Healthy Chocolate Cookies

Did you know you can make delicious chocolate cookies without using flour, refined sugar, or oil? It sounds almost too good to be true, so you’ll just have to try this healthy cookie recipe to believe me, or read some of the glowing reviews down below.

These cookies are basically chocolate energy balls baked into cookies.

They’re made with 100% real food ingredients, like nuts, dates, and cacao powder, but they really do taste like a brownie once they’re baked. (And they make your home smell amazing!) I’ve made these with pecans and walnuts, and either way is delicious. I can’t wait for you to try them!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Featured Review

“Megan these were AMAZING!!! Wow I am in love. I can’t believe they’re completely fruit-sweetened. SO GOOD!!” – Jessica

Healthy Chocolate Cookie Recipe Ingredients

• Pecans. These buttery nuts easily break down in a food processor and help contribute a brownie-like flavor. You could probably swap these for blanched almond flour, if you want to experiment, but I haven’t tried that yet. (Walnuts work too, if you like their flavor.)
• Medjool Dates. These sweeten the recipe, so make sure you start with ones that are super soft and squishy. I like to buy these in the fresh produce section of the grocery store, rather than the bulk bins where they might be drier.
• Cacao Powder. I always keep raw cacao powder in my pantry, as I read it might have more antioxidants than regular cocoa powder, but I’m going to assume that either option will work here. If you don’t want a dark chocolate cookie, use slightly less cacao powder than this recipe calls for. (But I love it as is!)
• Baking Powder. I like to use baking powder for a little lift, rather than baking soda, which you can taste slightly more in the final cookies. (If you want to use baking soda, only use half the amount.)
• Chocolate Chips. My family has been making this recipe for over 10 years, and we used to use big dark chocolate chunks in these cookies, but lately we prefer using mini chocolate chips for smaller bites throughout the cookie.

Don’t want a chocolate cookie? This recipe is adapted from my Healthiest Cookies Ever. They remind me of my childhood favorite “soft batch” cookies, so they are more like a regular chocolate chip cookie.

How to Make Healthy Chocolate Cookies

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, add 1.5 cups of pecans and 8 ounces (about 1 cup) of pitted Medjool dates.

Secure the lid on the food processor and process for 30 seconds, or until the mixture looks crumbly. Then add 1/3 cup of cacao powder, 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 3 tablespoons of water.

Step 2:

Secure the lid and process again until the mixture looks like sticky cookie dough. You don’t want to over-process this, or it could become oily. As soon as it looks like it sticks together, you’re done! Add up to 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips) and pulse a few times just to mix them in.

Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto the prepared pan. These cookies won’t spread, so you can keep them relatively close together. (I usually can fit up to 20 cookies on a half-sheet pan.)

Step 3:

Have a small bowl of water nearby and dip your fingers into it to flatten the cookie mounds. This will prevent the mixture from sticking to you. Since these cookies won’t spread in the oven, make sure to flatten and shape them as you’d like them to look after baking.

Bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes, or until the tops look dry and your kitchen smells like brownies. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the pan for at least 20 minutes so they can firm up. They will feel soft when you first remove them from the oven, but firm up as they cool.

Pro Tip: If you want the cookies to look prettier, press a few chocolate chips on top of each one immediately after pulling them out of the oven. This is what professional food stylists do!

Healthy Chocolate Cookies (No Flour or Oil!)

4.97 from 56 votes

Are you ready for your kitchen to smell like brownies? I've been testing these healthy chocolate cookies for weeks to make sure they have a rich chocolate flavor, without using flour or refined sugar. I do prefer them with some chocolate chips added in (for a double-chocolate flavor), but the cookie dough itself is 100% fruit-sweetened. Once you taste these, don't be surprised if they're requested every week!

prep15 mins cook10 mins total25 mins

Servings:23

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Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1 ½ cups pecan halves
• 8 ounces Medjool dates , pitted (~1 cup packed)
• ⅓ cup raw cacao powder (see notes)
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips (optional; see notes)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, process the dates and pecans together until a crumbly mixture forms. Then, add the cacao powder, ground flax, salt, baking powder, vanilla extract, and 3 tablespoons of water.
• Secure the lid and process again until the mixture sticks together. The dough may look sticky and damp, but that's okay! Add the chocolate chips, if using, and pulse briefly to mix them into the dough.
• Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Then use wet hands to gently flatten the cookie dough. These cookies won't spread much, so be sure to shape the cookies the way you'd like them to look when they're done baking. (Using wet hands to flatten the dough will prevent sticking!) Bake at 350ºF for 10 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies start to look dry and your house smells like brownies.
• Let the cookies cool on the pan for at least 20 minutes. If you'd like to make the cookies look prettier, press a few extra chocolate chips on top of them while the cookies are still hot from the oven. Once they are cool and firm enough to handle, you can enjoy them!

Notes

Nutrition information is for 1 of 23 cookies. This is automatically calculated using an online ingredient database, so it’s just an estimate not a guarantee. 

Cacao Powder Note: I always keep raw cacao powder in my pantry, which tastes a little more bitter than regular cocoa powder. I think you can use them interchangeably for this recipe, but if you don’t want the cookies to taste too much like “dark chocolate,” you can also use a little less cacao powder for a sweeter flavor. 

Chocolate Chip Note: I originally published this recipe with dark chocolate chunks, which are quite large, but when I re-tested them (with new photos) I used mini chocolate chips to help them distribute more evenly. If you’re using mini chocolate chips, I’d start with just 1/4 cup. You can press a few extra on top to make them even more chocolatey. 

Nutrition

Calories: 100kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 27mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg

Author: Megan Gilmore

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: date cookies, healthy chocolate cookies

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More Fruit-Sweetened Recipes

• Healthy Birthday Cake (no flour or added sugar)
• Date-Sweetened Chocolate Frosting
• Healthy Muffins (100% fruit sweetened!)
• Date Snickers

If you try these healthy chocolate cookies, please leave a comment and star rating below to let me know how you like them.