I love sneaking beans into treats and chickpeas are so versatile! Chocolate chips, peanut butter, and an extra drizzle of chocolate make these bars sweet enough that they satisfy my craving for a treat but they also sneak in a nice boost of protein. Chickpeas make up the bulk of the cookie dough base and a layer of peanut butter on top make up these tasty chickpea cookie dough bars!
No Bake
Easy
Freezer Friendly (they're actually better frozen!)
They're A Great Post-Workout Cool Down Treat
Chickpeas and Peanut Butter Provide A Good Dose Of Protein
And The Chocolate Adds Some Extra Fun
Ingredients For Chickpea Cookie Dough Bars
This protein cookie dough bar recipe is less than 10 ingredients and no bake! Just the kind of recipe I love!
The cookie dough base is made from:
- Chickpeas (canned or cooked from scratch for even more savings!)
- Oat flour (if you have rolled oats in your pantry; you have oat flour! Just grind the oats down!)
- Pitted dates (we love using pitted deglet noor dates in baking because they are a little lower in cost than big medjool dates which... we save for snacking! Check out our Fav Fastest Snack In The World!)
- Maple syrup
- A couple tablespoons of Peanut butter
- A pinch of salt
- And ¼ cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips!
The peanut butter layer is just:
- ⅓ cup peanut butter
- And a touch of coconut oil to help the peanut butter set and harden
And finally the chocolate topping:
- Just 2 tablespoon of melted chocolate chips!
How To Make Chickpea Cookie Dough Bars
We find the easiest way to make these chickpea cookie dough bars is to use a food processor.
You can try making these without a food processor and mashing the chickpeas as much as you can by hand. You may need to add extra liquid to help the mixture stick together. Replacing the pitted dates with maple syrup could be an option!
Using a blender is another option. Again, depending on the strength of your blender, you may find you need a bit of extra liquid. You can add extra maple syrup or splash in some water, aquafaba from the can of chickpeas, coconut oil, or even some plant milk.
The Cookie Dough Base
- If you don't have oat flour, add ¼ cup quick cooking or rolled oats to your food processor. Process the oats down to a fine flour.
- Then, add in the remaining cookie dough base ingredients, minus the chocolate chips, and blend until the chickpeas are broken down and smooth.
- Pour in the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to break them down into slightly smaller pieces. This will evenly combine the chocolate chips into the dough.
At this point, the dough should resemble a firm cookie dough and stick together if you press it between your fingers. If you find that it's too crumbly you can add a bit more peanut butter, maple syrup, or a splash of water.
- Press the cookie dough base into a parchment or wax lined 8x8 inch baking tin.
- Slide the tin in the freezer and allow the dough to freeze and set for 20 minutes.
- Lining the tin with parchment or wax paper makes lifting the frozen bars out of the tin very easy. Skipping this step will make slicing and removing the bars a little more difficult.
- Feel free to use a tin of any size. Differences in size will just affect how many bars you end up with and how thick or thin they are.
For The Peanut Butter Layer
- Melt the coconut oil into the peanut butter, either in the microwave or on the stove-top.
- Pull your protein cookie dough out of the freezer and spread the peanut butter evenly across the top.
- Pop that back into the freezer for 1 hour to freeze.
The drizzle
- Take your frozen protein cookie dough bars out of the freezer and either, slice them into 12 bars or, make 24 smaller cookie dough bites!
- Melt 2 tablespoon chocolate chips in the microwave, and drizzle over the top!
- Allow the chocolate to set either at room temperature or pop it back in the freezer.
- Store the finished bars in the freezer in a freezer safe container and take them out as needed!
*You can drizzle the dough with chocolate before you slice it into bars. The chocolate might lift up when you go to slice the bars but I find you can press it back into the peanut butter quite easily.
Recipe Cost
This chickpea cookie dough bar recipe costs us approximately: CAD $2.74 ($0.23/bar) using our chickpeas cooked from scratch!
Using canned chickpeas brings our cost to CAD $3.67 or $0.31 bar.
If we were to buy a similar protein packed bar we would likely pay at least $1.00 - $1.50 per bar.
Do They Taste Like Chickpeas
This protein cookie dough bar is primarily made of chickpeas so... yes, you can taste the chickpea. BUT this is why we prefer to eat these as a frozen treat!
When these bars are frozen the bean-y texture is less detectable. If you store these in the fridge they will be quite soft and we find the chickpea taste much more present when they are not frozen.
The first bite might catch you off guard BUT we do find that they definitely grow on you. Adding the higher amount of maple syrup can boost up the sweetness if you're new to enjoying treats made with sneaky beans!
Let us know in the comments below if you're a fan of sneaking beans into desserts for a boost of protein and some extra nutrition. We love to have these as a post-workout frozen treat!
If you're a peanut butter and chocolate fan you'll have to try our Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Dates, our Easy Peanut Butter Swirl Nice Cream and have some PB Banana Chip Overnight Oats!
Print
Chickpea Cookie Dough Bars - No Bake
- Total Time: 15 minutes (plus 80 minutes freezing time)
- Yield: 12 bars 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Cool down with frozen peanut butter and chickpea cookie dough bars! Protein packed chickpea cookie dough base & peanut butter icing!
Ingredients
Cookie Dough Base
- 2 cups chickpeas (drained and rinsed, cook from scratch for more savings!)
- ¼ cup oat flour (or grind ¼ cup quick or rolled oats, see notes for substitutions)
- ¼ cup deglet noor dates (pitted, soaked in hot water if too firm)
- 2 ½ -4 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup chocolate chips, dairy-free (plus 2 tablespoon for chocolate topping)
Peanut Butter Layer
- ⅓ cup peanut butter
- 1 ½ tsp coconut oil
*All the ingredients for this recipe are from our pantry and freezer tips!
Instructions
- If you don’t have oat flour, start by grinding ¼ cup of quick or rolled oats in your food processor to create oat flour.
- Then, add the remaining base ingredients minus the chocolate chips and make sure to not add the water the dates soaked in! Mix until the chickpeas are broken down and the dough sticks together, resembling a firm cookie dough. Then add the chocolate chips and pulse a few times to mix them in and break them down into smaller pieces.
- Line an 8x8 inch baking tin with wax or parchment paper to make lifting the finished bars out of the tin easier. Spoon the dough into the tin and pat it down into an even layer, making sure to spread the dough evenly into the corners. Freeze for 20 minutes.
- Melt the peanut butter and oil either in the microwave or on the stovetop. Pour over the frozen cookie dough and freeze for an additional 1 hour.
- Slice into 12 bars and drizzle with 2 tablespoon melted chocolate chips. Allow the chocolate to harden and store in a freezer safe container! You can store these in the fridge if you prefer but they will be softer. We prefer them as a cold treat and find the chickpea taste to be less noticeable when they are frozen. They stay soft enough that you can eat them straight from the freezer without needing to defrost them. If your teeth are sensitive, give them a minute or two!
Notes
Approximate Cost: CAD $2.74 ($.23/bar) using chickpeas cooked from scratch. $3.67 ($0.31/bar) using canned chickpeas vs. at least $1.50/bar if something similar were purchased out.
Feel free to substitute the oats with any other nut or seed flour. Almond or coconut flour would work well, as would ground flax or pumpkin seed. If using seeds, I would start with just 2 tablespoons and add more as needed. Your favourite protein powder could also replace some of the oats! As these bars are not baked, ensure you don't use a wheat flour. Wheat flours should not be consumed raw.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ember
I made these today! They are delicious. I have a few comments if you're interested.
The cookie dough base was wonderful, and I didn't really taste the chickpeas even at room temperature. I eat a lot of canned chickpeas on salads, though, so that may just be me.
I only had a 9"x9" pan, and it was tough to get the dough evenly spread out (it was also a bit warm after processing so that didn't help). I don't think it would be crazy to make a 1.5x batch for a 9"x9" pan, which would conveniently take exactly two cans of chickpeas. However, the bars were still a nice size when they were done.
I had very dark chocolate chips, and they were too thick to drizzle when melted so I added some coconut oil.
The texture of the bars right out of the freezer was great. In contrast to your notes, we actually found the peanut butter flavor to be much more muted frozen, which was a little disappointing. The dark chocolate I used overpowered it, so I would be interested to try it with carob chips or a lighter chocolate and a little more peanut butter. I would definitely make them again!
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh great thank you so much for these comments! I'm glad that you liked them and will give them another try. That's a great idea to 1.5x the batch to fit the 9x9 inch pan. That should make the peanut butter layer a little thicker for sure. Our dark chocolate chips are semi-sweet so they definitely add more sweetness than your dark chocolate would. Keep us posted if you try them again and how you like them with those changes!
Marie S
Hi Kathryn
These are the bomb! Thanks so much for the recipe. So quick and easy! I didn't do the peanut butter layer as I don't use oil. Neither did I have vegan chocolate chips so used raw cacao instead. I used a silicone mini muffin pan (24 mini muffins). I had a little batter left over and baked it. It turned out very well, however, as you noted, frozen is best. Its like eating fudge! And no guilt because of the chickpeas! Thanks, again.
Kathryn Alexandre
Great idea using a silicone mini muffin pan! I'm so glad you love them and have been able to adjust them to your preference! Thank you so much for letting me know and for the star review!
Alicia Lee
Just watched your Top 10 Vegan Recipes & saw this one. Question!! Is there a substitution for the coconut oil in the peanut butter Layer??? I'm SOS-free, so don't use oils due to the saturated fat. But I'd love to make this recipe!!!
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh great! You can definitely omit the oil altogether. It helps to make the peanut butter easier to spread and it helps to keep the peanut butter a little more firm. Instead, I would heat the peanut butter up a bit to make it runnier and easier to spread and then just know that the peanut butter will get softer more quickly when it is out of the freezer so either try to enjoy it while it's still more firm or just embrace the bit of gooeyness! (if you don't mind using a bit of extra sweetener, adding a touch of maple syrup to the peanut butter can help it spread too if it's really thick). I hope you like it and I'm glad you found us!
Susan
These bars are delicious and I will be making them often. I forgot to add chocolate to the base so when I melted the pb and coconut oil I added some cocoa powder and a little maple syrup and poured this on top. Fabulous! These are almost a fudgey texture and we did not find that it tasted like chick peas.
Kathryn Alexandre
oooo I love happy accidents like that! I'll have to try that next time I make them! Thank you so much for letting me know you loved them and that you couldn't even taste the chickpeas! Enjoy!
Peggy
Oh, my goodness! The other reviewer is right. These do taste like fudge when they are frozen! Reminiscent of days gone by. Thanks for a great recipe!
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh great! Glad you like it!!
Janice
Hi Kathryn and Bryan, I am happy I found you; your creativity inspires me. I made the chick bars and used what I had at home. I had dried chick peas and I cooked and removed the skins. I substituted the oat flour with ground chia seeds, soaked dried figs for the dates, I made pistachio butter since I had a large bag of shelled pistachios and honey for the maple syrup. Wow! they are so good. I think these are my new dessert and quick snack on the run. I had chick peas left over so I made your pumpkin hummus, what a treat that is too. Keep up the great work!
Kathryn Alexandre
Oh wow! YOU'RE creativity inspires me! We're so glad that this recipe inspired you to create something that sounds so delicious. We're thrilled that you love it and that you even tried the pumpkin hummus with your leftover chickpeas. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review Janice and for letting us know that you've been enjoying our creations!
Allie
These are really tasty! I subbed in additional dates in place of the called for maple syrup, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. Next time I will probably omit the coconut oil, as I think the melted peanut butter will spread fine without it.
I wasn't able to detect any chickpea taste, even when tasting the dough from the bowl (I do eat a lot of legumes, thought). This would be a great recipe to bring folks who are hesitant about plant based or healthy eating!
Kathryn Alexandre
Hi Allie! I’m so glad you liked these and couldn’t detect a chickpea taste 👍🏼. I actually omitted the coconut oil last time I made them and my peanut butter did spread fine once it was heated. I was curious if it wouldn’t set as well but that seemed fine too. The pb did start to get softer when the bars were out of the freezer for a little bit but I don’t think there was a huge difference from when I have included the bit of coconut oil. Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a 5 star review!