Today I am sharing my favorite way to make any kind of cookie dough. You won’t even believe that this recipe uses chickpeas as the main ingredient. I Love the texture that the chick peas bring, because it resembles cookie dough almost identically. You also can’t taste any chickpea flavor, although that wouldn’t be a terrible thing. I used a high speed food processor from Ninja, and this thing has saved my life when it comes to any food chopping!
I’ve always struggled finding low sugar and healthy protein bars. Most of the ones on the market are loaded with sugar or contain bad sources of protein like soy protein. It is super important to look for clean and minimal ingredients in any processed foods. Nowadays that can be hard, so I always default to making them myself. These cookie dough protein bars have 10 grams of protein and they are only 180 calories! You can always add additional protein powder if you want to up that protein game, however, I would not go too overboard here because it might make the bars have a grainy texture.
Key ingredients in these cookie dough protein bars
- Chickpeas
- These guys are the star of the show. I love the creamy texture blended chickpeas have. In addition, they have an extra boost of protein.
- Peanut butter
- I love using peanut butter in my recipes. However any nut of seed butter will work great here. This is mainly to help the creamy texture of the bars.
- Maple syrup
- This is my favorite form of liquid sweetener. I love the maple flavor and how it helps these bars stick together.
- Vanilla extract
- This is an added flavor boost, since I used vanilla protein powder! It really brings all the flavors together.
- Protein powder.
- I suggest using a vanilla or peanut butter protein powder for this recipe. The protein powder flavor is the main flavor you get from these protein bars, so make sure you are using one that you really enjoy! I used Orgain’s vanilla protein powder.
- Chocolate candies
- I used Unreal’s dark chocolate gems, however, M&Ms or dark chocolate chips will work great as well.
Cookie Dough Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 15 oz chickpeas
- ⅓ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup Maple syrup or honey
- ⅓ cup Protein powder I used Orgain's
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ cup chocolate candies I used Unreal's
Instructions
- In a food processor, first process your cooked chickpeas just to break them apart.
- Then add your peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and protein powder. Process that until a smoot dough forms. This took me about 4-5 minutes.
- Next add in your chocolate candies, and fold those in with a rubber spatula.
- Scoop the dough into a loaf pan, and store in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Once they have rested in the fridge cut them up and serve. You can also individually wrap them so they are easy for an on the go snack.
