Healthy edible 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!
Edible Cookie Dough Bars (vegan, gluten-free)
Do you want to hear about these edible 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 edible vegan cookie dough to work in these no-bake cookie dough bars! Now don’t be turned off by the white beans.
This Edible Cookie Dough Is Made With White Beans
If you are familiar with my other white bean recipes, such as these pitaya workout cups you might be aware of the joys of putting white beans in no bake healthy desserts.
One reason white beans are so great in desserts, is that they are fairly neutral in flavor, unlike other beans. So they provide the perfect blank canvas for many no-bake recipes, able to allow flavors such as cinnamon and chocolate, to shine through without a “bean” like taste.
Another reason white beans are great for desserts is that they add such nutrition. Not only 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 edible vegan cookie dough – 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. I used my recipe for vegan chocolate buttercream frosting, with 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
I also have a tahini bar recipe on my cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients. Check out the book here!
Try My Other Vegan Chocolate Treats
Homemade Nut Butter in Chocolate Cups
Chocolate Bark Recipe with Nutella
Homemade Snickers
Homemade Protein Bars
Crunch Bars
Chocolate Protein Bars
Vegan White Chocolate
Chocolate Quinoa Scotcheroos
Chocolate Covered Chickpea Snack
Vegan Fudge
Butternut Squash Fudge Recipe
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Healthy Cookie Dough Bars
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
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- Place the beans, cashew butter, cinnamon, chia seeds, vanilla, syrup, and salt into your blender and blend until creamy.
- Put that blended mixture in a bowl and stir in your chocolate chips with a spoon.
- Spread the mixture in a parchment-lined loaf pan and refrigerate while you make the frosting.
Make the fudge frosting
- Melt the chocolate bar and butter in a sauce-pan water bath.
- 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
- 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!
- Slice and serve.
- 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
Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients . On this blog you’ll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in biology, immunology and journalism. More about Dee Dine here.
Ela
Omg these white bean bars look so incredible, Dee 😍 I need to try your recipe asap. Can’t wait ! 😋 Thanks so much for sharing 😘
Dee
Ela! Thank you, I hope you do! Dee xx