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When I was growing up, half the fun of making cookies from scratch was being able to sneak a taste of the raw cookie dough. I don’t know about you, but in my house you really had to sneak it, because my mom was crazy-paranoid about the risk of salmonella from eating raw eggs. She hated it when my brother and I would eat the raw dough!
That’s why I thought it might be fun to make an edible cookie dough recipe that’s designed to be eaten raw. This cookie dough is just about as healthy as it gets, made without butter, refined flour, or raw eggs. In fact, the base of this batter is sweetened with my favorite sweetener, fiber-rich dates!
As you may know, dates are loaded with important minerals like iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium, and it is thought that they may help to prevent abdominal cancer. Paired with ground almonds and a touch of sea salt and vanilla extract, this cookie dough comes together in minutes and is packed with natural, whole food ingredients.
To me, it’s not real cookie dough without a few chocolate chips, so I used some mini chocolate chips in this recipe so they would be easily distributed throughout the batter. (Enjoy Life brand and several others make vegan chocolate chips.) If you want to avoid refined sugar entirely, you could chop up a bar of dark chocolate that is sweetened with coconut sugar (like Eating Evolved brand), or you can skip the chocolate and stir in some naturally sweet raisins, instead.
As written, this recipe is vegan and paleo friendly, but my husband requested that I stir-in some rolled oats at the end so that they’d be like the cookies his mom used to make– and the batter was equally delicious that way, too! Whatever you decide to stir in, I hope you’ll enjoy this healthier edible cookie dough.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Medjool dates , pitted (8 ounces)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1.5 cups blanched almond flour
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds (or chia seeds)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt , plus more to taste
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large food processor fitted with an S blade, process the dates and water until they are broken down. (You might want to wrap your food processor with a towel, as the water can splash out a bit at the beginning.)
- Add in the almond flour, flax, vanilla, and sea salt, and process again until a smooth cookie dough is formed. Taste, and add more salt, if desired. (I add another 1/4 teaspoon, because I like my cookies a little sweet and salty.)
- Pour in the chocolate chips (or other add-ins) and pulse the food processor 2-3 times, just so that they are incorporated, but not blended. Transfer the dough to an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy by the spoonful!
Nutrition
Recipe Notes:
I attempted to bake this cookie dough at 350ºF for 10-12 minutes, and the resulting cookies were just okay (they taste fine, but are very soft). If you really want a baked cookie, I’d recommend using one of the following recipes instead:
- Vegan Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’d like to add it rolled oats for texture, or any other add-in, such as shredded coconut or pecans, I’d use 1/2 cup measurement.
As always, if you make a modification to this recipe, please leave a comment below letting us know what worked for you!
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Reader Feedback: Did you have to sneak bites of raw cookie dough, too? (I snuck brownie batter, too… thank goodness for vegan brownies, huh?)
I made this with a mixture of all-purpose GF flour and oat flour, instead of almond flour, as I have a severe nut allergy. It came out perfect! Great texture. Thank you for making a cookie dough that I don’t have to feel guilty about eating!
This is very good thanks! I used cacao nibs instead of chips. Probably not as sweet but the crunch is nice and I like the less sugar aspect of the nibs. Hit the spot!
Love, love, love! I think I added to many dates, so I added about 1/4 cup of oat flower. Also more salt! It’s perfect <3 would probably be great with some peanut butter mixed in too!
Can you use coconut flour instead of almond?
I love this recipe as I uesed to make myself sick eating so much cookie dough.
Just wondering if you would have any suggestions to make a more creamier? I do make sure that the dates are well processed. Do you think soaking them first would help, or adding some coconut oil? Its more of the mouth feel/texture that i’m looking for.
You could add oil or a creamy nut butter, I would think. The coconut oil will harden in the fridge, so make sure that it’s thoroughly blended in before chilling the dough.
This looks delicious!
This is such a good idea – im with you on the joys of eating raw batter … good times. My fave was plain cupcake batter or chocolate frosting after the cake had been iced. Of course cookie dough was my close second fave. I loved the subway cookies becuase they were so soft, almost like they were semi raw. again, love that you prioritise dates as a sweetener, girl after my own heart xxx
I didn’t like this at all. I usually love all your recipes, but this was not great, has an odd texture and was a waste of the ingredients.
Please tell me tHat you are going to FEature all your blog recipes in your next cookbook!!! Oh, and please tell me there is going to be a next cookbook. I have your other two, and they are fantastic. You make vegetarian Eating a complete joy. Thank you!
Publishers typically don’t like authors to use recipes that have already been published on the blog in a cookbook– it doesn’t give readers incentive to buy it, when they can go online and get the recipes for free. I do try to include a few “fan favorites” from the blog in each cookbook, though! We’ll see about cookbook #3… 😉
I didn’t realize that about the publishers. Funny, though, because I think it’s more of a hassle to get online and print up all the recipes I want then store them some place. It would be awesome to have them already in a book in one place with all the nice pictures and a Table of Contents to reference. I normally don’t print the recipes up. I hop on my iPad and just follow the recipe from there, which still, in my opinion, is more of a hassle. I have your other cookbooks on my counter all the time. I just flip to the recipe I want and presto, delicious food quickly!! Thanks for responding.
I’m the same way– I use my printed cookbooks MUCH more, and I never actually make the effort to print off a recipe from a website. I don’t mind looking up a recipe online, either, but it’s a pain when my internet is being slow!
Delicious! I made this yesterday. I’m loving it. Another great recipe to add to my collection. So glad there is no sugar but still plenty sweet from the dates.