Almond Date No-Bake Cookies
A fun and creative no-bake cookie recipe made with only 2 main ingredients: dates and almonds. This recipe is vegan, gluten-free and grain-free, fruit-sweetened, and can be made raw and nut-free.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 - 6 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: No Bake
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 ½ cups soft pitted honey dates*
- 1 cup sliced blanched almonds (like these, but regular sliced almonds will work too)**
- 1 tbsp water
- ⅛ tsp salt
- optional: ⅛ tsp raw ground vanilla bean
- optional: ¼ tsp cinnamon
Optional Extra Toppings:
- coconut milk powder for dusting*
- slivered almonds for hedgehog spikes, lightly toasted (you'll need about ¾ cup to make 4 hedgehogs)
- cacao nibs or chocolate covered amaranth balls for eyes, noses, etc.
- other chopped nuts or seeds, like pistachio for fish eye, or for other decorative purposes
- melted dairy-free chocolate for drizzling or coating
Instructions
1. Briefly process all cookie ingredients in a food processor until the mixture sticks together (I used the small bowl of my food processor for this recipe due to the smaller quantity of ingredients). Note: it's important not to over-process the mixture so that it doesn't turn into a paste. When it's ready, it should look like this:
2. Divide the mixture evenly into 4 - 6 parts (depending on your intended cookie size) and lump into balls. From there shape cookies into desired shapes and decorate with any desired toppings (except for the coconut milk powder for dusting -- hold off on sprinkling that on until closer to serving****).
3. Let the cookies rest in the fridge on a tray / plate for 30 mins and enjoy! Keep leftover cookies refrigerated.
Notes
*Honey dates have a particular sweet and slightly gritty texture to them, while still being soft and sticky, which is why I used them in this recipe. Other dates, like medjool, might be a bit too soft / pasty, or if too firm (like deglet nour), might not be sticky enough. If you use another kind of date you might therefore need to adjust the recipe slightly -- i.e. if your mixture is too pasty / sticky, add more almonds or almond flour, or if too chunky and not moist enough add another tbsp of water (or more as needed) to get to the right texture.
**For a nut-free alternative can use thick toasted coconut chips, like these.
***For the coconut milk powder, if using, be careful that the brand you purchase is actually dairy-free because some can contain dairy in addition to coconut. I linked in the ingredients list to a brand that’s vegan so you can see an example of what to look for.
****For sprinkling with the coconut powder, I recommend using a small sieve, like this one, to get an evenly distributed powdered look (and avoid clumping). Coconut milk powder will keep its pretty powdery look for some time, but will eventually dissolve due to the moisture in the cookies. That is why I recommend dusting the cookies closer to serving time, and after the cookies rest in the fridge, to ensure they keep that pretty powdery look about them for your guests.