Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls taste just like real cookie dough, except they’re raw, vegan, gluten-free and healthy. They freeze wonderfully so consider making a double batch and stashing a dozen in the freezer for when your cookie dough cravings strike!
This recipe has me really excited!
If you like cookie dough as much as I do, I know you will love these little doughy balls.
The beauty of this recipe is that because they are vegan (and gluten free) so you don’t have to worry when eating raw cookie dough.
Well, the only worry is that these little cookie dough bites are good. A little too good. Ahem.
Tip: You can make them in batches and store extras in a tub in the freezer and take out a handful at a time.
Or don’t store them in the freezer...
And just go to town on them right away
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites (gluten-free, soy-free)
Ingredients
- ⅔ c raw cashews
- ⅓ c oats
- 2 Tbsp Agave
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup, Omit and use Agave to preserve true Raw Status if you care
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ c Chocolate Chips, or to preserve true raw status, take 2 Tbsp Raw Cocoa Powder and add 1 Tbsp Agave, optional dash of vanilla extract, whisk and blend. Spread into a thin layer on wax or parchment paper, freeze. Take frozen chocolate off parchment and crumble the shreds into the mixture as your raw “chips”.
Instructions
- Blend the cashews and oats in a Vita-Mix, food processor, or high speed blender until they’re a fine powder. Don’t overblend or you’ll wind up with cashew butter very quickly.
- Add the agave, maple, vanilla and blend until incorporated. Be careful to just blend in short bursts and only until combined; don’t over-process.
- Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
- Form into balls and serve. If dough is sticky, chilling it in the refrigerator or flash-chilling it in the freezer helps make it easier to work with.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Take Oats & Cashews and get ready to Blend in your VitaMix
After you have your Oat-n-Cashew Flour…
…To it Add the Agave, Maple, & Vanilla Extract
Blend Again
Tip for Vita-Mix Users: You know you have “The Right Consistency” of Dough when the dough starts to ball up like a tennis ball and bangs around from side to side in the canister. I have learned this through trial and error and wanted to pass along my wisdom. Once you see The Ball (what I am talking about is in the above photo) start whipping around, Stop Blending. You have reached Perfect Dough Consistency Status.
Add the Chocolate Chips (or the Raw Chocolate Chips like I told you how to make)
Either Stir them in By Hand, of a 5 Second Blend in the VitaCookie (or Food Processor)
Transfer Dough Blob to plate or working surface. Tip: If for some reason your dough was too sticky, gummy, runny, or unworkable, refrigerate for a half hour and you should be back in business.
Roll Into Cute Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. I yielded 17 Balls from this Recipe. Clearly, not an exact science but that’s what I got.
The Pretty Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
Pretty is nice. But they are freakin’ amazing. I am not just saying that, either.
Optional Tweaks:
Add a dusting of cocoa powder, carob powder, or powdered sugar to the finished balls
Roll in raw cocoa nibs or shredded coconut
Rather than adding in chocolate chips, add raisins instead and add a dash of cinnamon to the batter for Oatmeal-Cinnamon-Raisin Raw Cookie Dough Balls
Flatten or mold into larger cookie shapes
Dehydrate for a more “cooked tasting” version of a chocolate chip cookie. But gawd I love the raw dough taste so this is out for me!
Now I wanted to touch on about why this may be one of my best dessert recipes ever! For me, a recipe has to encompass many things if I am going to actually make it and then continue making it as it becomes a go-to favorite.
Some of those recipe elements include:
1. Easy. The less steps the better.
2. Time Involved. If I cannot make the entire thing from walking into my pantry to grab the dry goods to the last dish is dried and put away 30 minutes later then I am probably not going to make it. I have a life outside of the kitch, too.
3. One appliance. For me, this is my Vita-Mix. For you, it may be your food processor. Dehydrated food is lovely, but it can be a lonnnnng wait and too much advance planning. And also the amount of dishes involved factors in here too. If you need a whisk, spoon, spatula, mixer beaters, Vita canisters, dehydrator screens, 7 bowls, forget it. One Appliance Please.
4. Very simple and short ingredient list. Nothing exotic. Nothing too expensive to deplete your savings account.
5. Taste. Must be excellent and if it’s a raw approximation of Something Else, it’s gotta taste like the Something Else it’s trying to be otherwise why bother. Just eat the Something Else or skip it entirely. Unless I can make a raw approximation that is spot-on in the flavor department, I’d rather just not have it.
These Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls have all of items 1 through 5. And using the above as my criteria, the cookie dough balls are in company with these other Raw Vegan Desserts I have created that also encompass items 1 through 5:
Raw Vegan Chocolate Donut Holes
And All my raw baking tips that I just gave you in the recipe! Now go make yourself some of these Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
Can you use other nuts beside cashew?
Please read the comments on page 3 – I just addressed this with a few readers yesterday.
These are delicious!!! I don’t have agave, though. What do you recommend as a substitute? Thanks!
Honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, yacon syrup, or anything sticky like those!
Hi Averie! This recipe sounds DELICIOUS, but I’m allergic to nuts. Do you know any substitutions for the cashews or if the recipe would taste the same without them? Thanks!
Won’t taste the same without the cashews. You could use sunflower seeds or another seed. But it will be a totally different taste – good but different.
I was going to suggest some of my PB-based balls but if you’re allergic to nuts, that won’t work either. https://www.averiecooks.com/ball-recipes/
Hi Averie! I’ve been really curious to try this recipe, but I absolutely HATE nuts. As in, if my sister plopped down on the couch next to me eating Nutella out of the jar (a regular occurance), I’d make her leave. I’m really sensitive to both the smell and taste. Do these have any nuttiness at all to them?
I don’t think so but you HAVE TO USE raw, unsalted cashews. I love Trader Joe’s for this. Do NOT try to swap out almonds for it. However, given how sensitive you are, all bets are off…But I really don’t like nuts in baked goods and to me, these taste like buttery cookie dough, not at all like nuts. Please write back and LMK what you think!
Thanks for the speedy reply! My grandpa always has cashews at his house so next time I’m there I’ll do the sniff test and if it goes well I’ll try the recipe! I’ll let you know if I end up trying it out.
I didn’t have cashews, so after reading comments about almond flour decided to substitute it. I mixed a batch and like you’d said, it lacked creaminess. THEN I remembered all the comments about the mislabeling on the pin, i.e. the banana, and realized that one would lend the right texture so I made a second batch right away (with almond butter, plus banana, no agave or maple syrup) and then mixed the two batches together. Maybe a tad creamy now, but still delightfully delicious.
Thanks for the detailed report about what you did. Yes, almonds are no where near the creamy/smoothy/buttery feel and taste that cashews have. But glad you figured out a few tweaks to help you with what you had on hand and you’re happy!
Hmmm….Where do the 2 bananas come in to play?
This recipe has been pinned over 2 million times and it’s been the most popular recipe on my blog since 2009 and in the past 18 months or so, there are pins floating around with a recipe written on the pin about bananas and baking at 350F. That’s not this recipe! This recipe is for raw, vegan, GF chocolate chip cookie dough balls. and has nothing to do with bananas or baked cookies.
I do have a vegan/GF healthy cookie recipe that uses bananas here https://www.averiecooks.com/healthy-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-miracle-cookies/
This recipe sounds great – what can we use instead of agave….they don’t have this in South Africa right now. kathy
Honey or maple syrup.
Hmmm upon relooking at this …. The recipe here is NOT the recipe on the pin! I came here after following the recipe in the comment on the actual pin on pinterest which was only banana, quick oats, chocolate chips and peanut butter…. No wonder mine looked nothing like yours!
This recipe has been pinned over 1 million times. Probably more. It’s been the most popular recipe on my blog since 2009 and in the past 18 months or so, there are pins floating around with a recipe written on the pin about bananas and baking at 350F. That’s not this recipe! This recipe is for raw, vegan, GF chocolate chip cookie dough balls. I do have a vegan/GF healthy cookie recipe that uses bananas here https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/05/healthy-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-miracle-cookies.html
Which is why your dough looked nothing like these photos of cookie dough balls. The dough you made could be a spinoff of my Healthy Miracle Cookies that I just linked. Anyway – glad they turned out great regardless for you!
As I mixed the ingredients together, I couldn’t help but notice mine looked nothing like yours. In fact I at first thought the picture was just a stock photo on the pin I found because it looked to much like real cookie dough. Once I went to this site I realized it really was pictures of the dough and mine just looked horribly wrong compared to it lol. Mine was goopy and sticky. Tasted amazing as a dough though and amazing once baked also. So I will definitely be making these again! My 2 yr old daughter is GF so will be very happy with these. Thanks for posting!
What kind of oats do you recommend using? Could oat groats be used?
I simply use Quaker Old Fashioned Whole Rolled Oats. If you need to keep the recipe certified GF or certified raw, then you’d have to use another kind, but for me and my needs, basic oats is all I use. I have never tried it with groats – I would think they would pulverize in the blender/food proc just fine, but haven’t tested it.