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 (affiliate link)!
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 (affiliate link) 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!
Aine @ Something to Chew Over says
August 29, 2011 at 8:31 amThese look so good! I really wish I had a food processor!
Medjool dates are the best, especially when accompanied with almonds 🙂
Justine says
June 5, 2013 at 6:40 pmIf you have a blender, it would work also:)
Jess says
August 29, 2011 at 8:35 amThanks for the great recipe! These sound great!
Beth @ Beth's Journey says
August 29, 2011 at 9:38 amThese look awesome Brittany! I am looking forward to making something very similar once I’m settled into my new apartment!
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:51 pmYay! Let me know how they turn out. 🙂
Rebecca @ Miss Magnolia Munches & Moves says
August 29, 2011 at 10:11 amPintrest is taking over my life!!!! It is so addicting, but so resourceful! I actually pinned this recipe! 🙂
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:52 pmI KNOW!! Pintrest is so addicting, but I love it as well. Thanks for pinning the cookies.
Erin @ The Grass Skirt says
August 29, 2011 at 10:24 amGod 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. 😉
Hannah says
August 29, 2011 at 10:50 amI 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! 🙂
Melissa says
August 29, 2011 at 11:23 amGlad 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.
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:57 pmYou definitely left just in the nick of time! I hope you’re doing well.
Jessica @ Bake a Little says
August 29, 2011 at 11:54 amThese look amazing and so easy. I am definitely going to try them! Thanks for sharing!
Claire @ Live and Love to Eat says
August 29, 2011 at 12:21 pmI’m loving all of the no-bake cookie recipes going around these days. So simple and delicious (and usually pretty healthy)!
Liz @ Southern Charm says
August 29, 2011 at 1:06 pmThese look amazing!
What a great recipe and can’t wait to try it out.
Talk about Hurricane friendly 🙂
Dawn says
August 29, 2011 at 2:24 pmExcellent! 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. 🙂
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:55 pmI’m glad you enjoyed the Whole Foods cooking demo recap! I hope the ricotta-stuffed zucchini turn out to be delicious.
Sarah @ SarahFit says
August 29, 2011 at 4:46 pmI 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!
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:55 pmYou and me both. 🙂
Savannah @ Sweet and Savvy says
August 29, 2011 at 5:57 pmThese 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!:)
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:55 pmThank you so much Savannah!
Liz @ iheartvegetables says
August 29, 2011 at 7:47 pmI’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!!
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:59 pmGlad to hear that you’re a-okay and have power now as well. Saturday was definitely scary.
amy says
August 29, 2011 at 7:54 pmyummmm i love no bake anything! mostly bc im lazy…those look awesome!
Pure2raw twins says
August 29, 2011 at 9:14 pmthis is my kind of cookie 😉
glad you are okay from the storm!!
Eating Bird Food says
August 29, 2011 at 9:56 pmDefinitely your kind of cookie. If you ladies ever come to town, I’ll make some for you!
Monet says
August 30, 2011 at 9:36 amYou 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!
Steph @ StephSnacks says
August 30, 2011 at 10:39 amI love how simple these are to make! They look delish!
Paige @ Running Around Normal says
August 30, 2011 at 10:50 amYou’re right – the ingredients totally remind me of Lara Bars! I never have dates in the house – I don’t know why!
Alexa @ Simple Eats says
August 30, 2011 at 5:30 pmi love the addition of cacao nibs…they sound delicious!
glidingcalm says
August 30, 2011 at 11:34 pmmmmm those look fabulous!! thanks for the recipe !! 😀
MizFit says
August 31, 2011 at 5:40 amThanks for this.
perfect to make with and then send to school with the kinder-girl!
Erika says
August 31, 2011 at 11:21 amOoo 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!
Sanjeeta kk says
September 2, 2011 at 7:17 amOh..am loving these healthy and easy peasy cookies..making them ASP.
Katy says
September 2, 2011 at 12:53 pmThese 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!
Allie says
September 21, 2011 at 2:02 pmMade these last night…YUMMMM!
Lindsay Beeson says
October 8, 2011 at 9:36 amHi, 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.
donna says
May 16, 2012 at 11:39 amwould just using almond flour work in place of grinding up the almonds?
Eating Bird Food says
May 16, 2012 at 11:51 amI haven’t tried it with almond flour but it seems like it would work. Let me know if you test it out!
Lisa says
August 14, 2012 at 2:44 pmI 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.
Eating Bird Food says
August 14, 2012 at 5:35 pmIf you make 22 cookies they have about 80 calories and 5.5 grams of fat each.
natural wheat protein says
December 8, 2012 at 4:00 amHi 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!
Brittany Mullins says
December 9, 2012 at 8:48 amIf you use a service like blogger or wordpress you won’t need to code manually. Best of luck starting your blog.
Christine says
October 27, 2013 at 9:41 pmI 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?
Brittany Mullins says
October 27, 2013 at 10:18 pmI looked online and it looks like that is correct. 1 cup of whole almonds should make 1 cup of almond meal. 🙂
Strength and Sunshine says
July 19, 2015 at 11:51 amMy kinda cookies for sure 😉
Lauren @ The Bikini Experiment says
July 19, 2015 at 4:05 pmAnother winner! These look delicious.
amanda says
July 19, 2015 at 7:31 pmI made these a ton when you first published them, but haven’t in forever. Thanks for the reminder!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul says
July 19, 2015 at 9:27 pmThese look delicious! I love almond cookies!
danicaliforniacooks says
July 20, 2015 at 1:02 pmI love these! So simple.
Emily says
July 20, 2015 at 2:02 pmMmm these look so yummy, Brittany! 🙂 Inspired now to write a recipe post this week.
wellandfull says
July 20, 2015 at 2:44 pmThese cookies ARE really cute! And made from whole food ingredients, I love that 🙂
Claudia says
July 29, 2015 at 3:49 pmSo excited to make these! Would sunflower butter and cashews work? I have a sensitivity to almonds. Thanks for all the recipes and great information!
Brittany Mullins says
July 30, 2015 at 10:27 amHi Claudia! I bet sunflower butter and cashews would work. Let me know how they turn out if you try it. 🙂
Hayley says
November 23, 2015 at 5:18 pmCan’t wait to make these! Do you know if they freeze well?
Thanks!
Brittany Mullins says
November 23, 2015 at 7:58 pmYes, they freeze wonderfully. I have a bunch in my freezer right now. I eat them straight from the freezer sometimes. 🙂