthy alternative to mass produced sweets.
I’m so happy that you liked them, Ania! :) Thanks a ton for the feedback and I hope you’ll get a chance to make them with natural peanut butter. :)
I totally disregarded your advice and used regular peanut butter, and sugar in place of the honey. I’ve been craving cookie dough recently, and eating it plain has an interesting coconuty flavor and texture to it; I have no idea where that came from, but seems yummy! I was skeptical to make a whole batch starting out, but so far I’m impressed! Sending it to my brother who has a gluten free friend. I may eat the rest of the batch without cooking. I am somewhat skeptical maybe I didn’t cook them enough, they are gooey but some of them are also falling apart. But yum, and simple! Love it!
Haha. This comment made me laugh. :D I have no idea where the coconut flavor is coming from, either! Bizarre. That’s so nice that you’re sending your brother’s friend some cookies! I hope (s)he’ll like them. The cookies should be gooey but not falling apart. That would probably be because of the lack of honey, which was the only liquid in the recipe and what was holding the cookies together! Try ’em again with honey and you should be fine. :)
Great cookies I just wonder if you could change to make nut free?
I have made 4 times this week and fancy a change
I’m so happy that you like the cookies! :) You could use SunButter to make them nut-free. I don’t know if it’d taste good but some commenters have like them that way! Have you tried different nut butters? I bet hazelnut butter would be good!
I used soy nut butter it was good with that
Thanks for the tip! :)
I have made these cookies so many times, and each time they are perfect! I don’t think they last more than a day or two. Anyway, I would like to mail these to my 2 year old nephew… the ingredients are perfect for toddlers. Anyway, do you think they will hold up? any tips?
To be honest, I’m not sure how well they’d hold up in the mail. About how many days would they be in the mail? I’m guessing 3 or less would be okay. Here are some great “tips on how to mail cookies. I hope that helps! :) I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed the cookies. Thanks for the feedback!
These were amazing! The first time I made them were a little different than yhe second time. First was with dairy free, nut free, and soy free chocolate chips, but the second time I replaced that for a few other things. Instead of the chocolate, I added crushed almonds, raisins, and just a handful of granola- it was wonderful! I also used Sunflowerseed butter to make it a little bit healthier and it was just as good! Just a little more moist.
Those sound like some great changes! And moister is always better, right? :) Thanks so much for the feedback!
My mix didn’t come out all thick and sticky so I could roll it into balls. It was more of a paste – any suggestions? I rinsed and dried my chick peas – maybe not enough?
I replaced choc chips with dried blueberries – worked great and burst of sweetness was nice… highly recommend.
That sounds like a great change! I’m loving dried blueberries right now. My mixture was also like a paste, but a really thick paste. I used wet hands to roll them into balls. If that doesn’t work, I guess you could try using a spoon to drop the blobs of cookie dough onto the sheet. Good luck! :)
I found that chickpeas alone didn’t grind as well in my food processor but when I added a little bit of extra virgin olive oil in with the chickpeas, processed them alone, and then transferred them into a bowl and used electric hand-beaters to add the peanut butter and other ingredients it worked better. so if you’re like me hoping not to burn out your motor, that’s my tip to share.
I’m happy that that worked out for you! And I hope it was worth all that trouble. ;) I wonder if chickpeas vary a lot brand to brand because I’ve never had an issue with grinding the chickpeas (although I know other people have). I guess it could also be the food processor! Either way, I’m happy you found a way. Thanks so much for the tip and for the rating. :)
This is now my go-to guilt-free cookie recipe. I add extra peanut butter and chocolate. Thank you!
Haha. I bet they’re much better with extra peanut butter and chocolate! I bet they’d be even better with more honey. I like how you work. :D Thanks a ton for the feedback!
You mention freezing the cookie balls – would you do this before baking and just bake what you need or freeze the baked cookies and reheat in the oven?
People have done it both ways but personally, I’d freeze the dough and then bake! You could also freeze the baked cookies and then reheat in the microwave. I hope it works out well for you! :)
Have you made bars with this or a similar recipe? The cookies were great but SO messy/sticky make. Found a similar recipe for bars/blondies but has 3/4 c brown sugar. Don’t think Agave will work for bars, but not sure, and don’t have Truvia Sugar blend.
Ready to bake on this very snowy day!!
I made them as bars once but don’t remember how long I baked them! I didn’t have a problem with the stickiness. I used a silicone spatula to get them in the pan and then used wet hands to pat them down. I think the problem with brown sugar in this recipe is that honey is the only liquid. Why do you think agave wouldn’t work? Good luck! :)
My grocery didn’t have canned chickpeas so I bought a bag of dry. Do I just need to cook them first before adding with other ingredients and processing?
Definitely cook them first. Follow the directions on the package (I believe you have to soak them before cooking). Good luck! :)
Thanks for sharing this…I was so skeptical but they really are yummy and so easy to make!!
I’m so happy that you liked them, Laura! :)
Love this. At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked them, but I also couldn’t stop popping them into my mouth. I used PB2 and it worked. They are tasty, but I think I’ll try real PB next time. I also used an immersion blender so it wasn’t super smooth (I was being impatient and WANTED THEM IN THE OVEN!), but I kind of like the different textures. I don’t think this first batch will get approval from my children (and I’m happy not to share yet – hehe – a WHOLE BATCH TO MYSELF!), but next time, I’m following your recipe to a T, and I BET my children will love them! So glad I finally tried it! Thank you so much for sharing – I LOVE going through your recipes!
I’m so happy that you like the recipes! I’m happy to hear that you liked these. :) And yeah, I bet your kids will love these when you make them with the food processor! No funky chunks then. ;) Thanks so much for the feedback and the rating!