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!
36 comments are awaiting moderation!
Just made these and they are great! The dough tastes a little like chickpeas but the baked cookies taste like awesome peanut butter-y chocolate cookies! My boyfriend said they were awesome and wants to trick people into eating healthy cookies haha! I ran out of honey so I used 1/8 cup honey and 1/8 cup of regular white sugar, and my natural peanut butter is refrigerated so its really stiff, and not runny at all. The cookies held together just fine, and took exactly 10 minutes to bake in my toaster oven! Thank you for an awesome healthy alternative!
I have made these three times in the past week and they are amazing! My fiancé says he never needs another chocolate chip cookie again. Wahoo!!
Anon – I'm happy that you liked them! Thank you very much for the feedback. :)
Anon – I hope they like them! I hope you did too.
Anon – Out of 150 – 200 reviews, you're the first one to dislike them. We're all entitled to our opinions, but I wonder if something went wrong. :)
not gonna lie, these were pretty gross, very bland, and they smell terrible!
For those who looking for a healthier snake this is good. My grandchildren will get the opportunity to try these.
I just baked these tonight. Very good recipe! My husband and I ate three each. I also thought they tasted really good room temperature or hot. Thanks for the recipe!
Shannon – Yay! So happy that you enjoyed them and thanks for leaving feedback. :)
I just pulled these out of the oven. They are awesome! They are definitely going in my recipe arsenal of non-junky items that fill the need for something sweet.
Anon – I'm sitting on a train and tried to find the recipe you're referring to but didn't find it under her cookie recipes or her January recipe index. Or a Google search. I can't even find something remotely similar. Please post the link because I would love to see it! :D
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/1/ (her January recipe index)
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/01/03/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-truffles/ These were posted in January but I can't say that they're really similar. They do use chickpeas and a little peanut butter, but yeah, they're completely different. They look good, though!
And for everyone else, I ALWAYS list my source if I worked off someone's recipe, even if I changed most of the measurements / ingredients. Always. :)
I loved these cookies the first time I baked them using the chocolate covered katie website recipe she posted in january, very very similiar to your recipe, except you use honey and hers is brown sugar.
Amanda – So happy that you enjoyed them! Thanks for linking to me. :)
Brandy – Thanks for letting me know that you liked them! I hope your kids liked them too. And that they got some in the end! :D
1 Fit Mama – Haha. It just makes me happy when I read that everyone else likes them room temperature or cold!
Amanda – If you go to the first page of comments and Ctrl + F, type calorie, and you will find a lot of different opinions. I'm happy to hear that you liked them! :)
Lina – Nope, room temp is fine. :) Happy you liked them!
hello,
i made these last night for first time..oh so yummy..but do they need to be refridgerated?
thanks
Lina
Just made these and they are awesome!!! The chocolate didn't ooze like yours, but they are delicious. Do you know how many calories in each?
These are amazing! Don't freak out but I love them just out of fridge:) So yummy-I can't stop eating them. Down to my last two bites and saving to enjoy while I watch my DVR programs tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
MMMM! This is my 3rd recipe that uses chickpeas instead of wheat flour & the ONLY one that I can even tollerate the taste of. I love these! I made 5 (one for each me & my 4 kids), but have eaten 5. Don't tell my kids. Gotta put more in the oven before my kids find out I ate theirs :)
I just wanted you to know I made these and they where a HUGE hit, I linked your recipe/site to mine :) http://amandasouriol.com/higher-vibrations/
Anon – Kidney beans?! Wow. That is awesome. I'm so happy that they came out well. Thanks for letting us know that kidney beans also work!
Jenn – Great! I think someone asked about using sunflower butter, so now they have their answer. I love that you were able to adapt it to suit your needs. Thanks for the feedback. :)
Meribeth – Excellent! I seem to be the only one who dislikes them room temperature. I'm happy that you both liked them!
Anon – Thanks for the fat note! (that sounds weird, huh?) People don't seem to realize that it's healthy fat, so I'm happy you made a note about that.
Anon – Thank you for the info about chickpea flour! I might try pan toasting it like you said. I'd hate to waste the stuff. I've made pasta with it, and while the pasta tastes pretty unpleasant by itself, adding lots of flavorful sauce takes away the taste. So there's always that. :)
Erin, this is about the chickpea flour smell. Chickpea flour is referred to as besan flour in the Indian cuisine & is used extensively. When you pan toast the flour lightly, it gives it a nice nutty aroma & flavor. We use chickpea flour instead of wheat flour for breading or tempura batter. You can try this website for chickpea/besan flour recipes: http://www.themahanandi.org/. Hope you find a use for the flour.
Onion Pakora ;http://www.spicytasty.com/
Posted by Nithu on Oct 11, 2011 in Appetizers, Featured | 11 comments
Pakora is a deep fried snack(fritters). It is made of besan (gram flour) and rice flour along with green chilies, curry leaves and spices….
I just made these today. They're sooo good and I only tried them warm. It's gooey and just simply delicious. No one can tell that there are chickpeas in them. I could make 13 of them out of this recipe, 40 grams per cookie.
One cookie is 160 calories and 80 calories from fat. But most of the fat calories are the healthy fats since it comes mainly from peanut butter.
My friend and I made these together today and we thought they were wonderful. They were just as good after they cooled of as they were right out of the oven.
I just tried this and used sunflower seed butter instead as we are nut free and it turned out splendid. We also used the Enjoy Life chocolate chips so that it was fully dairy and soy free. GREAT little baked nugget of meltiness!
I made these last night and even after telling everyone what was in them, they were a huge hit. I didn't have chickpeas, but after seeing these on Pinterest all week, I was set on making them so used kidney beans successfully! Kids are loving that they can get their protein at breakfast through a cookie!
spin mommy – So happy that everyone liked them! :)
Eric W. – Thanks for your comment! I don't think you need to be concerned about my dislike for them room temperature because I seem to be the only one that dislikes them cold. It's just that they're so gooey when warm. You just can't compare the two! I'm going to look into bessan laddu now. Thanks for the tip. :)
Anon – Several commenters have used different types of nut butter and everything has turned out well so far. But I can't imagine the flavor being nearly as nice!
Anon – Nobody has mentioned Stevia yet and I don't use it so I'm afraid I don't know. Please let us know if you do try it! Good luck. :)
There are a lot of comments, so I apologize if this has been mentioned before. How do you think Stevia would work in place of the honey? Thanks, Cindy
What if I use almond butter, do you think that will taste ok?
A friend linked this recipe to me. I have a dairy allergy in my household, so this is really up my alley. Your mention of grain-free is intriguing, but you've basically got an analogue to the South Asian sweet known as besan laddu. However, your description of the cold state tasting nasty is concerning. You might offset this by tuning the recipe more to the South Asian cuisine or European cuisine by going with the use of tahini (sesame paste) or non-grain flours, such as amaranth or almond along with chickpea flour.
so yeah made these…loved the raw dough…loved them cooked…loved them cold…so umm yeah about to make them again :D btw kids ate them and had absolutly noooo idea hehe
cityatnight – I'm so happy that you enjoyed them! Thanks for the feedback. :)
Anon – Haha. I'm happy you could trick your husband into liking these! Unfortunately mine came into the kitchen and found out what I was up to the very first time I made these. Now he just calls them the "weird things." Thanks for the nice comment and leaving feedback!
just made these and they are SO GOOD. you deserve big kudos for coming up with this. i'm doing the Engine 2 diet plan so i'm also taking baby steps with my husband to see how far i can push the vegan thing with him. these are a godsend because as long as he thinks there's still some chocolate involved he's cool. he took one bite of these and before he'd even swallowed he says "awesome!" that's the gold standard in our kitchen. thanks!
These were unbelievable!! Easiest cookies I've ever made, and beyond delicious. I am forever in your debt for sharing this recipe!
Terry – It should be okay! I think someone else mentioned not using the parchment paper and it being okay. I'm just so used to using a Silpat for absolutely everything that I never think about if it's really needed. Good luck with the pulser chopper. :)
Colleen – Haha. You sound like me. I'll attach -y to the end of any word. And two?! You only baked two? Oh my goodness. I would have gone back to the freezer and pulled some more out. But you know, your way is really the best. If you only bake two, you can only eat two. These aren't low calorie so portion control is nice. :) Thanks a bunch for leaving feedback!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and just had to try them! My husband is on a new high protein diet and I'm a runner so naturally, I love trying recipes like this. They are AWESOME!! I am seriously shocked how Unchickpea-y (like that one?) they are. I was pouring stuff into the food processor when I realized I didn't have honey, so I used agave and they turned out perfectly! I only baked two and froze the other dough balls and now I'm a little disappointed I did that, because I want more! Thank you so much for posting!
Thanks, I have a small pulser chopper, I'll try that. So much for reading the whole recipe. I'm dying to make these and have everything, but no parchment paper. Think I'll be ok just baking them on a cookie sheet without the paper?
Terry – If you have something like a Vitamix, I guess it would (but I've never used one so I can't say for sure). But some people have mentioned using an electric mixer and the chickpeas not getting pureed enough. I just can't imagine these being yummy with chickpea chunks. :(
I don't have a food processor, would a blender or electric mixer work?
Lauralynn – They ARE weird. I can't deny that. I'm happy that your kids still liked them!
Janelle – I'm happy you all liked them! I hope your mother in law likes them too. :) Thanks for the feedback.
Morgan – I hope you do and that you enjoy them!
Anon – I hope you do! I'm sure organic peanut butter will be wonderful.
Ally – You really can't! But I agree that they are weird. Super weird. But tasty when warm. :)
Alyssa – Wow, thanks a bunch! I really appreciate it. I'm happy you both enjoyed the cookies and I hope that your clients enjoy them too! Thanks for letting me know. :)
I just made these this weekend and they were a hit — event with my chickpea-hating husband! I am a dietitian and am printing your recipe and pictures for my clients, giving your site and pictures all the credit! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Wow, I found these on Pinterest, and thought they were just cookie dough with something to substitute the flour, and then I saw chickpeas, and thought "Weird……" But after I read some of the comments you said you couldn't taste the chickpeas at all. Interesting! Please check out my blog: avhlife.blogspot.com I recently turned it into a foodie blog. Thanks!
I saw this and I have to try it. I'm going to try with organic chocolate peanut butter which is very tasty. I will let you know how it turns out.
I'm going to make these tomorrow! :) Thank you for posting this!
We made these tonight, after finding them on pinterest – they were wonderful! My 4 kids loved them, and so did my hubby!! We will make these often! My mother-in-law has celiac and I cannot wait to make these for her!!
Thanks!
Janelle
I just made these. Kind of weird; kind of delicious. My toddler loves them. I also made a second batch and adapted them for my 9 month old (no peanut butter, maple syrup instead of honey, added some applesauce). He loves them too. Thanks!
Mine did not come out like yours, but they were okay. I think my peas were too soggy and they didn't grind up very well.
However, I am trying to lose weight, and these are NOT light food. You should put that somewhere. They are about 165 calories each (varies a bit w/your peanut butter, sweetener, and chocolate chips. But I think on the whole you'd probably always end up between 150-200 calories each. That's a LOT of calories for their size. I've seen some say they downed 3-4 at a time. I did 4 before it hit me that they probably had a LOT of calories and I ran to add them up.
While I think they are really yummy for skinny people, if you struggle with weight the nutritional content is just not worth the calories. They are like those protein bars trainers give athletes to pack on the weight.
Just a thought to keep in mind.
Anon – Yay! Thanks for letting me know! I hope you husband also liked them. :)
These were great!!! I'm going to see if the hubby can tell!! I think they taste great!!!
Lorna – I don't think it's that bad either. :) Thanks for leaving your calculation and I hope you'll like them!
What an interesting recipe. I'm totally going to try these. I just calculated it, and they're 125 calories & 5 g of protein each (if you make 14). Not too shabby for all that gooey PB and chocolate! nomnom!
Anon – Great! I'm happy you all loved them. Thanks for leaving feedback. :)
I made these and everyone loved them – including myself! they go just as fast as it takes to make them – super quick! =) these are awesome.
Casper – Haha. I'm happy that they liked it! Thanks for the nice comment. I'll try to keep them coming although my other recipes are a bit more "normal" than this one. I need to come up with some more bizarre ones. :)