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Blueberry Chickpea Cookie Dough Balls

June 29, 2020 Plant-Based Juniors 52 Comments

Jump to Recipe

Blueberry chickpea cookie dough balls. This is one of our favorite vegan no-bake recipes that blends chickpeas, blueberries, and oats into an easy, healthy plant-based snack for your babe.

Being busy mamas ourselves, we know how important it is for parents and caregivers to have access to easy, healthy snack ideas for their kiddos.

Some of our most frequently made recipes are no-bake, meaning that all you have to do is blend the ingredients and you’re pretty much done. The best part is, no-bake recipes can be made using super healthy ingredients.

For this no-bake recipe, you’ll blend the ingredients, roll into balls, and refrigerate until ready to eat. That’s it!

Toddlers love these blueberry chickpea cookie dough balls. They also travel well, so you can prepare ahead of time and bring them in a baggy wherever you go.

They’re naturally sweetened with Medjool dates, packed with iron from the chickpeas, and provide healthy unsaturated fat from the peanut butter.

The blueberries are an excellent source of antioxidants, and the oats provide soluble fiber good for little tummies.

To make these, start by pulsing the oats in a food processor or high speed blender until they reach flour consistency.

Add the chickpeas, peanut butter, pitted dates, vanilla extract, and salt and process until a sticky dough forms.

Note that you can purchase either already-pitted dates or buy ones that need to have their pits removed at home. To remove date pits, simply take a knife or fork and slice them lengthwise to expose the pit. You can them remove this with your fingers and discard.

Additionally, the salt in this recipe should be omitted for babies under 12 months old, as their kidneys are not yet mature enough to process it.

Finally, add the blueberries and pulse again a few times to incorporate them.

Using a spatula, remove the dough from the food processor or blender and place it in a bowl or on a clean counter top.

Use your hands to roll it into balls, approximately 1-inch in diameter.

Place the balls in a flat, airtight container or on a plate covered with plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator. Here, they will firm up a bit.

Find the full printable recipe below.

Blueberry Chickpea Cookie Dough Balls

A healthy no-bake vegan recipe using chickpeas and blueberries.
Print Recipe

Equipment

  • food processor or high speed blender

Ingredients

  • 1 cup oats
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 8 Medjool dates, pitted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt (omit for babies under 1 year old)
  • 1/2 cup dried or freeze-dried blueberries

Instructions

  • Add oats to a food processor and pulse until flour consistency.
  • Add chickpeas, peanut butter, dates, vanilla extract, and salt.
  • Process until a sticky ball forms.
  • Add blueberries and pulse a few times until they're incorporated.
  • Roll into balls and store in the fridge.

We think you’ll love these blueberry chickpea cookie dough balls! Add it to your list of vegan no-bake recipes and homemade healthy plant-based snacks for kids.

Chime In: Have you made these yet? Let us know what you think!

If you liked this post, we think you’ll enjoy some of our others:

  • Benefits of Beans for Babies
  • Cheezy Walnut Pasta
  • Blueberry Walnut Muffin Tops
  • Baby Led Weaning Choking vs. Gagging

Comments

  1. JB says

    June 30, 2020 at 2:06 am

    Do you think I could use sun butter in place of PB?

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      June 30, 2020 at 5:53 pm

      Sure!

      Reply
  2. Jessica Allen says

    June 30, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    This sounds so yummy! The only sad part is I have fresh and frozen blueberries not dried. Do you know how fresh ones would work or can I substitute something like raisins? Thanks!

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      June 30, 2020 at 5:53 pm

      I haven’t used frozen berries in this, but one reviewer did and said it worked!

      Reply
  3. Melissa Duggan says

    June 30, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    4 stars
    My kids both ate these! (4yr, 15mnth) I changed up the recipe and added frozen raspberries instead of blueberries and it made them a nice pink colour!. I also rolled half of them in coconut and the other half in cocoa powder. I think next time I wouldn’t blend the oats as much as they were a little too mushy in the end but overall very tasty. I also love that they have chickpeas in them! My girls didn’t even notice 🙂 WIN!

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      June 30, 2020 at 5:53 pm

      So glad you like them!

      Reply
      • Lesley says

        March 30, 2022 at 11:08 pm

        5 stars
        Do you happen to have the nutritional count on these?

        Reply
  4. Chloe says

    July 1, 2020 at 8:01 am

    Sounds like a lovely recipe! I’m keen to try it, do you think it would be ok to use crunchy PB and fresh blueberries?
    Also, how long do these keep in the fridge, and are they ok to freeze?
    Many thanks! Chloe x

    Reply
    • claire says

      July 9, 2020 at 3:06 pm

      5 stars
      hello, thank you very much for the great recipe!! I’ve been asking the same question and would love to get an answer 🙂

      Reply
      • alexwhitney says

        July 14, 2020 at 1:54 am

        We haven’t used fresh berries, but don’t see why they wouldn’t work though you may need to add in more dry binders, like oats, if they are too sticky.

        Reply
  5. Rebecca says

    July 1, 2020 at 8:19 pm

    Is there anything you can use in place of the oats? My son is allergic. Thanks!

    Reply
    • sarah says

      September 1, 2020 at 4:27 pm

      hi! I just used coconut flour and it seemed to work just fine!

      Reply
  6. Sarah says

    July 3, 2020 at 3:58 am

    I made these, but used fresh blueberries because that’s what I had on hand and they were great. Not mushy or sticky at all.

    Reply
  7. Kelsie Roze says

    July 3, 2020 at 11:51 am

    5 stars
    Great idea- I love new ways to incorporate beans and legumes into my kiddos diet (and mine!)

    Reply
  8. Raz says

    July 7, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    These taste delicious but mine became way too sticky and gooey, wonder what I did wrong. Can I bake them to salvage these yummy goodies?

    Reply
    • Suzi says

      October 7, 2022 at 1:13 am

      You could dehydrate them for a few hours.

      Reply
  9. Julie says

    July 9, 2020 at 12:57 am

    5 stars
    My 15 mo loved these! How long do you think they stay good in the fridge?

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      July 14, 2020 at 1:54 am

      With foods like this, we usually say 5-6 days in the fridge but most balls can be frozen!

      Reply
  10. Kelly Kurtz says

    July 13, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    5 stars
    Love this recipe! It’s a tasty bite without being too sweet! Just curious, do you have the nutrient breakdown available?

    Reply
  11. Megan says

    July 16, 2020 at 10:41 pm

    5 stars
    Great recipe! It works well with white beans too.

    Reply
  12. Saida Smith says

    July 23, 2020 at 1:36 am

    Amazing love all your creations especially the chickpea balls. I grew up eating chickpeas but never in a dessert way. Thank you again😋

    Reply
  13. Izabela Snyder says

    July 27, 2020 at 4:49 pm

    I would like to try these – they look wonderful. What age are these kind of date balls appropriate for? My daughter is 12 months old. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      July 27, 2020 at 5:07 pm

      These are fine for that age! Enjoy!

      Reply
  14. Angie says

    August 3, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    What can i use instead of peanut butter? My son is allergic to nuts
    I need some substitute that’s GF and no dairy
    Thank you 🙂

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      August 31, 2020 at 1:10 am

      Can you use sunflower butter?

      Reply
  15. Azza says

    August 17, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    What brand of dried blueberries do you use? do they have added sugars?

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      August 31, 2020 at 1:10 am

      I bought the one’s from Trader Joes– they do have added sugar. If you want no added sugar, then you can also tried freeze-dried blueberries.

      Reply
  16. Tessa says

    August 22, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    4 stars
    Made these with freeze dried berries and they are SO good! My one and three year old officially have hope for a healthy breakfast now. A couple tweaks, though: need to either scale back the oats to a scant cup OR add water to reach desired consistency (I added almost a quarter cup water and my PB was already the liquidy natural type). Also should add the blueberries BEFORE the sticky ball stage in my opinion–at the point the processor is no longer grinding, just moving the ball around, so it was really hard to get the berries evenly chopped without pulverizing them and lots of stopping to scrape. With those tweaks I’ll be making these again and again!

    Reply
  17. Azza says

    August 29, 2020 at 5:28 pm

    I made these with sun flower (family isn’t too found of peanut butter) and they turned out amazing.

    Can these be frozen?

    Reply
  18. Samta Desai says

    January 11, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    Can I skip dates and use bananas. My baby is 8 months- so wanting to wait to introduce dates

    Reply
  19. Haley says

    January 12, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    I unfortunately have a vegan baby who won’t eat beans, so I have been slowly making my way through your recipes that use beans. My baby will eat small doses of these, so progress! I like them too, but I do miss the chocolate chips I typically add to date balls. I didn’t have dried blueberries so I use a combo of goji berries and raisins and they turned out fine. Might try them with fresh blueberries next time and almond butter for a more neutral flavor.

    Reply
  20. Alex says

    March 31, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    5 stars
    I just made these with dried cherries since that’s all I had. They are delicious! I will definitely try them with dried blueberries when I can get them. Thanks for a great and simple recipe!

    Reply
  21. Darin Bradshaw says

    April 4, 2021 at 5:15 pm

    Since these are no-bake, is it safe to use vanilla extract when making them for toddlers given the alcohol content?

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      April 5, 2021 at 4:21 pm

      Hi Darin– there is a small amount of alcohol with the vanilla extract, though it’s very low when divided into the balls. However, you are welcome to omit it completely!

      Reply
  22. Nyssa says

    April 27, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    5 stars
    My 9 month old, 3 year old and I all loved these!

    Reply
  23. Monique Marco says

    June 3, 2021 at 12:46 pm

    TJ’s has new no alcohol vanilla. Or use vanilla bean paste.

    Reply
  24. Megan says

    June 3, 2021 at 3:38 pm

    Any suggestions on oat substitution? I saw another commenter ask the same question and “coconut flour” was a response by another commenter, but I feel weird about using flour that doesn’t get cooked out. (Maybe that’s a weird thing to have a hang up on, I don’t really know, ha!)
    Anyway, would love any other suggestions for oat substitution if you have them!

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      September 9, 2021 at 4:08 pm

      What about an almond flour?

      Reply
  25. Jessica says

    June 21, 2021 at 11:35 am

    5 stars
    I made these this morning for my 17 month old and as she has been ill for a few days and I’m trying to encourage her to eat I let her eat the dough before I’d rolled them. She loved it.

    Reply
  26. Sabina says

    January 8, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    Do you know if I could freeze these?

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      April 10, 2022 at 6:09 pm

      Yes! You can freeze these.

      Reply
  27. Katie says

    February 3, 2022 at 9:35 pm

    What size can of chickpeas

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      February 8, 2022 at 7:45 pm

      14.5 ounce can

      Reply
  28. Leanne Clifford says

    February 4, 2022 at 2:56 pm

    5 stars
    These are so tasty for mom and baby. Do you think they could be frozen? I feel like we have way more balls than we can eat before they go bad?

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      February 8, 2022 at 7:45 pm

      Yes! I freeze them all the time– just remove and defrost before serving.

      Reply
  29. Tiffany says

    March 25, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    4 stars
    Can I freeze these? How long will they last in the fridge? Thanks!

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      March 31, 2022 at 2:47 pm

      Yes, these freeze well. I typically free for 2 months

      Reply
  30. Miriam Jirari says

    May 13, 2022 at 5:16 am

    5 stars
    Sooo yummy and nutrient rich!! I’m an RD with a 4 year old and we made these together. I only had almond butter and fresh blueberries as an adaptation but they came out scrumptious. A bit sticky so we rolled them in monk fruit granules. I’m going to eat em up along with my son for sure! Thank you 🙏🏼

    Reply
  31. Jill says

    July 21, 2022 at 2:46 pm

    5 stars
    These are delicious! My 2.5yo loved them, and so did the grown ups that I offered them to (all omnivores). What a creative use of chickpeas! I used about a cup of frozen blueberries instead of dried. Thank you for all your recipes!! They make it so much easier to raise a plant based kid.

    Reply
    • alexwhitney says

      August 10, 2022 at 12:54 pm

      So glad to hear!

      Reply
  32. Samuel says

    September 23, 2022 at 8:23 pm

    Do you have a suggestion for alternative to dates, we have an allergy.

    Reply
  33. Jeri-Lynn says

    September 26, 2022 at 1:27 am

    5 stars
    These are sooooo delicious!!! Highly recommend they remind me of a childhood taste that I can’t put my finger on and I love them!!!

    Thank you for making such wonderful recipes! I love your book and guides! I’m 15 weeks pregnant and have been with y’all every step of the way so thankful for y’all!!!

    Reply

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