Please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
MEET THE KROCKS: We are a married couple who started on a life-changing whole food, plant-based weight loss journey in June 2018. To date, we have lost over 290 pounds combined and we aren’t done yet! Read Our Story
Follow our Journey:
YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST | TWITTER
You’ve probably guessed by now that I love chocolate! Before we switched to a whole food, plant-based diet, I used to enjoy baking quite a bit. Over the past year and a half, I haven’t really experimented too much with baking for one simple reason… I tend to lack self-control around sweets 😂.
These days, when I do indulge in something sweet, it is usually my chocolate nice cream or a mug of hot chocolate, but I decided to try developing a cookie recipe for the holidays!
My first thought was to try and replicate peanut blossoms – those sugary sweet peanut butter cookies topped with Hersey’s Kisses. I tested out a few different variations, but ultimately found it difficult to replicate the soft, fluffy interior of the original cookies, so I decided to go a different direction.
I really love the flavor of dates, so I really wanted to incorporate them as my sweetener. It took a few tries, but I am really happy with how these turned out! I decided to call these “Cookie” Bites because they aren’t really cookies. They are nice little chewy bites.
This recipe requires pretty simple ingredients: Medjool dates, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, vanilla extract, oat flour, baking powder and peanut butter.
We like to make our own peanut butter in our Vitamix. I use a 16oz jar of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts and blend for about 2-3 minutes, using the tamper. This will yield about 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter, so be sure to measure out 1/2 cup for use in the recipe. You can also use store-bought peanut butter, but try to find one without a lot of extra ingredients.
For the chocolate, I like to use a bar of Lily’s Extra Dark Chocolate. See the list below for a link or check in your local Whole Foods or specialty grocery store for these. Also keep in mind that not all of the Lily’s chocolate bars are vegan, so be sure to check the labels. All of their products are sweetened with Stevia. If you can’t find them, any vegan chocolate you are comfortable with should work.
Check out the video here and get the full recipe below.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bites (Vegan, Oil-Free, Refined Sugar Free)
Ingredients
- 160g pitted Medjool dates (approx. 9 large dates)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk + 1-2 Tbsp extra
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour*
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter**
- 1 x 2.8oz vegan chocolate bar (I use Lily’s Extra Dark)
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Whisk together oat flour and baking powder and set aside.
- Pit the dates and microwave for about 15 seconds to soften. Put the dates into a food processor and process for about 1 minute, just until they form into a ball of paste.
- Add 1/4 cup almond milk and 1 tsp vanilla to the food processor with your date paste and continue to process until incorporated.
- Add HALF of the oat flour mixture and process until incorporated. Add remaining oat flour and repeat.
- Move the mixture to a small bowl and add peanut butter. Beat with a hand mixer until combined. If it seems too dry and crumbly, add 1-2 Tbsp of almond milk and mix on high.
- Form dough into 1 inch balls. OPTIONAL: Add a 1/2 inch square of chocolate into the middle of some (or all) of the dough balls.
- Bake for 9 minutes or until bottoms just start to brown. They will burn quickly, so keep a close eye on them.
- Remove from oven. For any WITHOUT chocolate in the middle, immediately (GENTLY) press a piece of chocolate onto the top of the cookie. The pieces I use are approx. 1 inch x 1/2 inch. For any WITH chocolate in the middle, I like to top these with a drizzle of melted chocolate. I simply microwave a few pieces of the chocolate bar in 15 second increments, stir until smooth and use a spoon to drizzle over the cookies.
- Move to a cooling rack and let the chocolate set before storing.
- Enjoy!
This recipe makes about 20-24 cookies.
*You can make your own oat flour by blending old fashioned rolled oats in a Vitamix or high speed blender for about 30 seconds (or until it forms a fine flour).
**We make our own peanut butter by adding a 16oz jar of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts to our Vitamix and using the tamper to blend for 2-3 minutes (until smooth). You will have extra, so be sure to measure out 1/2 cup for the recipe. If you use store-bought peanut butter, try to get one that has the least amount of added ingredients.
These are a nice plant-based treat for the holidays! When I was testing recipes, I made a few variations that were decent, but when I finally landed on this recipe, I wanted to eat the entire tray. That is how I knew it was worth sharing with you 🙂
Watch the video here & be sure to leave us a comment below if you try it out!
Featured Products:
PLEASE NOTE: If you choose to purchase any products through these links, we receive a small commission from each sale at NO extra cost to you. All proceeds go back into making more content.
Check out our Amazon Page to see more of our favorite products!
Extra Dark Chocolate Bar by Lily’s Sweets, 4-PackExtremely Dark Chocolate Bar by Lily’s Sweets, 4-Pack
Vitamix A2500 Ascent Series Smart Blender (Renewed)
Cuisinart CFP-9GMPCY Prep 9 9-Cup Food Processor
KitchenAid 5-Speed Ultra Power Hand Mixer, White
OXO Good Grips 5 Lb Food Scale with Pull-Out Display
AirBake Natural 2 Pack Cookie Sheet Set, 16 x 14 in
Stackable Magnetic Measuring Spoons Set
Wilton Nonstick Cooling Rack Grid, 14 1/2 by 20-Inch
I just made these. I used
-Organic Stir Peanut Butter from Walmart, it contains only peanuts.
-Sam’s Swiss Dark Chocolate, also from Walmart, $2.00 for a bar that was plenty big to put a piece on each cookie. It does contain refined sugar.
-pitted Daglar Noor dates instead of the more expensive Medjool.
– hemp milk I made in my blender from shelled hemp hearts found in the baking aisle at Walmart.
Thank you Jessica these are really good. Not overly sweet.
I baked them 8 min. then pushed on the chocolate and popped them in for 4 more min. I should have pushed it farther down on some because it did melt and ran off of a few.
Thanks for sharing!! Glad you enjoyed them 🙂
These look great. I will try them and let you know.
Hope you enjoy!
Hey guys! You both are looking extremely slender lately. Is there an update on how much (more) you each have lost and/or are looking to lose? Also, Jessica your hair looks super cute here! Kudos to your colorist/stylist (aka Peef)! 🙂
Hello! I have lost about 125 and Brian is pretty close to 175 lost. I would like to lose about 8-10 more pounds. Brian doesn’t have a goal, but I am thinking another 90 pounds for him 🙂 Thank you for the kind words!
Hi Jessica, these look amazing, I can’t wait to try them! I’m just wondering why you move the dough from the food processor to the bowl for mixing in the peanut butter? Do you think it would turn out ok to add the pb to the food processor?
I guess I’m showing my lazy side here, but as much as I love my kitchen gadgets, I hate to have to wash an extra one if not absolutely necessary, haha! But I also don’t want to screw these up…so if you’ve already tried this and it doesn’t work for some reason, I will absolutely get out my extra bowl & mixer!😄
Me again! So I made these today, just like you said, and they didn’t turn out as pretty as yours, but they are super yummy! Thank you so much for the recipe!😍🍫🥜😋
I did everything in my food processor and they came out just fine.
Thanks Lynne, I will try that next time for sure.
I just made these but with almond butter as I didn’t have any peanuts. DELISH. You did good Jessica!!! Thanks for an amazing, sorta healthy alternative. And congrats on your success and progress for healthy living. You two rock!
These were so wonderful. thank you for this great recipe. I kept all the ingredients the same, but changed the order and made everything in the food processor. I added the peanut butter to the date paste and then added the milk. then added half the flour and pulsed and added the rest and pulsed. I made these for our family for christmas eve but we ate almost all of them and I had to make more. Soo good.
I’m just now getting through comments from all the way back in December… wow… Now I want to make these ASAP!
I made mint brownie bites for christmas putting an Andes candy in the mix in the pan befor i baked them. Can you create a vegan recipe for me? Thanks. I just found your YT channel today. Love it!
Brian would love this. He loves chocolate/mint things! Hmmm… I’ll have to see what I can do.
Sounds great. Love the idea of chocolate and peanut butter. Will try these for Christmas. thanks and have an awesome holiday
Sounds great. Love the idea of chocolate and peanut butter. Will try these for Christmas. Thanks and have an awesome holiday. Will not be able to reply after baking them because I will be too busy eating them while warm. I can remember making a million trays of cookies with my mom when we were kids. That was so much fun, thanks for reminding me.
I made these last year and plan on making them again this year. (Because they’re delicious) However, I’m wondering if I could just add more vanilla powder instead of using vanilla almond milk?
Yes, you definitely could! I only buy plain, unsweetened almond milk for the most part now and just add vanilla to it!
Great recipe! We loved the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites! I added the peanut butter with the milk and vanilla and processed. Then added the flour mixture in two halves, processing after each addition. I couldn’t find a chocolate bar without butter fat (I only had time to look at Trader Joe’s), so I used Trader Joe’s chocolate chunks. The chunks worked, but a think a larger piece of chocolate on each cookie, rather than several smaller “chips” would be easier. Definitely keeping this recipe for our Christmas cookie list! Thanks for sharing, Jessica!
Great recipe! I added the peanut butter along with the milk and vanilla, before adding the dry ingredients in two halves. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Jessica! A definite Christmas treat!
Just took these out of the oven. I made them into plain peanut butter cookies because I didn’t have any chocolate. Made the house smell yummy. Chewy and delicious!