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 got a chance to make these today, and they came out great. Not as pretty – or round – as yours, but they were delicious, and held surprisingly funny shapes through the baking process. And they caused me a great deal of licking everything clean – bowl, fingers, spoon – that I quite enjoyed. Yummy even before cooked. Who knew? Thanks!
Hehe. I think I would have enjoyed the funny shapes more than the round blobs I got. And hey, someone has to do the licking. We can’t wasteful! ;) So happy that you liked the cookies and thanks for the feedback!
I don’t have a food processor… has anyone tried this recipe using an immersion blender?
PS- rating this recipe a 5, as my aunt has made them, and they are ridiculously yummy!
I think someone mentioned doing that but make sure to get it processed really well so that there aren’t any chunks of chickpeas. It’ll probably take longer than with a food processor, but it should still work. Good luck and thanks for the rating! So happy that you liked them. :)
Cookies were delish!! I actually used regular PB (cuz that’s all that was in the house) and they came out amazing!
I’m so not a healthy person, but trying to switch over and these cookies give me some hope :):):)
So happy to hear that you now have a little hope! ;) These cookies are definitely a step in the right direction. Thanks so much for the feedback. :)
These sound amazing! I am dying to try them, the only problem is that my husband doesn’t like peanut butter (crazy, I know!!) do you have any suggestions for alternatives? do these need nuts? Thanks!
You can use any kind of nut butter or SunButter! Lots of people have used almond butter with success. I hope you’ll both like them. :)
Thanks! Made them with ground walnuts instead, tasted pretty great but i think I will have to do them with peanut butter (all for myself!)
another question: is it possible to make these without nuts for a lower fat alternative?
I’m happy they came out with the walnuts! I hope you’ll like the peanut butter version, too. :) Unfortunately, some kind of nut butter is needed to hold these together. With just chickpeas and honey, they’d fall apart.
I used natural almond butter but it was quite oily. Therefore, my cookies came out a little oily and more like raw cookie dough. Lol. Lesson learned. Still delicious though.
Raw cookie dough sounds good to me. ;) I hope a good stir next time will fix the problem! Thanks for the feedback. :)
WOW!! These are amazing! I did use regular peanut butter (well..Skippy’s Natural). =/ They still turned out great it was just super hard to pick them up. Amazing cookies, my 3 year old LOVES them. Thank you!
It’s great to hear that you and your little one liked them! And haha. I love Skippy Natural, even if it isn’t really natural. ;) Good to know that it works in this recipe! Thanks a ton for your feedback. :)
Any ideas on what I can replace the honey with to make it more diabetic friendly?
Thanks!
Here I can help! :) Check out the fourth bulletpoint from the bottom of the list of bulletpoints. Some other commenters have used 30 drops of Stevia and cacao nibs with success. I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies!
I’m sorry I overlooked the bullet points before I asked my question.
I can use the liquid stevia. :) I thought I might need something more like the consistency of honey to ensure the recipe would be successful.
I can’t wait to try it.
No need to apologize! It’s a very long post. :) I would have also thought that you need something more like honey for the recipe to be successful, but others have said it works so I’m hoping they’re right. Good luck and I hope you’ll love the cookies! :)
Ta-Da! All done and they were really good! My husband kept guessing “oatmeal” as the main ingredient ;-) When he found out it was CHICK PEAS…after eating 3 cookies….he said “Wow – I’m glad you didn’t tell me that in the beginning”
Haha. Clever you not telling your husband about the secret ingredient! ;) So happy that you both enjoyed them! Thanks a ton for the feedback. :)
…In the oven now! I am both very nervous and very excited =D Thanks for the opportunity to create a cookie that…I never ever would have imagined to try!!
Nervous?! Aww. No need to be nervous! If I like them as a non-chickpea-liker, you will, too! ;)
These are by far my favorite cookies. I’m gluten and dairy free, and these are such a great option. I am a health coach and I often pass along the url to this recipe to moms and they always love it! I use almond butter in place of peanut butter and it works great.
I’m so happy to hear that you like the cookies so much! And even better that you like them with almond butter. :) Thanks for passing on the url and for the feedback! It’s much appreciated. :)
I have made this exact recipe (a big thanks for sharing) many times & have always been thrilled with how they turn out.
Today I changed it a bit. I used PB2 instead of actual peanut butter & added liquid egg whites to create the right consistency of the dough.
I will definitely do this again as the peanut butter flavour was amazing.
That sounds interesting! So you didn’t add water to the PB2 – just egg whites? I’ve never actually used it myself but some commenters have asked about how to use PB2 in this recipe. Thanks so much for the feedback! I’m happy you enjoyed them. :)
Oooh interesting modification. Keen to try this recipe and may just take the PB2 option. How much PB2 and egg white did you need to get the right consistency?
i’m curious about this modification too! would like to try it this way
This is my all time favorite cookie recipe!!!
I know this sounds bland, but I skip the agave. I think the chips are the perfect amount of sweetness–weird I know!
These cookies are also awesome with almond butter.
Haha. Well I think it’s awesome that you skip the sweetener and still like them! I wish I were like that. :) Thanks so much for the feedback!
Made these yesterday and they are amazing! I did however use regular peanut butter because I have 3 jars of it so I didn’t want to go but more peanut butter. I baked them a little longer and it actually turned out good.
That’s awesome! So happy that they didn’t turn out oily with the regular peanut butter. :) Thanks a bunch for the feedback!
Beautiful, trying them in the morning. NOTE they will only be dairy free if your chocolate chips are dairy free. Most contain milk or milk byproducts. VERY important, if you have a milk allergy child. The amount of milk in the chips would be enough for an anaphalyctic reaction. Dairy allergic grand daughter will love these!! Thanks.
I hope that you and your granddaughter enjoyed them! :) And very true about the dairy-free chocolate chips. I mentioned using dairy-free chocolate chips in the post and the recipe so I hope people will pay attention to that. Thanks for the feedback!
I tried the stevia for sweetener- not sweet at all. Maybe I’ll try xylitol next time.
I hope that’ll work out better for you. :)
I used chickpea flower instead (because I don’t have a food processor). Instead of baking powder I used 1 teaspoon of baking soda and, separately until the last second, a table spoon of white vinegar. Used brown sugar instead of honey since cooking honey is about the same as using sugar. They’re in the oven… We’ll see how they come out!
Wow. Those are some interesting changes! I hope it worked out for you. :)
Hi this recipe sounds great! My lo is allergic to all beans except black- and dairy soy gluten rice eggs and peas. Do you think black beans would work?
I can’t remember anyone mentioning using black beans (though it seems like they’ve tried all the other kinds) and I’m not too sure if that’d work out. My gut tells me no but if you do try it, let us know how they come out! Good luck. :)
Have you tried these brownie? Really awesome. I alternate with these wonderful cookies. :)
Oops here is the other recipe:
http://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-gluten-free-black-bean-brownies/
Thanks for the recipe! Off to check it out. :)
So happy you liked the cookies! Thanks for the rating. :)
I made these cookies today. No one could tell they weren’t just great cookies, then I told them the secret, they still loved them.
So happy that everyone liked them (even after knowing that they were full of chickpeas! ;)) Thanks for the rating!
Did you use raw honey? Or the golden stuff? Thanks!!
I used the golden stuff but others have mentioned using raw honey and they didn’t have any issues with it. I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies! :)
I never leave comments but I’m really compelled. These are my favorite cookies ever. Everyone loved them and couldn’t believe they were chickpea cookies… I could hardly believe it and I made them! We baked half and refrigerated the other. Both great. I’m making my mother some for Mother’s Day. I never wanted them to end.
Haha. “I never wanted them to end.” I think this is one of my favorite comments ever. :) Thank you! I’m so happy that you and your friends enjoyed the cookies. I hope your mother will like them, too! Thanks a bunch for your nice comment and the rating. :)