I do pretty well staying away from sweets, but there is just something about a chocolate chip cookie that makes me feel like home. And man, oh man does it make my house smell fantastic. These grain-free chocolate chip cookies fit the bill perfectly!
They also have a nice little secret ingredient – a healthy one at that!
The base of this cookie is the simple chickpea, also known as the garbanzo bean. And to be completely honest with you, I had purchased these to make hummus, but when I saw these on Pinterest…the cookies won.
Making these is as simple as whipping up a smoothie since all you need is a blender (or food processor).
Packed with protein from the chickpeas AND the peanut butter, combined with low sugar, this recipe really outdoes itself.
And you’ll have the household flocking to the kitchen as they bake, so keep a spatula handy to smack them away until they are cool enough to eat.
Healthy chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup chickpeas cooked and rinsed
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup peanut butter or nut butter of your choice
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch sea salt if using salt free PB
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips dark chocolate works great
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Blend all but the chocolate chips in a food processor or blender until smooth.
- Stir or pulse in chocolate chips until well mixed.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly browned.
- Let cool and enjoy.
Notes
This recipe makes about 12-16 cookies, so double it up if you're bringing to potlucks and get-togethers!
You won’t be disappointed in these!
They stay very soft – don’t expect them to get that crispy crunch like a regular flour cookie with lots of butter. But they are sooo good and a perfect indulgence for a healthy diet!
Donielle Baker
Is milk good for fertility?
Looks great!! Question though – really unfamiliar with chickpeas, so how do you recommend cooking them if dry? Do they need to be soaked overnight? Thx!
@Megan, I would, it’ll make them easier to digest! I’d soak and then simmer on low until soft.
I’m hypoglycaemic and also have a really hard time processing grains so I went for a long time without any cookie type thing. This is amazing. I use either baking chocolate or 90% dark chocolate in them and I’m telling you… They’ve me a happy woman and put my boyfriend over the moon. SO GOOD!
I also shared this recipe with my entire intrnational karate/kickboxing team and they also fell in love. Your recipe is wonderful!
I also tried them with sesame seeds to add another texture and it was a really good choice.
YUM
YAY! So glad you liked them – I have more garbanzo beans thawing to make some tomorrow. 🙂
These look amazing!! I will try them out with homemade pumpkin seed butter. I like the chickpea base instead of almond flour like many grain free cookies recipes. Great job Donielle!!
I think these look great… but they aren’t sugar free. I am so confused how so many people say things are “gaps legal” and “sugar/dairy free” and then put store bought chocolate chips in them. I have not found any chocolate chips or recipes for chocolate chips that have no dairy or no sugar that can be baked and hold up. This is totally my personal issue/quest but I thought I would mention it here…. maybe someone has something for me to use????
@Theresa, I just found this recipe…you may want to try: http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/desserts/homemade-chocolate-or-carob-chips/
@Theresa, I was trying to figure out where I mentioned they are sugar free in the post – I noticed it was on the pin for Pinterest! Because, yes – these aren’t sugar free. they are mostly *refined* sugar free, and will have even less refined sugar the darker the chip used.
My next batch I actually want to try and make them completely refined sugar free by making my own chips with butter, cocoa, and honey. And then because they probably won’t hold up that well I want to place them IN the cookie dough. So that hopefully it won’t ooze out to much when baking, and then when you bite into it, the chocolate will be there. 🙂 I’d also like to try just using cocoa in the mix with a bit of extra honey to make just a chocolate cookie.
The is a non-dairy option. I had to use the Ghiradeli semi-sweet chocolate chips when I was nursing both my kids because they were allergic to milk protein. This will fit the bill for non dairy but they are not sugar free.
Great to know, thanks!
Just made a batch of these and they were so good! Can’t believe there were garbanzo beans in them. I did a little variation… used whole can of beans, 1 ripe banana and 1 Tablespoon maple syrup instead of honey, sunbutter instead of peanut butter, and used Enjoy Life’s mini chocolate chips that are dairy, nut and soy free. Definitely will be making again in the near future! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. My daughter has so many allergies so it is nice to add a new treat in that she can have. 🙂
@Jodi, Thanks for sharing! I wanted to try sunbutter next time for a nut free option since so many school functions now can’t have nuts. Glad to hear it worked out!
I am bookmarking this to try later!
I made these exactly as the recipe says (using low-sodium canned garbanzo beans, well-rinsed.) Super easy and super tasty– thank you!!
Yay – glad you like them. I’m picking up more chickpeas today to make more…… 🙂
These are so yummy! I I’ve learned to warn my husband whenever I try things with unusual ingredients. But there was no reason to warn him with these! After many disappointing attempts at a good whole wheat chocolate chip cookie I’m now thinking why bother? Im just going to make these instead! Thank you for sharing!
You had my attention with the garbanzo beans. Don’t believe in over consuming almond flour and coconut flour recipes are often hit or miss. I’m pretty picky when it comes to taste and texture, well these were great! And even better, my picky 6 year old thought they were great too!
@Audrey, yay! Glad you liked them. And I’m the same way with almond flour – it takes a LOT of almonds to make enough flour for a batch of cookies. And coconut flour does not digest well for some of my family so I never use it as a base.
@Donielle, I’m making them with sunbutter tonight as my daughter can’t take peanut products to school. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
@Audrey, They turned out good, but slightly dryer. Thinking the sunbutter was lacking the oil the peanut butter had in the last batch. Might add a tablespoon of coconut oil next time.
@Audrey, Good to know – thanks!
Ive been making chickpea choc chip cookies for years. I love that they come out so flakey. I don’t use eggs in almost all cookie recipes because it makes them cakier, but why not use chickpea flour?
I am making these right now and the dough tasted great, not sure how they’ll do as i have a cheap blender and i had to add 1/2 a cup of water to get everyhthing to flow in the blender….hoping it’s still ok.
Also Donielle i found a great whole foods recipe you might be interested in trying. Simple and good for you : Dark Choco Almond Drop Cookies
1 cup almond butter
3/4 cup natural sweetener (I used unrefined cane sugar or honey or whatever i have on hand)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 oz chocolate peices (I used 5 oz- live a little)
instructions:
Mix all together, then add chocolate. Drop cookies on parchment lined pan, at 350 for 10-12 min.
@rebecca, Oooo, sounds good!
Wow! If you change the nut butter to Sunflower butter, make the chips white chocolate – These also become Low Oxalate cookies!!
We’re going to try this recipe tomorrow! My husband cannot wait, ha ha. We’ve been cutting refined sugar out of our diet quiet successfully for about a week to two weeks now. He saw a cookie at work in the refrigerator and was so tempted to eat it, lol. I then found this recipe and he is so excited to have chocolate chip cookies, and we’ll be using dark chocolate! Thanks! 😀
I also discovered today after looking for 15 minutes in the grocery aisle that chick peas and garbanzo beans are the same thing. ha ha.
@Amy, I was so bummed when I took my ‘chickpeas’ out of the cupboard and it read garbanzo beans! Here I thought I’d grabbed the wrong thing – then I flipped it over and it said chickpeas. 🙂
I baked these cookies on Sunday for Mothers Day! Wanted to take a photo of them but before I could everyone had eaten them!!! Mind you, I’m the only celiac in my family!!! They are amazingly delicious and so easy to make. Cannot wait to make them again, except next time I’m hiding a few for myself before my family get to them! Thank you for posting this recipe!
I tried this yesterday with sunbutter, and my kids and I loved it! I’ve tried many other gf cookies, but so far this is my favorite. So glad I came across your recipe!
🙂 Question.
I have never purchased chick peas before; I will admit I was a high processed high sugar diet, because I lacked information until my friend pointed me in this direction. And now my husband and I are changed people…loving it!
Right, my question is. when you soak chick peas are they supposed to absorb all the water? I had some soaking last night both for dinner and for the cookies. 🙂
@Amy Schultz, Yes, if you buy dried chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) they will absorb a good amount of water. Just make sure you put in about 3 times the amount of water as beans to make sure they all soak well.
@Donielle,
Okay! Thank you for letting me know, I will make sure to do that next time. 😀
These cookies are delicious! Had to add a bit of goat’s milk to get it to blend well, our blender is not that great. And we used dark chocolate chips from Zehrs, they are called..Equateur origine, dark chocolate..they came in a box. 🙂 (not sure if there are Zehrs in the states…)
Oh.My.Goodness. I was skeptical before trying these. I made black bean brownies once, and was not impressed. These are divine. I made them with homemade almond butter. Soft, chewy, just sweet enough. I love them. My kids love them. But the real test will be my non-adventurous-eating husband. 🙂
I’ve made a couple batches of these and everyone at our Mother’s Day dinner loved them. You’d never know they were chickpeas! I’m excited to play around with this recipe and add in nuts, dried fruit, cocoa, etc.
@Nichole, Yay! They are my new favorite as well. 🙂 Yesterday I made a batch with some organic protein powder for my husband and I’ve also made them with added chia seeds and tried using dates instead of honey. All were good!
@Donielle, I’m interested in trying them out with dates… how many did you use and did you soak them or just chop them up? Thanks 🙂
@Kara, I used about 8 and softened them with about 1/4 cup of hot water for a bit first. Then just tossed them in the blender with the other ingredients. I also used the water to help make up for the difference in liquid due to not using honey.
Made these last night with local honey, fresh PB and the mini-chocolate chips. I used my 2 tsp. cookie scoop and I got about 30 two-bite cookies out of it. Even the boyfriend who isn’t GF loved them. I will make them with crunchy PB next time, just for even more texture!
Hi, would love to try these, but can you make them with just regular peanut butter? Or does it need to be ‘natural’ peanut butter without added emulsifiers and such?
Any peanut butter will work, I just recommend one made with only peanuts and salt. 🙂
Made these! Even though I am not gluten sensitive, I love pastries and cookies so much I could eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner as a meal! (Brunch too). So I try to cut back on flours, dairy, and sugars when I can when baking so I can have my bake and eat them too (instead of leaving them for my kids and husband to devour)
They taste like love
Best thing ever
Thank you for this!
Dumb question, but not familiar cooking with chickpeas, so when you buy them canned, you just need to rinse them, you don’t need to cook them?
Correct! They get cooked during the canning process.
You don’t need eggs?
Nope! 🙂
These cookies look awesome! I am always looking for good alternatives to goodies with bad ingredients (wheat). Question – these are made with chick peas which are not good for blood type A (which I am), causes inflammation. What could we use instead of chickpeas? Any ideas of what we could use instead? I really want to make these cookies!
I have no idea Sara, you’d have to experiment a bit with other beans or legumes.
Is there any way to make these less like warm cookie dough (they are delicious as such, but very saggy) and more like cookies? I was very impressed, want them to be more like cookies.
When warm they are soft, but mine firm up after cooling off. To get them to be more like flour based cookies, you’d probably have to formulate a recipe that includes a bit more flour and less beans.
Made these with raisins instead of chocolate chips and almond butter for my toddler – he loves them! And I love that he’s getting beans, fruit and nuts :). Thanks! (I also made them the recipe way for my husband and me – delish!!).
Just made these for the first time and they are promising. I was out of honey so I subbed maple syrup. They were not *quite* sweet enough, so I’m hoping when I do use honey they will be just right. I was pleased that they didn’t taste like chickpeas at all. The dough was actually really tasty.
I forgot to mention – they don’t flatten like regular cookies.
Nope – they definitely don’t!
I make these cookies weekly. So yummy..I have added a tablespoon of Cinnamon for a little extra flavor. I also make large batches and freeze them after they are cooked and they last a long time.
I also like eating them right out of the freezer.
These cookies sound really good! I have a question though. If you use the chickpeas in a can, do you still have too cook them first?
Nope, they’ve already been cooked during the canning process!
I just had to share my experience making these–I couldn’t make it to the store but I just had to try out the recipe, so I made the following substitutions: pinto beans instead of garbanzo, Almond butter for peanut butter, and agave syrup for honey. The batter came out a bit runny so I decided to put it in an 8×8 pan and make blondies (though I think it still would’ve worked for cookies). They came out amazing!!! My 4 year old son ate 3 and said they were delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe, I look forward to trying it as written once I get myself to the store : )
Great substitutes! Glad it worked out!
These are awesome! I substituted pinto beans and they were great! Add extra vanilla to override the bean smell. First batch was a bit burnt because the color of them being “done” was a bit pale in comparison to regular cookies. The second batch was perfect warm being gooey the way I like them, but after they cooled, they got soft and gummy instead of crisping up like usual cookies. The first batch kept their shape much better, due to being baked longer. I’d say this cookie is best when baked to a crisp instead of gooey.
As written they are a softer cookie! More like “cookie dough” cookie recipes and definitely best when eaten warm. I still like a softer cookie when they cool, so these are perfect for me – maybe next time bake some to eat right away and bake others longer so they are “crispier” for later!