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
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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.
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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
3 things: 1) so-called raw cashews are actually steamed, so they are not poisonous. 2) I have a very cheap Oster blender. While I couldn’t quite get the consistency seen in the photos (after several minutes of blending), the dough balls looked almost the same after I rolled them up and they taste good. I think with my blender I might add just a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon more agave in the future. Stuff got pretty stuck around the base of the blender and it probably pushed the limits of my machine. 3) While mine didn’t come out just like cookie dough – it was good, and certainly a million times better than some blackbean version floating around the web.
This is a genius idea! I’m going to make them tonight!
I like your 5 recipe elements–I’m totally with ya on those requirements!
Wow, amazing much??? I cannot stop eating these, they taste better than cookie dough!! yum – thanks soooooo much for posting this!!!! :D
I’m glad they were a big hit and that you loved them and glad to know the honey worked out for you!
Any chance you could come up with a nut-free version? I’m gluten free and allergic to nuts.
Maybe try avocado instead of the cashews. I substitute avocados all the time for butter. Butter is very difficult to sub because of the fat and creaminess and the avocado has both. Taste does not change and just like the cashews, it is a healthy fat. Still a fast which has calories, but a healthy fast.
Meant to say, still a fat, not fast.
While avocados make a great substitute for butter/fat in many applications, I personally would not use them in this recipe. The cashews are dry, dusty, and serve as both fat and behave like a ‘flour’, serving to glue and anchor the dough so it comes together; whereas an avocado is gloppy and wet, and will make the dough wetter and won’t allow it to combine.
Not to mention, avocados oxidize (turn brown) and so shelf-stability goes out the window. One of the reasons I love these balls is that they don’t need refrigeration and will last week(s) at room temperature (or months in the fridge/freezer) whereas with fresh avocado in them, that would not be possible.
If you’re look for a dessert recipes for avocados, I have some tagged here https://www.averiecooks.com/tag/avocado (mousse, smoothies, ice cream, etc.)
I love avocados and I love these cookie dough balls, but – not together. But to each her own!
Hi, raw cashews I believe are poisonous. Other than that sounds like a great recipe that I can’t wait to try :)
Pretty sure they’re not poisonous or I, and millions of others, would be dead. All nuts have aflatoxins, if that’s what you’re referring to…some nuts in higher proportion than others. Peanuts actually are much higher in aflatoxins than cashews.
“raw cashews” are not actually raw – they are steamed…so no worries.
This looks great. I was wondering if you could substitute the maple syrup and the agave for honey instead as that is what I have on hand.
Thanks!
You can try it – I find honey is much thicker & stickier to work with than agave or maple so the ratios may be a little different but similar and it will add a different flavor than agave or maple. Never know til you try!
I used honey and they were delicious, and the stickyness only made licking my fingers more fun haha