Inspired by my Chickpea Blondies, I decided to make these Chickpea Cookies! They're soft, chewy and fudgy. They're indulgent, yet secretly healthy. A good source of protein and fibre too. And they're vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free, date-sweetened, grain-free, oil-free and nut-free optional. The perfect snack or dessert, and perfect for Christmas and gift-giving!
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Place the chickpeas, soaked and drained dates, almond butter, vanilla and plant-based milk in a food processor or blender.
- Whizz until completely smooth.
- Transfer into a mixing bowl, add the ground almonds and baking powder and mix well.
- Add chocolate chips and mix again.
Tip: Place the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 10 minutes to allow it to firm up slightly.
- Take a heaped tablespoon of the cookie dough and use your hands to form it into a circular, thick patty - don't worry, unlike traditional cookies, these ones won't spread out as they bake.
- Lay it out onto a rectangular baking tray lined with greased baking paper.
- Repeat until the rest of the cookie dough is used up - you should be able to make 10 cookies.
Tip: I shaped the cookie dough into cookies using my hands, but if you find the mixture too gooey to shape with your hands, you can use a cookie scoop instead, and use your hands or the back of a spoon to flatten them slightly.
- Bake in the oven for around 12 minutes - be careful to not over-bake them!
How long do these Chickpea Cookies keep for?
These Chickpea Cookies keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days - the taste or texture remains unchanged, which means they're great for meal prep and making ahead for entertaining.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe:
- The ground almonds can be replaced with ground walnuts, ground hazelnuts or ground sunflower seeds.
- You can use any type of nut or seed butter - almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, tahini etc.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk - almond milk, cashew milk, soy milk, rice milk, oat milk etc.
- For a nut-free version, replace the ground almonds with ground sunflower seeds, replace the almond butter with sunflower seed butter or tahini, and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
- For a refined sugar free version, use refined sugar free chocolate chips.
- You can omit the chocolate chips.
Ingredients you can add to the cookie dough
- Dried cranberries.
- Desiccated coconut.
- Chopped pecan nuts, walnuts, macadamia nuts or hazelnuts.
- Fresh or frozen raspberries or cherries.
More gluten-free vegan cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Coconut Flour Cookies
- Pumpkin Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Lemon Cookies
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Chickpea Cookies (Vegan + GF)
Ingredients
- 400 g (14 oz) tin of chickpeas , drained and rinsed
- 180 g (¾ cup) pitted dates soaked overnight in cold water or 10 minutes in boiling water
- 4 tablespoons smooth almond butter (or sub peanut butter)
- 30 ml (⅛ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- Pinch salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g (1 ⅔ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) * (or sub ground walnuts)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 50 g (⅓ cup) dark chocolate chips or chunks ** (ensure vegan/gluten-free if necessary)
To serve (optional):
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Drain away the water from the soaked dates.
- Place the chickpeas, drained dates, almond butter, almond milk, salt and vanilla in a food processor or blender.
- Blend until completely smooth, mixing it around a couple of times if necessary.
- Transfer into a mixing bowl, add the ground almonds and baking powder and mix well.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix again.
- Place the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 10 minutes for it to firm up slightly.
- Take a heaped tablespoon of the cookie dough and use your hands to form it into a circular, thick patty*** - don't worry, unlike traditional cookies, these ones won't spread out as they bake.
- Lay it out onto a baking tray lined with greased baking paper.
- Repeat until the rest of the cookie dough is used up - you should be able to make 10 cookies.
- Bake in the oven for around 12 minutes - don't worry if they're still quite soft when you take them out as they will firm up as they cool down. Be careful not to over-bake them!
- Sprinkle over flaky sea salt, if desired.
- Leave to cool completely before storing in an airtight container - keeps in the fridge for a good few days.
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Anonymous
Great idea! Looking forward to making these.
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
June
I love the healthy ingredient list and these look delicious! I will definitely try these soon.
Thank you, Rhian.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!