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These vegan Cookie Dough Brownies have a secret ingredient. Lentils! Free of dairy, egg, soy and gluten. They come together quickly for the chocolate chip cookie dough fix. Use coconut flour to make grain-free
I know right. I am currently going through a Cookie dough phase. the other day, I was hit with the cookie dough craving again and I wondered if I could do something about all the flour and nuts in it and also the reduce the oil and amp up te cookie dough to something more. Enter lentils! Lentils and chickpeas can pretty much do everything. I also added a brownie layer to the bars, you can as well make the brownie layer into cookie dough too. Make a lot of cookie dough balls and freeze them till you need them, if any are left that is. So lets add some protein (lentils!) to these fudge bars.
There are cooked lentils, hemp seeds, a bit of oat and coconut flour for added volume in this recipe. Sub the oat flour with coconut flour to make the recipe grain-free. I use raw unrefined sugar in the recipe. The dry sugar is not adding any volume to this so you can use any sweetener of choice like stevia, dates, coconut sugar etc. A liquid sweetener might not work as well as there is already enough moisture from the lentils.
I know they sound unusual. Give them a go! If you don’t like them much, no fear, just blend them up into milkshakes or cookie dough blizzards!
Make these awesome Vegan Cookie Dough Brownies! Lentils = Protein!
More goodies from the blog.
The original Chocolate chip Cookie dough with oat and almond flour or use any flour. No Bake. You can use this to make these bars as well. Make a double batch, add cocoa powder to one batch, layer, chill and slice.
Cookie dough blizzard milkshake – No Bake
Baked Chocolate chunk Cookie, Date Caramel, Brownie bars
Cookie Dough Brownie Bars
Ingredients
For the Base Batter
- 1/2 cup red lentils, masoor dal
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup hemp seeds
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 3/4 cup ground raw sugar , or other sweetener
For the Cookie Dough and Brownie Layers
- 1/4 cup oat flour divided, divided, or use coconut flour for grain free
- 5 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/3 cup mini vegan chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Instructions
Make the base batter.
- In a pan, add washed lentils and water. Partially cover and cook for 13 to 14 minutes on medium heat or until very tender. Drain if needed. Cool to room temperature and add to blender.
- Add the cooked lentils and all of the remaining batter ingredients to your blender. Blend for 1 minute, then let the mixture rest for 5 minutes. Blend again for 30 seconds. Continue blending and resting until you have a smooth mixture. Divide this mixture between 2 bowls.
Make the cookie dough and brownie batters.
- In one bowl, add 2 tablespoons oat flour and 2.5 tablespoons coconut flour, and mix well. Add 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips and mix. Taste and add more sweet, if needed. This is your cookie dough.
- In other bowl, add 2 tablespoons oat flour, 2.5 tablespoons coconut flour, and the cocoa powder and mix well. Add the remaining chocolate chips and mix in. Taste and add sweet, if needed. This is your brownie batter.
Layer and bake.
- Press brownie layer into parchment-lined pan, then press cookie dough on top. Chill for an hour or freeze for half an hour, then slice and serve. Keep refrigerated for up to 4 days, or you can freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
*Coconut Flour
*Use quick cooking red or pink lentils here, not brown or whole red(Indian brown) lentils.
*Use finely ground nuts instead of hemp seeds for variation
*This makes half a 8 by 8 inch brownie pan.
* Red Lentils can also be found online like these Bob’s Red Mill Red Lentils
* Vegan Chocolate chips options Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Mini Chips
These bars are being shared at VVP
Do the lentils need to be soaked before hand?
yes
Can coconut flour be substituted?
you can use regular flour, you might need to add more of it
Hey Richa,
I’m a big fan of your recipes! Do you think there is any way this recipe could be altered by adding chocolate vegan protein powder? 🤔
Thanks 🙏🏼
Sure, replace some of the oat flour wth protein powder
Can I substitute chia seed for hemp seed?
you can use sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. chia would soak up too much moisture
Thank you. I used pumpkin seeds–I measured them, then ground them in a mini food processor. These are delicious–thanks for a great recipe : )
Sounds yummy. Only… is there an alternative to Hemp seeds? I am allergic to that too… :/ Thank you…
use more coconut flour or more lentils.
How would these turn out if I use brown lentils I have on hand? I know it says use red, but I’m curious before I attempt using the brown if they’ll totally be botched, either in taste or texture.
Thanks in advance for your response!
brown lentils have a much stronger and earthier flavor and that might be quite pronounced.
I love everything about these! I made them tonight and while they tasted great, they did not look like they do in your photos. When I blended the lentils and hemp seeds together, the mixture was really tough and sticky. I let the lentils cool, but maybe I didn’t let them cool long enough? Could that have affected the texture that much?
hmm I am not sure about how it was tough as well as sticky. How was it different from the pictures? I think the pictures make the mix look drier (because the bars were chilled and were sitting out for the photos), but it is sticky nand fudgy. Depending on the moisture in the lentils and if they were over or undercooked, the texture would be wet or dough like, and granular or smooth. Cook the lentils till done but not over, and pulse a few times to break the mixture down. If there is excess moisture, you can add more coconut flour.
Thank you! I’m going to try making them again soon, as they were so good my husband ate them already! Maybe I did overcook the lentils, as there was not much moisture when I blended them with the hemp seeds. It was just really hard to mix the flour into it, because it was all stuck together!
you can mix in the flour after the lentils are blended. add them to a bowl and add flour till you get the desired consistency.
I finally got around to making these and they were so tasty! I ended up adding 1/3 cup of maple syrup as the sweetener, which made them a little runny so I added extra coconut flour. Given all of the healthy, protein and fiber rich ingredients, I felt totally justified in finishing off the whole batch by myself 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe!
Awesome!! These definitely are almost health food 😉
I’d probably eat the whole baking tin if someone wouldn’t stop me! EEK–I love how these look! The bars look so gooey and delicious!
These are fantastic! perfect summer bites!