Healthy Easy Cookie Dough Bars

Healthy easy cookie dough bars are made from white beans! No-bake and frosted with vegan chocolate chia seed frosting. If you are going to have a dessert, it might as well be good for you!

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Healthy Easy Cookie Dough Bars (vegan, gluten-free)

Do you want to hear about these healthy no-bake easy cookie dough bars? First let’s talk about multi-tasking.
Where did multi-tasking come from? Did it start with the internet? I don’t remember my mother talking about multi-tasking.

All I know is my day begins, continues and ends with multi-tasking – writing and cooking and parenting; texting and writing and walking the dog, cooking and shooting and tripping over my props. Oh, and blogging and working – yes, I have a full-time job beyond blogging – and maybe doing laundry?

Anyway, if we have to multi-task, then so do our recipes. So I put my white-bean chocolate chocolate chip edible cookie dough to work in these no-bake cookie dough bars! Now don’t be turned off by the white beans.

Why White Beans Are Perfect for Healthy Dessert Recipes

If you have checked out my other recipes for workout bites, you are be fully aware of the joys of working with white beans in raw healthy desserts.

You already know that white beans are the perfect neutral palate for any no-bake recipe, especially the flavors of cinnamon and chocolate.

And that they contribute so much nutrition to the dessert – protein and fiber as all beans do, but also potassium and iron, good for shiny hair among other effects; thiamine for a boost to your cognitive abilities, heart-supporting folate and magnesium, and copper to fight inflammation and antioxidants galore!

How to Make These No-Bake Cookie Dough Bars

I used canned beans though I’m sure freshly cooked beans would work as well.

If you use canned, be sure to use organic, to be sure the beans don’t have additional ingredients, and BPA-free. And I chose unsalted so I could control the sodium in my dessert. The combination of ingredients that produced a tasty cookie dough flavor was primarily the cashew butter and the vanilla which is why I used a high-quality vanilla paste but I’m sure extract would work perfectly too!

I made one change today in the ingredients from the original cookie dough recipe – I used chia seeds instead of flax seeds.

Now I happened to have used white chia seeds as to not interfere with the “blonde” cookie dough color, but I am sure any color chia is fine. I made the swap to add to the creaminess and reduce the graininess that the flax seed left, but others have said they liked the texture the flax seed provided so you decide!

Add Chia Seeds To Frosting to Up The Protein

And the frosting – which is really a version of my basic vegan chocolate buttercream frosting – has a new ingredient for me too. I added chia seeds to up the protein and because we were adding them to the cookie dough, so why not?

And if you have a minute, go watch the video made by my friend Vince Lia who actually made my original cookie dough recipe AND created a video of the process HERE.

Like working with white beans? Here are some of the other recipes I mentioned that contain them:
2-Ingredient Strawberry Protein Pre-Workout Bites

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Healthy No Bake Cookie Dough Bars

Healthy no-bake cookie dough bars are made from white beans! And frosted with vegan chocolate chia seed frosting. If you are going to have a dessert, it might as well be good for you!

Course Dessert

Cuisine vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free

Keyword blondies, edible cookie dough, nobake, white beans

Does it keep? 1-month in freezer

Prep Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 10

Calories 137 kcal

Author Dee Dine

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

• 1 (15oz/425gms) can white beans organic Navy beans (precooked & rinsed)
• ½ cup cashew butter (I use 365 brand from Whole Foods)
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp white chia seeds (or use 1 tbsp flax seed)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Fudge Frosting

• 1/3 cup vegan butter
• 3/4 (3.5oz) dark chocolate bar (I also love quality chocolate by HU, Valrhona, Pascha, and Eating Evolved)
• 3 cups vegan powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp white chia seeds

Instructions

Make the cookie dough

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper - I used a 4 by 8 inch pan and got 10 slices. If you go smaller, your slices will be thicker.

2. Rinse the white beans, and pop them in the blender. Easy-peasy! No shells to rub off first as with chickpeas - Navy beans actual do have a thin shell but it’s soft enough to work well in this recipe and need not be removed

3. If you have time, pop the chia seeds in a tbsp of water and let them gel up for about 5 minutes. This will add to the creaminess they contribute.

4. Place the beans, cashew butter, cinnamon, chia seeds, vanilla, syrup, and salt into your blender and blend until creamy.

5. Put that blended mixture in a bowl and stir in your chocolate chips with a spoon.

6. Spread the mixture in a parchment-lined loaf pan and refrigerate while you make the frosting.

Make the fudge frosting

1. Melt the chocolate bar and butter in a sauce-pan water bath.

2. Put the sugar in a large bowl, and pour the chocolate butter mixture into it. Stir with a hand-mixer until creamy. Add in the chia seeds whole or gel, it's up to you!

Make the blondies

1. Spread the frosting on the cookie dough and refrigerate until the frosting sets. We never really let it get hard; if you want a more frozen texture, freeze it!
2. Slice and serve.
3. We keep them about 3 days in a container in the refrigerator but you might find they keep longer if you have a less-chocolate-hungry family.

Nutrition Facts

Healthy No Bake Cookie Dough Bars

Amount Per Serving

Calories 137 Calories from Fat 81

% Daily Value*

Fat 9g14%

Saturated Fat 3g15%

Sodium 2mg0%

Potassium 83mg2%

Carbohydrates 13g4%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 8g9%

Protein 3g6%

Calcium 26mg3%

Iron 1.3mg7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Dee Dine

Dee Dine is the recipe developer and writer behind Green Smoothie Gourmet. She shares her super healthy wholesome recipes on her blog and her Instagram that she feeds her family and friends. She gravitates toward recipes that are fast to create, plant-based, nutritious, easy, and use familiar ingredients. And chocolate is always a good idea! More about Dee.