Double Chocolate Vegan Black Bean Cookies made with 6 simple ingredients! These healthy cookies are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and completely flourless! Whip them up in a food processor (or blender) for an amazingly rich and delicious dessert.
Ready for the alpha omega black bean dessert??
If you’ve pursued my site a time or two, you’ve likely seen a bean-infused dessert or twelve. I’ve made brownies, cookies, even banana bread using black beans or garbanzo beans!
After posting my 6-Ingredient Vegan Peanut Butter Chickpea Cookies and the crowd went wild, I knew, I just KNEW I would need to make a black bean version. And look what we have here!
Double Chocolate Vegan Black Bean Cookies that are..
- Gluten-free & grain-free
- Dairy-free
- Refined sugar-free
- Egg-free
- Oil-Free
- Flourless
- …and CRAZY moist, fudgy, and perfectly textured!
Imagine a cookie and a brownie made sweet, sweet love and the end result was the richest most death-by-chocolate situation that ever did grace your mouth. That is what these black bean cookies are like.
ALSO, there is flexibility with this recipe. You can eat it raw as edible cookie dough, turn them into a batch of brownies, or single-serve brownies.
Ingredients for Black Bean Cookies:
Black Beans: The base of these cookies! Use 1 can of black beans, or approximately 1 ¾ cup cooked beans (if cooking from dry). Be sure you rinse the beans well and pat them dry with a paper towel before adding them to the food processor. You don’t want the beans to be overly wet, but a small amount of moisture is fine.
Peanut Butter: Helping bind the cookies together without the use of eggs, peanut butter not only keeps the cookies together, it also adds amazing flavor! I don’t recommend using the natural peanut butters unless they are very, very well-stirred.
Pure Maple Syrup: Sweetening the cookies without the use of refined cane sugar, we use pure maple syrup. You can also use agave nectar or coconut palm nectar, or a sugar-free liquid sweetener. Just be sure to use a liquid sweetener!
Raw Cacao Powder: Cacao powder not only adds rich chocolate flavor to the cookies, it also acts as a sort of flour to help bring the cookies together. You can also use unsweetened cocoa powder. I just prefer the flavor of raw cacao powder.
Baking Powder & Sea Salt: Baking powder acts as a leavening agent, and sea salt enhances the flavor profile of the cookie! Both are crucial! Don’t skip them.
Chocolate Chips: Adding an insane amount of richness and decadence, chocolate chips boost the chocolatey goodness of these black bean cookies. Don’t skip them! Use your favorite dairy-free chocolate chips for these cookies, and use sugar-free chocolate chips to keep these lower in sugar/carbs.
How to Make Double Chocolate Vegan Black Bean Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Open the can of black beans and transfer to a colander. Rinse beans well with cool water. Use a paper towel to pat the beans dry. It is okay if the beans are a little wet, but do your best to remove the moisture.
Add all ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor.
Process until a thick dough forms and all the clumps are out. You may need to stop the food processor to scrape the sides with a rubber spatula and re-start a couple of times.
Stir in the chocolate chips until well-distributed throughout the dough.
Take a large portion (about ½ to ⅔ cup) of dough in your hands and form into a ball, then press into a disc. You will need to form the dough to the shape you want, as they will not spread or rise through the baking process. If desired, top the dough with more chocolate chips.
Place dough discs on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes, until cookies have set up and have small cracks.
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool at least 20 minutes before serving (if you eat the cookies before they have rested, they will fall apart…but that’s cool too…you can eat them with a spoon).
Wanting to go the distance with this recipe? It can also serve as raw edible cookie dough or brownies! Check it:
Eat As Edible Cookie Dough:
Is the cookie dough your favorite part about cookies? You can easily eat the dough raw since there are no eggs! Simply skip the baking process and roll into little cookie dough balls to enjoy as edible cookie dough.
Turn This Recipe Into Single-Serve Brownies:
If you’re looking for a spoonable, brownie-like dessert, simply add the dough to oven-safe ramekins and bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve with a scoop of ice cream for an epic dessert!
Recipe Adaptations:
- Use garbanzo beans instead of black beans
- You can replace the peanut butter with almond butter, but it needs to be very well-stirred! If the almond butter is thin or contains too much oil, it will cause the cookies to fall apart easier.
- Add chopped nuts, white chocolate chips, and/or shredded coconut if desired.
More Healthy Bean Desserts:
- Flourless Black Bean Banana Bread
- Double Chocolate Black Bean Brownies
- Vegan Garbanzo Bean Blondies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Chickpea Bars
Where black beans go to thrive…
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Double Chocolate Vegan Black Bean Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained, rinsed, patted dry
- 1/2 cup peanut butter see note
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Rinse the black beans well in a colander. Use a paper towel to pat them dry. It's fine if they are still slightly wet, but try to get as much water off the beans as possible.
- Add all ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor. Process until a thick dough forms and all the clumps are out. You may need to stop the food processor to scrape the sides with a rubber spatula and re-start a couple of times.
- Stir in the chocolate chips until well-distributed throughout the dough.
- Take a large portion (about ½ to ⅔ cup) of dough in your hands and form into a ball, then press into a disc. You will need to form the dough to the shape you want, as they will not spread or rise through the baking process. If desired, top the dough with more chocolate chips.
- Place dough discs on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes, until cookies have set up and have small cracks.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
These taste amazing!! I will say it is pretty messy when trying to form them into discs and they are pretty doughy after baking. I’m hoping the longer they cool, they will harden up a little bit but the taste is great and I have no guilt when eating these. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
My pleasure, Jessica! Thanks for sharing your experience! xo
Anyone whose curious, i totally used refried black beans for this, i dont have exact ratios but i added a dark chocolate syrup and alittle powdered PB along with the other creamy pb, just for a more dry binding agent and less PB taste. Microwave 30 second intervals and boom, lil mug brownie
I love that! I’m tempted to try the same thing now 🙂
Fabulous recipe. I used 75 grams sugar and 3T water. Baked as muffins and got 12. I love the taste. Great texture . Added 1tsp cinnamon and 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper. Baked 23 minutes. Used Skippy peanut butter with chunky peanuts
I love that you added cayenne! Sounds marvelous. Thank you for sharing, Catherine!
Hi. Could you use a can of refried black beans instead of the canned beans? Thanks 😁
If I wanted to add espresso powder to bring out the flavor of the chocolate how much would you suggest I add?
Hi Hannah! If it were me, I would add 1 tablespoon 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo
What can i use instead of peanut butter or almond butter?
Hi Jane! Any well-stirred thick nut or seed butter will work. If you can do cashew butter, that would be my top recommendation, but sunflower seed butter or even tahini will work (provided you like the flavor). If the issue is that there is a nut allergy, I think you’d need to pull some wild strings or make an entirely different recipe. Hope that helps! xoxox
If you only use natural peanut butter is there anything you need to do differently?
Hi Kristine! You don’t need to do anything differently – just make sure the peanut butter is well-stirred! I hope you love the cookies! 😀 xo
I just made these and I’m eating one now. The flavor is fantastic, really rich, a luscious dark cocoa taste. I did not add the chocolate chips on top, because I’m generally a low-sweet kind of person. I might try sprinkling some sea salt or even a few cocoa nibs on top next time. Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Thanks for the lovely recipe! Oh, and BTW, I didn’t have maple syrup, so I used agave in the same proportions and it worked wonderfully.
Thanks so much for the sweet feedback, Mia! I’m happy you enjoy the black bean cookies! xoxoxo
These cookies are sooo good! I made mine with unsweetened cacao powder, but they were a little too soft, can I add a little bit of white flour so they can be a little less soft?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Kary!
You can definitely add some flour to get them to firm up! I would start with 2 tablespoons and work up from there until you get the consistency you’re looking for! xoxo
I have nut allergy. Is there another binder for peanut butter?
Hi Jessica!
Can you do seeds? If so, sunflower seed butter should work. It won’t taste the same but that would be your best bet for replacing the nut butter in these cookies.
can I use a sweetner other than maple syrup? (For example, Zone, raw sugar, etc.)
Hi Doris!
Yes, absolutely! You can use any sweetener you would like, although you will need to offset some (not necessarily all) the loss of the liquid from the pure maple syrup with another liquid. If it were me, I would try 1/3 cup of the sweetener of your choosing and add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and go from there. The consistency of the cookie dough should be very thick but also pliable if that makes sense 🙂 Hope you enjoy.
@Julia, what about using honey in lieu of syrup?
Honey works too! I only caution that the honey flavor definitely shines through, so if you enjoy the way honey tastes in baked goods, go for it! I personally don’t always enjoy the way honey tastes alongside chocolate, but if you like it, feel free! I would also bake the cookies for about 1-2 minutes less because honey has a lower burn temperature and tends to brown up quite a bit. 🙂 Enjoy!! xo
If I use dry bean, do I cook them at all after I rinse them before putting them in the food processor or blender? Thank you!
Hi Emily,
The beans will need to be cooked, yes. After they are cooked, just be sure the beans aren’t too moist (drain them of excess water). Hope you enjoy! xo
THANK YOU!!!! these are so delicious! & a brilliant idea using Black Beans.
DUDE!!! Who would ever think to mix black beans with chocolate? I’m so glad you did!
I’m taking a Professional Plant Based cooking course from Rouxbe Cooking School. We were given the assignment to choose a legume and use it two different creative ways. These cookies are one of the recipes I choose to make. I did include your blog name as the source for the recipe in my report. The only changes I made were to add a little vanilla and used natural peanut butter. They really are the most amazing cookies. Not to sweet and so much depth of flavor. Thank you so much. Hope I get a good grade.
CINDY! How cool!! I hope you get a good grade too, lol… A++ on this stellar review 🙂 Many thanks for the sweet words! xoxox
Third time making these delicious cookies. They get better every time. I make them smaller so I get about a dozen and a half. Works best with food processor. First time made with Ninja, second time regular old blender, third times a charm. First 2 times I just chopped up an organic dark chocolate baking bar and stirred it all in. This time I had dark chocolate no sugar chocolate chips on top. Awesome thanks for having great recipes.
I’m so happy you like them, Miriam! Thanks so much for the sweet note and for the feedback! xoxo Keep enjoying those cookies! 😉
Third time making these delicious cookies. They get better every time. I make them smaller so I get about a dozen and a half. Works best with food processor. First time made with Ninja, second time regular old blender, third times a charm. First 2 times I just chopped up an organic dark chocolate baking bar and stirred it all in. This time I had dark chocolate no sugar chocolate chips on top. Awesome thanks for having great recipes.