Six weeks ago I was in full fledged holiday baking mode and my mom joined me one evening for some girl time, Baileys and coffee and a semi-professional cookie decorating contest. She won, I think, on account of finishing all her Baileys and half of mine. Touche mom. Touche.
Over the course of a few hours we dipped pretzels in chocolate, sprinkled peppermint on chocolate bark and crowned peanut butter blossoms with a Hershey’s kiss. And you know what happened next? I practically ate a dozen of everything.
I think this is the part where I say, “Hi, my name’s Dana and I have…a cookie problem.”
Good news, though. Since then I haven’t inhaled a tin of chocolate bark, licked gobs of frosting off my fingers or made a game of seeing how many white chocolate pretzel sticks I can stick in my mouth at one time (although, now that I mention it, that sounds like an awesome idea).
And it’s not because I’ve had a deep look inside myself and wrestled the will to take control of my raging sweet tooth. It’s because I haven’t had the junk in in my house. It’s that simple. Junk food makes me feel terrible and I’ve been having an increasingly difficult time ignoring my conscience anytime I’m tempted to put something less-than-wholesome in my mouth. (Is this what they call becoming an adult?)
After all, we only get so many meals in a day and I want to make sure all of mine count, for good.
Lucky for me these cookies are full-on wholesome. They’re vegan, gluten free and contain no added sugar. Just dates, peanuts, oats, almonds and dark chocolate. They also match the likeness of a popular Girl Scout Cookie, only without all the partially hydrogenated what have yous and high fructose devil syrups.
This is pure hippie dessert heaven. The centers are tender, peanut-y and slightly salty thanks to salted, natural peanut butter (I made mine from scratch), and have just a hint of sweetness from a handful of dates. You could certainly leave them as is for a healthy snack, or you could cover them in dark chocolate to elevate them to dessert status.
Besides being simple to make, these little guys stay forever in the freezer so you can pop one out any time you want for an occasional treat. Alternatively, they’d make great gifts wrapped up all pretty – Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, after all.
- 1 cup raw salted peanut butter*
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 cup raw peanuts*
- ½ cup rolled oats (GF if needed)
- 5 pitted dates, deglet nour or medjool
- 1½ cups (12 oz) quality dark or semisweet chocolate (non-dairy for vegan)
- Add your oats to the food processor and mix until small pieces remain. Then add dates and process again until only small bits remain. Remove from processor and set aside.
- Next add almonds and peanuts to the food processor and mix until they turn to meal – a few small chunks are OK.
- Next add peanut butter to the nut meal and pulse until well combined. Then add dates and oats and process until the mixture forms a loose dough. If it seems too wet to handle, add more oats. If it seems too dry, add a few more dates.
- Scoop out small handfuls of dough and form into small discs. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and pop in the freezer to harden for 30 minutes.
- Around the 25-minute mark, melt your dark chocolate over a double boiler. Then work in small batches to coat the cookies. Take only 5 cookies out of the freezer at a time for dipping.
- To dip, drop cookies one at a time into the chocolate, flip once, pick up with a fork and tap on the rim of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place back on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop back in the freezer to set.
- Repeat until all cookies are dipped, re-warming chocolate as needed.
- For optimum freshness, store cookies in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer until serving.
Note: We’ve updated our Blog Resources page and added a tutorials section that includes a photography and photoshop lesson involving this recipe. Hope you find it helpful! Let us know what you think.
Julie January 26, 2013 at 8:16 am
Wow. Those look AMAZING and incredibly easy! Way to go, now I will be making a game of how many peanut butter patties I can fit in my mouth at one time…
Kristen Mastroianni January 26, 2013 at 8:30 am
Can u substitute almonds? My son has tree nut allergy
Aida January 26, 2013 at 9:30 am
Sounds great, but it is not a raw recipe.
-Roasted peanuts and roasted peanute butter?
Has to be raw both.. also, microwave.. not a good idea..
Chocolate can be warmed up, only up to 42C’
otherwise, it really look like cool one and i will try the really raw version at home, thank you!
Dana January 26, 2013 at 9:39 am
Aida, thanks for the tip. I’ve noted those changes in the recipe. I’m new to “raw” foods but am excited to learn more about them. Thanks!
Paula January 26, 2013 at 9:46 am
Dreamy!
Taylor January 26, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Amazzinnggg! PB patties were my all time favorite girl scout cookie. Can’t wait to make these beauties!!
Averie @ Averie Cooks January 26, 2013 at 12:54 pm
I’m like the biggest PB fan ever (and also of chocolate & no-bake treats) and this one hits the nail on the head! Delish, Dana! Gorgeous photos, as always!
Tammy January 26, 2013 at 4:13 pm
You are killing me! These look amazing! Glad my husband runs a peanut butter plant…I have a source for all the nut stuff! Making this one tommorrow!
Tammy
Andrea D. January 26, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Very awesome. Peanut butter + chocolate = LOVE
Becca January 26, 2013 at 4:58 pm
Ohhhhhh sooo yummy!! I am back from a trip to Yosemite and I cannot wait to make these for the wee ones I missed so. Apart from the awesome scenery and wonderful companions, I had a wide range of food experiences! Some awesome, some not so great. I am thinking my next post will be on this wide range and how it impacts us and what we want to eat and what we end up wasting when the food is crappy & made in an industrial fashion. I will somehow figure out a way to make a link to your website because if more food was made like this there would be more intentional consuming and less waste! keep the yummy recipes coming. Can’t wait to see what is next!xxoo
Emily @ Hungry Delights January 26, 2013 at 7:14 pm
Looks insanely delicious and all raw! nom nom nom!
xo Emily @ Hungry Delights
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie January 27, 2013 at 2:10 pm
I love these. They remind me of an even better version of tagalong cookies, but with more peanut butter!
Holly January 27, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Made these last night, they are incredible. Thank you for posting so many amazing vegan recipes!!!
admattai January 27, 2013 at 5:47 pm
thanks for the great recipe! I’m obsessed with pb and chocolate at the moment so this was perfect for me. I added a few extra dates and some honey to the mix and they were awesome. Also, since I’m not raw vegan, I used regular pb and pre-roasted peanuts & almonds.
Anjo Angela Lim January 28, 2013 at 4:41 am
I am SO making these ASAP! They look wonderful! I never thought to sub rolled oats for ground graham crackers. Yuuuuuum!
Jess January 28, 2013 at 8:39 pm
Dana – these just made my peanut butter/chocolate loving heart skip a beat. I love that they look totally indulgent, but are quite a “good” treat. I only recently started making some of these desserts with dates in them, and I’m totally hooked. Will definitely be making these this weekend!
Susan Pantle January 29, 2013 at 11:56 am
Oh yum!!
Katie January 30, 2013 at 12:40 am
These look AMAZING! Can’t wait to try them!
Btw you’ve got a typo there – should be double boiler, not broiler. ;)
Dana January 30, 2013 at 10:15 am
fixed! Thanks. Broiler/boiler is one of those words I flip flop ALL the time. Thanks for the catch.
Krista January 30, 2013 at 10:54 am
These look delicious! I was wondering about substituting something for the almonds also, would it work with just more peanuts? Thank you for all the great recipes!
Dana January 30, 2013 at 11:11 am
Yes, it should work just fine with more peanuts though I didn’t try it myself. Hope that helps!
Krista January 30, 2013 at 11:18 am
Thank you for the quick response. I’ll try and let you know :-)
Heidi - Apples Under My Bed February 14, 2013 at 12:59 am
Thank you, Dana! I adore these bites, they’re just divine! Made some for valentines day (see here http://applesundermybed.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/for-my-valentine.html) & they were much loved. I have a feeling I will be making these very often.
Heidi xo
Robyn February 14, 2013 at 7:22 pm
The beautiful photography drew me to this recipe and the end result was delicious. Thank you!
Melanie Thomassian March 15, 2013 at 1:41 pm
Oh… these look totally amazing, Dana. Can’t wait to try them. Thank you for sharing :)
Katie March 21, 2013 at 9:58 am
I see you use a lot of nuts in your recipes. As do I….I also make all my own nut butters. Do you soak your nuts prior to use? I never do but I read a lot that you should.
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Olaf April 16, 2013 at 9:52 pm
I’m allergic to peanuts (an allergy that developed after decades addicted to peanut butter in all forms) but have recently found some good almond butters that don’t have trace amounts of peanuts. They don’t taste just like pb, but it’s close enough for an addict. I’m not a big fan of almonds, though, so I’m not too hot on the idea of just replacing all the peanuts with more almonds. Anyone have any suggestions for other (non-nut) ingredients that could replace the peanuts (and maybe also the almonds) but still serve the same function in terms of helping the oats make the “dough” work properly?
Dana April 16, 2013 at 9:55 pm
Olaf, I’d recommend walnuts as they have a similar texture and fairly neutral flavor. Otherwise, pecans or potentially even sunflower seeds may work. Hope that helps!
Olaf April 16, 2013 at 10:00 pm
Thanks for the instant response. Gotta say, I hate walnuts and sunflower seeds! Always have. Pecans might work, though. Never really eaten them, but I’ll give it a shot. I wonder if there’s any neutral bean that would work. I’ve never used beans in that way, but seems theoretically possible.