Who’s ready for all the spicy gingerbread flavor you crave with incredibly health-promoting whole-food ingredients and no baking required? These delicious and decadent Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites will nip a cookie craving in the bud or help fuel and energize your day! These healthy treats last for up to 12 days in the fridge and are easy to freeze and thaw for later–maximizing portion control.
Whether you’re nutritarian or just looking for an incredibly delicious low-calorie dessert, breakfast or snack, I think you’re going to love these energy bites!
What makes these Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites special?
- no cooking required: that means no acrylamides–the toxic byproducts of frying, baking and roasting (source)
- sweetened only with dates: that means a lower glycemic reaction than recipes with sugar, molasses or maple syrup because they have intact fibers and less calories (source)
- beans used instead of more oats: loads more fiber and protective blood-glucose inhibition that only beans can provide (learn more here)
- high in plant-derived omega-3s: from the walnuts and ground flaxseed
- raw nuts & seeds have higher nutrient content: roasting and baking can degrade certain heat-sensitive nutrients and vitamins found in nuts and seeds (source)
- no oil: healthy fats from raw nuts and seeds retain their fiber and phytonutrients.
- 77 calories and 3.3 grams of fat per energy bite: ideal for weight-loss and calorie deficits
- great for meal prep: incredible 12-day shelf life in the refrigerator
Wait, does that mean these energy bites taste like beans?
No!
You won’t detect any bean taste because of the sweetness from the dates and date syrup and the powerful flavor of the warming spices.
9 Whole Food Ingredients
- cannellini beans (no-salt-added)
- raw walnuts
- pitted Medjool dates
- rolled oats
- ground flaxseed
- orange juice
- date syrup
- lemon zest
- spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & allspice
Cannellini Beans: Known as the white kidney bean, cannellini beans are mild in flavor and have a particularly smooth and creamy texture. I use this 365 brand that has no-added-salt. Typically energy bite recipes have a higher amount of oats but here I’ve used beans instead. This helps to make these energy bites weight-loss friendly and adds to the cookie-dough-like texture. Texturally the beans are undetectable. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of beans.
Walnuts: This is our healthy fat source that’s naturally high in omega 3s. If you don’t have walnuts on hand you could use hazelnuts.
Dates: The fresher and softer the dates you use the better the result will be. The test is that you should be able to easily pull them apart in half. If you only have super-dried-out dates on you can “revive” them by soaking them overnight or soaking for 15 minutes in very hot water (just covering). Allow the soaked dates to dry off completely before using them in the recipe or you’ll end up with a gloppy mess.
Date Syrup: Traditional gingerbread calls for molasses but we’re going to use date syrup instead. I use D’Vash brand.
Lemon Zest: This really elevates the flavor and citrus zest is a signature ingredient in most gingerbread recipes. If you don’t have lemon zest on hand you can substitute with orange zest.
Orange Juice: If you don’t have this on hand you can use water. The orange juice adds another layer of flavor but is mostly used to help the mixture process.
Spices: I recommend starting off with the lower recommended amount and giving the dough a taste before adding more especially if you’re sensitive to ginger or allspice.
How to make Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites:
Equipment needed:
- food processor
- 1-1/2 Tbsp. cookie scoop
- soft spatula
This batter is very sticky (thanks to those dates) so it’s going to take a bit of “helping your food processor along” with frequent intervals of scraping down the sides of your food processor bowl.
Add all the ingredients into your food processor bowl and process until your blades are not catching the ingredients, I’ve found this to be about 5 to 7 seconds. Remove the top of the processor and use a spatula to scrape down the sides.
You’re going to repeat this processing for 5 to 7 seconds and scraping down the sides until the ingredients form a thick ball (as shown above on the bottom left). It takes about seven rounds to get to this consistency. The timing may vary a bit based on your particular processor.
You may be tempted to add more liquid to “help” process the batter quicker but DO NOT DO this. It will make the consistency too soft.
The final texture is soft but will hold shape. There will be some larger bits of oats, dates and walnuts and that’s okay, you don’t want the mixture completely smooth.
Chilling and rolling:
Use a 1-1/2 Tbsp. cookie scoop and portion out 18 balls onto a small baking sheet or large plate. Don’t roll them just yet, let the mixture chill in the refrigerator first. Let the portioned scoops chill for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
When ready to roll, you can slightly dampen your hands.
Optionally, you can sprinkle or roll the balls with shredded unsweetened coconut.
How to store these Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites:
Fridge: The energy bites keep for 12 to 14 days in a glass food storage container with a snaplock lid.
Freezer: Keep for up to 2 months in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
To thaw: Allow the bites to thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature until defrosted (about 10 minutes).
What is the flavor and texture like?
These Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites are pleasantly soft and moist. There is still a bit of texture from the larger pieces of oats, dates and nuts.
The flavor is decadent and dessert-like with a predominately sweet and spicy taste. There is a pleasant complementary note of citrus from the lemon zest and orange juice. These energy bites are not super-sweet, just satisfyingly-sweet.
How many Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites can you have on the nutritarian plan?
If you’re following the Aggressive Weight Loss Plan: As the recipe is written, without the optional shredded coconut, you could enjoy two bites per day.
Nut & Seed Allotment: Dr. Fuhrman advises women who are trying to lose weight should have no more than 1 ounce of nuts and seeds daily while overweight men can have 1.5 – 2 ounces (see source here). One ounce is 28.35 grams. There are 4.83 grams of nuts/seeds in each energy bite which is 17% of your allotment for the day, so keep that in mind as you plan the rest of your meals.
Dried Fruit/Dates: Dr. Furhman generally advocates for dessert recipes that are sweetened with one-half to two Madjool dates tops per serving. If you use the recommended 9 large Medjool dates (~165 grams) for this recipe, you’d be having half a date per energy bite.
If you’ve reached your ideal BMI (under 23): Enjoy up to four of these per day as your nut/seed and calorie allotment is higher.
More incredibly delicious desserts (with hidden good-for-you ingredients)…
Check out my premium cookbook Nutritarian Celebrations where I share these Soft-Batch Cranberry Coconut Cookies (with hidden beets and garbanzo beans) and Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites.
You’ll also find 22 more delicious desserts that are nutritarian, vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and fruit-sweetened!
Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites
Loaded with healthy omega-3s and featuring simple whole food ingredients these vegan, oil-free, date-sweetened Gingerbread Cookie Dough Bites are a low-calorie cookie fix when you don't feel like turning on the oven!
Ingredients
- 1 cup pitted Medjool dates, about 9 large dates pulled apart in half ~165 grams
- 1 cup cannellini beans, well rinsed and drained ~170 grams
- 2/3 cup raw walnuts ~75 grams
- 1/3 cup rolled oats ~32 grams
- 2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed ~12 grams
- 2 Tbsp. orange juice or water ~29 mL
- 1 tsp. lemon zest ~2 grams
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger can increase up to 3/4 tsp.
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp. allspice can increase up to 1/4 tsp.
Instructions
-
This dough is going to be very sticky so it's going to take a bit of helping your food processor along with frequent intervals of scraping down the sides of your food processor bowl. You may be tempted to add more liquid to "help" process the batter quicker but DO NOT DO this. It will make the end consistency too soft.
-
Add all the ingredients into your food processor bowl and process until your blades are not catching the ingredients, I've found this to be about 5 to 7 seconds. Remove the top of the processor and use a spatula to scrape down the sides.
-
You're going to repeat this processing for 5 to 7 seconds and scraping down the sides until the ingredients form a thick ball. It takes about seven rounds to get to this consistency. The timing may vary a bit based on your particular processor.
-
The final texture will be soft but will hold shape. There will be some larger bits of oats, dates and walnuts and that's okay, you don't want the mixture completely smooth.
-
Use a 1-1/2 Tbsp. cookie scoop and portion out 18 balls onto a small baking sheet or large plate. Don't roll them just yet, let the mixture chill in the refrigerator first. Let the portioned scoops chill for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
-
When ready to roll, you can slightly dampen your hands. Optionally, you can sprinkle or roll the balls with shredded unsweetened coconut.
Recipe Notes
RECIPE YEILD: makes 18 1-1/2 Tbsp. bites
STORAGE:
Fridge: The energy bites keep for 12 to 14 days in a glass food storage container with a snaplock lid.
Freezer: Keep for up to 2 months in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
To thaw: Allow the bites to thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature until defrosted (about 10 minutes).
SUBSTITUTIONS:
Cannellini Beans: Known as the white kidney bean, cannellini beans are mild in flavor and have a particularly smooth and creamy texture. I don't recommend using any other type of bean.
Walnuts: This is a healthy fat source that's naturally high in omega-3s, so they are a first choice. Taste-wise you could use hazelnuts instead.
Dates: The fresher and softer the dates you use the better the result will be. The test is that you should be able to easily pull them apart in half. If you only have super-dried-out dates on you can "revive" them by soaking them overnight or soaking for 15 minutes in very hot water (just covering). Allow the soaked dates to dry off completely before using them in the recipe or you’ll end up with a gloppy mess.
Orange Juice: If you don't have this on hand you can use water. The orange juice adds another layer of flavor but is mostly used to help the mixture process.
Nutritional information show is for the bites without optional shredded coconut topping:
I’d love to know what you think if you give this recipe a try!
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