Now I know what you’re thinking, cookie dough and chickpeas do not mesh? I’m here to inform you that that is totally not the case. When chickpeas are blended up, they become this really nice base to work with. For this recipe, I add in almond butter, almond flour and maple syrup to sweeten it up and I promise you, this taste just like the real thing- but better!

If you’re like, no way it’s better? Trust me on this, it is! Since this recipe only requires a small amount of maple syrup, you won’t feel like yucky sugar crash after enjoying a spoon full or two. Also, this recipe is high in protein since it’s made entirely from chickpeas!

What is Chickpea Cookie Dough?

Chickpea Cookie Dough is a delicious twist on classic cookie dough, just without all the butter, sugar and egg! This cookie dough is completely vegan and gluten-free and is made with only four simple ingredients! You can eat the cookie dough just as it, the recipe for that is here. But I took it a step further and made this cookie dough into delicious bars!

Ingredients in Cookie Dough Bars

Chickpeas- for this recipe we will be using 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinse and removing any skins that have naturally fallen off.

Almond Butter- creamy, all natural almond butter work great in this recipe. If you don’t like almond butter you can swap it out for any other nut or seed butter! Cashew butter, peanut butter, pecan butter, etc!

Almond Flour- almond flour to help thicken up this recipe and also making it gluten-free!

Maple syrup- unlike traditional cookie dough recipes, the only sweetener in this recipe is the maple syrup. Which is all natural, refined sugar free and has no funky or weird ingredients!

Dark Chocolate Chips– non-dairy dark chocolate chips to keep this recipe vegan, otherwise you can use any chocolate chips that you’d like!

Coconut oil- only about 1-2 tsp of coconut oil mixed with the dark chocolate chips and almond butter for the top layer. The coconut oil allows for the chocolate chips to melt perfectly and the almond butter allows for the chocolate to not break when hardened.

How to make cookie dough bars?

When I tell you this recipe can’t be any easier, I really meant that it can’t be any easier! All you need to do to make this edible and delicious cookie dough is blend all the ingredients together, fold in the chocolate chips and, yup… that’s it!

To start, drain and rinse the chickpeas, aka garbonzo beans and remove any skin that has naturally fallen off. No need to go through and remove each one, just pick out and toss the ones that have already fallen off.

I use my food processor for this recipe, I find that it works better than a blender. However, if all you have is a blender then it will still work. You may just have to scrape down the sides a few times.

Add the drained + rinsed chickpeas to your food processor, along with the almond butter, almond flour and maple syrup. Blend until combined.

Fold in dark chocolate chips last and transfer the dough to an 8×8 baking dish that is lined with parchment paper. I also like to lightly coat the pan with non-stick spray before placing in the parchment paper to ensure nothing sticks!

Press down on the cookie dough until it is spread evenly throughout the 8×8 baking dish. Set aside while you melt the dark chocolate.

In the microwave, or a double broiler, melt dark chocolate chips with almond butter and coconut oil. The almond butter allows the for chocolate to be soft rather than rock hard when frozen. The coconut oil allows for the dark chocolate to melt and become smooth and creamy. Melt in 30 second increments then pour over cookie dough.

Spread evenly and place in the freezer for a minimum of 1- 1.5 hours to harden. Remove from pan, slice and sprinkle with sea salt for a sweet and salty balance.

I store this in the fridge and enjoy up to 4 days, or my freezer and enjoy up to 3 weeks. This cookie dough always tastes best fresh, but I still enjoy it throughout the week.