This healthy chickpea cookie dough is no bake, vegan, gluten free and made in under 5 minutes! A perfect protein and fibre rich snack for kids and adults, alike!
Raise your hands if you LOVE raw cookie dough?
I know as a kid, the best part of making cookies with my mom was eating the raw dough.
Now that I am a mom of two and have spent the past 3 years pregnant, I get why my mom didn’t want me eating the stuff raw. Raw cookie dough is kinda a food poisoning hazard! It’s also not particularly nutritious for you so it’s not like there’s any benefits to outweigh the risk. So in an effort to have a snack with all the flavour of raw cookie dough without the risk, I present this healthy chickpea cookie dough. I promise you, I am about to get you hooked!
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
What if I told you that you could have your cookie dough AND get some nutrition in there? This healthy chickpea cookie dough is the answer to all life’s problems. It’s packed with protein, fibre, healthy fats AND it’s totally safe to eat “raw”. In fact, this chickpea cookie dough is not cooked and can be made in virtually 5 minutes.
This cookie dough is not only super fun for the kiddos to eat but it’s also a great recipe to get them involved in the kitchen. And as I talk about in my post on picky eating, one of the best ways we can get our kids to try new foods is to get them involved in the making it. And um.. chocolate or sprinkles also kinda helps LOL
Ingredients
Chickpeas – I always use canned chickpeas because I’m lazy like that, and also because I promised you a no bake recipe. I also use no salt added in this recipe (because it’s a sweet recipe), but if you only have the salted variety, give it a good rinse.
Natural Peanut Butter– If you don’t have peanut butter, you can definitely use almond or cashew or even sunbutter. I do recommend however stirring it well so that you end up with a nice smooth cookie dough that is not too oily or too thick.
Almond Flour – Almond flour is naturally gluten free and is rich in fibre, protein and healthy fats. It’s really just ground down nuts so you can absolutely eat it “raw”.
Maple syrup – Feel free to use honey if you prefer, but to keep this recipe vegan, we prefer maple syrup. We’re also proud Canadians, so yah…
Cookie Dough Flavours
This is your opportunity to add whatever childhood favourite cookie flavours you want. The sky is the limit but here are some of my favourites!
Chocolate Chip – Just add dark chocolate chips!
Cranberry Coconut – Yum! Toasted coconut and dried cranberries is totally my jam!
Sprinkles – Secretly my favourite. Definitely my son’s favourite. Sprinkles make EVERYTHING more fun.
Double chocolate – When chocolate chips are not enough, add cocoa powder too.
How to Make this Recipe
This recipe could not be simpler. Here’s how to make no bake healthy chickpea cookie dough like a pro.
Step 1: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the chickpeas, peanut butter, vanilla, almond flour, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt. Mix for about a minute, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix for another minute or so until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add almond milk as desired if you prefer a texture that is more of a dip. If you prefer more like hard cookie dough, leave it without the milk.
Step 2: Divide the cookie dough mixture into 4 equal portions. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mix-ins for each variation into each portion of dough.
Step 3: Cover and refrigerate the cookie doughs until ready to serve.
Expert Tips
First, I would remove chickpea skins. First of all, always rinse and dry the chickpeas well, then rub them through your hands to remove the skins. This will ensure the cookie dough is super smooth. You can also sweeten this recipe to taste. I used 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, but you can use more or less to taste. For a cookie dough texture, you won’t need any milk to thin it. However, for more of a dip texture, you could add 2-3 tbsp of almond milk.
Lastly, let’s talk about single flavour batches. The amounts in the recipe are designed to allow you to have all four flavours (because who wants to choose!) But to make the entire batch one flavour, use these amounts:
- Chocolate Chip: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- Cranberry Coconut: 1/2 cup toasted coconut + 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- Sprinkles: 1/4 cup of sprinkles, plus a few more for the top
- Double chocolate: 2 tbsp cocoa powder + 4 tsp unsweetened almond milk + 4 tsp maple syrup + 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Recipe FAQs
This is best stored in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to 5 days. You can also store it in the freezer in a sealed freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Yes, to make this school safe, you can use a nut-free soy butter or sunflower seed butter.
Honestly, the sky is the limit on flavours! Try adding your favourite nuts, seeds, dried fruit, chopped chocolate bits, freeze-fried fruit or crushed cookies.
This recipe has far less sugar than traditional cookie dough, plus the benefits of fibre, protein and healthy monounsaturated fats. The result is that you’ll feel fuller for much longer!
Yes, mama! That’s why I made it! There are no eggs in this recipe so it’s totally pregnancy safe.
This is a pretty thick consistency, so I don’t recommend it as cookie dough for babies under 1 or new eaters since it could ball up and get sticky in their mouth. But you could thin it out with almond milk to be more of a dip and serve it with fruit.
Almond flour, maple syrup, chickpeas, and peanut butter are all naturally gluten free, vegan, dairy free, soy free and egg free!
More Recipes You Might Like
If you liked this chickpea cookie dough recipe, then you might also like some more of our no bake recipes on the blog:
- Chickpea Peanut Butter Biscuits
- Banana Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan & Toddler Friendly)
- Rainbow No Bake Brownies (Vegan & Gluten Free)
- Healthy No Bake Granola Bars
- No Bake Cheerios Bars
- Peanut Butter Blondies with Caramel Popcorn
What are some of your go to nostalgic food memories? Have you tried making this chickpea cookie dough? Leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts!
Chickpea Cookie Dough 4 Ways (Vegan & Gluten Free Snack)
Ingredients
- 1 15 oz can (1 ½ cups) no salt added drained and rinsed canned chickpeas (see my notes)
- ¼ cup natural peanut butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp almond flour
- 2-4 tbsp maple syrup or more to taste see my notes
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Optional 2-3 tablespoons of unsweetened vanilla almond milk see notes
Chosen add-ins (each amount is for 1/4 of the recipe so you can make four types with this recipe- see note if you want to make just one variety):
Chocolate Chip:
- 2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
Cranberry Coconut:
- 2 tbsp toasted coconut
- 3 tbsp dried cranberries
Sprinkles:
- 1 tbsp of sprinkles plus a few more for the top
Double chocolate
- 1 ½ tsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the chickpeas, peanut butter, vanilla, almond flour, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt.
- Mix for about a minute, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix for another minute or so until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Add almond milk as desired to achieve a texture that is more of a dip.Divide the cookie dough mixture into 4 equal portions. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mix-ins for each variation into each portion of dough.
- Cover and refrigerate the cookie doughs until ready to serve.
Notes
- Chocolate Chip: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- Cranberry Coconut: 1/2 cup toasted coconut + 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- Sprinkles: 1/4 cup of sprinkles, plus a few more for the top
- Double chocolate: 2 tbsp cocoa powder + 4 tsp unsweetened almond milk + 4 tsp maple syrup + 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Nutrition
Let me know which flavour is your favourite or what combinations you dream up!
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
Morena says
I just tried this recipe and it’s absolutely amazing! It will become very recurrent for my sweet breakfast!! I’m also trying to up my fiber game so this is absolutely perfect!
Hannah says
I think I will try it with pancake mix, since that’s what I have and it’s made with almond flour hahaha. Can I leave out the maple syrup? Or is it important for the texture? Can I use apple sauce? Is that weird?
Abbey Sharp says
Maple syrup is used for sweetness so you can add any sweetener of your choice instead.
Rachel says
Amazing recipe! Just as a note… be sure to take the outer layer off the chickpeas. I made the mistake of skipping that step the first time. It makes a huge difference as far as overall texture!
Cheryl Brisson says
Easy, delicious and fun – perfect with apple slices!
Eveline says
This looking yumm, can’t wait to give it a try. Question about the chickpea skins; would there be any nutritional benefit in leaving them on and giving the chickpeas a blitz in a high speed blender like a Vitamix for equalled smoothness? Or would it affect flavor?
Abbey Sharp says
It wouldnt affect flavour and may add a tiny bit more fibre but the cookie dough may not turn out as smooth.
Helen Montanez says
This recipe is so fun to make! It is absolutely delicious! Tastes just like cookie dough!
Abbey Sharp says
Thanks Helen!
Nicole Strong says
What is the serving /for reference to the nutrition information.
Thank you!
Abbey Sharp says
Hi Nicole! The nutritional information is all listed in the recipe card 🙂
M says
Do you have a suggested substitution for almond flour? Would regular flour that’s been toasted before using it work? We have a tree but allergy but peanuts are fine.
Abbey Sharp says
You can substitute with any flour that you prefer 🙂
Lieke says
Hey Abbey! This looks great and i really want to try this. Just one question – instead of using chickpeas, can i use ready-made chickpea flour? It’s basically the same thing so i figured it should be fine but i’m a bit of a baking disaster so i wanna ask first, haha.
Abbey Sharp says
I’ve never tried it with chickpea flour but you can definitely try it out!