I’ve got a secret hiding in these cookies and it’s not the chocolate chips! It’s a can of chickpeas. Blitzed with oats and peanut butter and sweetened with nothing but maple syrup and applesauce, they bake up crispy on the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, and taste like you’re getting away with something. Five minutes to mix up these pantry ingredients, 15 minutes to bake….zero regrets!
I modeled these chickpea chocolate chip cookies after my skillet cookie recipe that I’ve been making for years. I love a portion controlled cookie and these freeze well, but I don’t even stock them anymore because a fresh batch is always at my fingertips. Cookie craving satisfied…with wholesome ingredients that taste decadent without any sugar or oil. Who says you can’t have it all? Definitely not me!
Ingredient Notes
- Peanut butter: I have found that storing unopened nut butters upside down makes it so much easier to stir when first opened, and that is the key to having a uniform drippy consistency—crucial when using in baking recipes.
- Apple sauce: either make your own with my easy no sugar applesauce recipe and use ½ cup silicone cubes to freeze to always have on hand, or buy individual ½ cup containers that are ideal for use in vegan baking.
- Chocolate Chips: I like to use dark chocolate chips sweetened with dates. Or use a high quality dark chocolate bar, chopped into chunks.
Step by Step
Preheat oven to 375 and line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
Place rinsed and drained chickpeas, peanut butter, oats, applesauce, maple syrup, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into food processor and let it run for about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides and process again until smooth.
Stir in the chocolate chips by hand and if you like walnuts (yes, please), stir in ½ cup chopped nuts with the chocolate.
Use a small or medium sized cookie scoop and portion out batter onto prepared baking sheet.
With damp hands, press down a bit and then place in preheated 375 oven for 3 minutes. Turn down heat to 350 and bake for 12 more minutes.
Transfer chickpeas chocolate chip cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
When cookies are completely cool, transfer to an airtight container. Store at room temperature for a week, in the fridge for 2 weeks or freeze for 3 months.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- You can roll the drained and rinsed chickpeas in a clean kitchen towel to dislodge the skins (like I do in my crispy roasted chickpeas recipe). It will create a smoother batter…but I rarely have the time or interest and the cookies are still fabulous. Your call.
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a small personal sized blender cup to make the batter.
- If you like a touch of flakey salt with your chocolate chip cookies, sprinkle on after flattening the cookies, just before baking.
- Why yes, you CAN eat this vegan cookie dough batter, since there are no eggs. Perfect for times when the baking tray is full and you don’t want to just add a bit of the leftover batter to each dropped cookie.
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📖 Recipe
No Refined Sugar Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan, GF)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 15-oz can chickpeas rinsed and drained
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 and line large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
- Rinse and drain chickpeas. Add to bowl of food processor along with peanut butter, oats, applesauce, maple syrup, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Process for about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides. Process again until oats have broken down and batter is smooth.
- Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
- Scoop batter onto prepared baking sheets leaving 2" between cookie balls. Wet hands and gently flatten. If desired, sprinkle some flakey sea salt onto cookies.
- Bake in preheated 375 oven for 3 minutes. Turn down oven temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 12 minutes. Cookies will be golden and still soft to the touch.
- Carefully transfer cookies from baking tray to a wire cooling rack. Let them cool completely before transferring to an airtight container for storage.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
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