Made with raw almonds, almond butter, dates and cacao nibs, these mini no bake cookies have the texture of cookie dough and a sweet and nutty flavor. They’re gluten-free, vegan and free of refined sugar!
I have a special treat for you today. An incredibly delicious, tiny little treat in the form of a cookie.
I first posted about these cookies FOUR years ago. The photos definitely needed an upgrade so I made the recipe again last week, reshot the photos and decided to republish it. <– That’s why you’ll see some comments from 2011 on the post.
As most of you probably know, I’m kind of obsessed with mini versions of things (especially desserts). These cookies were already small, but I decided to take things a step further and make them miniature.
I mean, how cute are these itty bitty cookies? I just want to squeeze them.
They’re also HEALTHY, require only five ingredients (six if you count the salt), have zero refined sugar and taste like cookie dough. You’re going to love ’em!!
The best part = you don’t even need a bowl and spoon to make these babies. Just grab your ingredients and toss them into your food processor!
Once blended you simply form the dough into small cookies using your hands or by pressing the dough out on parchment paper and using a cookie cutter. Either method works beautifully.
I used a small jar as a cookie cutter and it made tiny cookies that reminded me of Go Raw cookies, which I love. Of course, these cookies aren’t as crisp. They’re softer with the consistency of a homemade larabar or unbaked cookie dough.
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PinDescription
These cookies may be small, but they make up for their size in the flavor department. They’re all natural, have only 5 ingredients and no added sugar – overall a great alternative to white flour and sugar based pb cookies. Storing the cookies in the fridge will keep them dense, chewy and delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw or unsalted roasted almonds
- 1 cup (about 8-10) medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1-2 Tablespoons cacaos nibs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if your almond butter is salted)
Instructions
- Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal.
- Add the dates, almond butter, vanilla and salt.
- Pulse/process for about a minute — until a dough forms.
- Add in cacao nibs and pulse once or twice to combine.
- At this point your mixture should be crumbly but sticky enough to hold together when pressed into Form the dough into small cookies using your hands or by pressing the dough out on parchment paper and using a cookie cutter. Each cookie should contain about 2 teaspoons of dough.
- Place formed cookies on parchment paper. Enjoy immediately or place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to firm up. Store any leftovers in a covered container in the fridge or freezer.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cookies
- Calories: 85
- Sugar: 5g
- Fat: 5g
- Carbohydrates: 8g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 2g
Almonds, sweetness from dates and a little crunch from cacao nibs = perfection.
I’m sure you’re going to enjoy these little cookies as much as we do! If you happen to make them be sure to leave a comment letting me know how they turned out or share a photo on social media. Just tag @eatingbirdfood so that I see it!
These look so good! I really wish I had a food processor!
Medjool dates are the best, especially when accompanied with almonds 🙂
If you have a blender, it would work also:)
Thanks for the great recipe! These sound great!
These look awesome Brittany! I am looking forward to making something very similar once I’m settled into my new apartment!
Yay! Let me know how they turn out. 🙂
Pintrest is taking over my life!!!! It is so addicting, but so resourceful! I actually pinned this recipe! 🙂
I KNOW!! Pintrest is so addicting, but I love it as well. Thanks for pinning the cookies.
God bless you. These are just what I need today, and I have all of the ingredients on hand already! I actually make something similar, but I roll them into balls. Calling them cookies sounds 1,000 times better than balls. 😉
I really need a food processor. I just have too many gadgets and no room to put them!
I want to try to make this sooo bad.
They look delicious! 🙂
Glad you weathered the storm ok! Looks like I got out of town just in time, huh?
I just made a similar recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie, but since I’m obsessed with almond butter, these are up next for sure.
You definitely left just in the nick of time! I hope you’re doing well.
These look amazing and so easy. I am definitely going to try them! Thanks for sharing!
I’m loving all of the no-bake cookie recipes going around these days. So simple and delicious (and usually pretty healthy)!
These look amazing!
What a great recipe and can’t wait to try it out.
Talk about Hurricane friendly 🙂
Excellent! I’ll have to try these. I just made some protein “cookies” with dates, almonds, whey protein, and cooked quinoa (all chopped together in food processor)…but the texture is kind of weird. I’m starting to feel addicted to dates, so this came at a good time. And it looks like you can swap out ingredients, and still end up with a tasty treat!
Also, I wanted to thank you for posting your latest Whole Foods tasting experience. Now I have YET another fun idea for zucchini now (the ricotta-stuffed zucchini). They’re on the menu for this week, in fact. 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed the Whole Foods cooking demo recap! I hope the ricotta-stuffed zucchini turn out to be delicious.
I love making recipes like this but I must admit, I lack the will power to have just one or two 🙂 I will try this recipe soon though!
You and me both. 🙂
These look so wonderful!:) I can’t wait to try this recipe out!
I got so excited when I saw YOU were feature on FitSugar today! Glad to see that you are getting deserved recognition!:)
Thank you so much Savannah!
I’m so glad you guys didn’t have too much damage! We lost power Saturday night but had it back by late Sunday morning.
These cookies look incredible!!
Glad to hear that you’re a-okay and have power now as well. Saturday was definitely scary.
yummmm i love no bake anything! mostly bc im lazy…those look awesome!
this is my kind of cookie 😉
glad you are okay from the storm!!
Definitely your kind of cookie. If you ladies ever come to town, I’ll make some for you!
You know i love Larabars! This looks so good! And I love Pintrest too 🙂 I hope you are having a terrific Tuesday morning. I’m about to head off to work and begin my day. Much love and hugs from Austin!
I love how simple these are to make! They look delish!
You’re right – the ingredients totally remind me of Lara Bars! I never have dates in the house – I don’t know why!
i love the addition of cacao nibs…they sound delicious!
mmmm those look fabulous!! thanks for the recipe !! 😀
Thanks for this.
perfect to make with and then send to school with the kinder-girl!
Ooo adding these to my “To-make” list. I’ve been craving cookies lately and you really cant go wrong with dates and nuts as far as I’m concerned. If life would let me, I would get lost for hours on Pinterest. It’s an addiction!
Oh..am loving these healthy and easy peasy cookies..making them ASP.
These look absolutely delicious! I’ve been meaning to try some of ohsheglows.com’s no bake cookie recipes. This one will be added to the list!
Made these last night…YUMMMM!
Hi, these are delicious.
I’m a consummate recipe-admirer and I’ve *finally* challenged myself to actually make some of the recipes I’ve bookmarked; this is one of the first! (Wrote about it: http://foodanddo.lindsaybeeson.com/2011/10/08/day-18-of-101-chipping-away-at-my-fifty-recipes/)
I even made my own almond butter for this! Simple: just roasted an extra cup of almonds and put them in the food processor (when they were still warm) until they butter-ized. That made a little more almond butter than I needed, but no worries … extra almond butter is highly snackable.
would just using almond flour work in place of grinding up the almonds?
I haven’t tried it with almond flour but it seems like it would work. Let me know if you test it out!
I love these cookies, I usually eat them as a snack. I was wondering if you have any idea what the calorie and fat content are per cookie.
If you make 22 cookies they have about 80 calories and 5.5 grams of fat each.
Hi there this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to
know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually
code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
If you use a service like blogger or wordpress you won’t need to code manually. Best of luck starting your blog.
I already have almond meal on hand. Was wondering if 1 C of whole almonds, when processed, is equal to 1 C almond meal or does the amount change?
I looked online and it looks like that is correct. 1 cup of whole almonds should make 1 cup of almond meal. 🙂
My kinda cookies for sure 😉
Another winner! These look delicious.
I made these a ton when you first published them, but haven’t in forever. Thanks for the reminder!
These look delicious! I love almond cookies!
I love these! So simple.
Mmm these look so yummy, Brittany! 🙂 Inspired now to write a recipe post this week.
These cookies ARE really cute! And made from whole food ingredients, I love that 🙂
So excited to make these! Would sunflower butter and cashews work? I have a sensitivity to almonds. Thanks for all the recipes and great information!
Hi Claudia! I bet sunflower butter and cashews would work. Let me know how they turn out if you try it. 🙂
Can’t wait to make these! Do you know if they freeze well?
Thanks!
Yes, they freeze wonderfully. I have a bunch in my freezer right now. I eat them straight from the freezer sometimes. 🙂