No-Bake Superfood Cookies
These no-bake superfood cookies are easy to make in your food processor, can be customized to your preference and what you have on hand, taste amazing and can be enjoyed any time of day for a healthy snack or treat. The recipe features superfood ingredients like hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, sesame seeds, tahini and toasted millet for crunch.
Ingredient Notes
I went with calling these superfood cookies because I couldn’t really think of what else to call them, there’s just so much good stuff in them. I think they deserve the title though.Here’s what we got:
- Dates. Dates are my go-to natural sweetener because in that package of sweetness also comes minerals, vitamins and fibre. Plus they taste like caramel, so bonus.
- Pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds). Pumpkin seeds are one of my favourite seeds for their high zinc content.
- Walnuts. Walnuts blend beautifully adding a creamy texture to these cookies and they’re a good source of omega-3 essential fatty acids.
- Toasted Millet. The toasted millet in these is optional but it adds a unique texture and crunch to the cookies that’s kinda fun! To toast millet, just add it to a skillet and heat over medium-high heat while stirring until it starts to pop and turn brown. Millet is a gluten-free grain (read more about whole grains here) that’s a good source of magnesium, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, fibre and B vitamins. You can substitute toasted quinoa if you like, they have a similar flavour, texture and nutritional profile.
- Hemp Seeds. My all-time favourite seed. Hemp seeds are a great source of vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, iron and magnesium. They also add some protein to the cookies. I include them in my diet daily.
- Cinnamon. Cinnamon adds delicious flavour and has blood-sugar stabilizing and anti-inflammatory properties.
- Sea Salt. A good quality sea salt has trace amounts of dozens of essential minerals. Gray or pink sea salt is a good choice but any unrefined sea salt works.
- Turmeric. Hey, why not, right? Turmeric is one of my favourite spices for it’s anti-inflammatory properties. I put it in just about everything so why not add a little spice to these cookies? I’ve used turmeric in sweet recipes before such as my carrot turmeric cookies and peanut butter protein shake. It’s an optional ingredient but you can’t really taste it in the cookies so you might as well throw some in there!
- Sesame Seeds and Tahini. I love sesame seeds for their calcium content and the tahini (sesame seed paste) adds creaminess, flavour and helps hold everything together.
To make these cookies, just add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend until you have a thick dough. If you’re adding the toasted millet I would recommend leaving it out until the end and just pulsing it in though.
Once the dough is ready, roll it into equal sized balls then shape the balls into cookies, if desired, or you can just leave them as ball shapes. You can also make energy bars by pressing the dough into a parchment paper-lined baking pan, freezing then lifting out and cutting into bars.
Customize Your Cookies
In total I used 2 cups of nuts and seeds plus the optional 1/2 cup of toasted millet. You can mix and match any nuts and seeds up to 2 cups, choosing from:
- Seeds: chia, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin and sesame.
- Nuts: walnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans and hazelnuts.
I wouldn’t recommend ground flax as it’s a bit too dry for these. The tahini can be substituted for sunflower seed butter, almond butter, cashew butter or peanut butter, just make sure whatever your’e using is nice and drippy. If it’s too dry the cookies won’t have the same creamy texture or hold together as well.
I love the flavour and nutrition tahini adds and would recommend sticking to that if you have it however if you’re not a fan, go ahead and use another nut butter.
Related Recipes
- carrot cake energy balls
- sesame energy bars
- hemp energy bars
- chocolate chia energy bars
- no-bake peanut butter blondies
- chocolate no-bake cookies
- turmeric energy bites
Did you try this recipe?
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I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review and be sure to tag me @runningonrealfood if you post it on social media.
No-Bake Superfood Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 16
- Category: Snack
- Method: Food Processor
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These delicious, flavourful. soft but crunchy cookies are made from superfood ingredients like dates, walnuts and hemp seeds. They make a delicious dessert or healthy snack any time. Or try them crumbled over smoothie bowls or banana nice cream.
Ingredients
- 2 cups lightly packed, soft, fresh pitted dates (400 g)
- 1/2 cup hemp seeds (80 g)
- 1/2 cup walnuts (60 g)
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds (75 g)
- 1/2 cup pepitas (75 g)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp tahini (30 g)
- 2 tbsp water, if needed
- 1/2 cup toasted millet (90 g, optional)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and mix until it forms a thick dough. Pulse in the toasted millet if you’re using.
- Roll the dough into 16 equal sized balls, then shape the balls into cookies. Place in the freezer for 2 hours then enjoy. Store in the freezer or fridge. They’re amazing straight from the freezer so I’d recommend storing them there.
Notes
You can either shape the dough into cookies, roll in into balls or press into a parchment paper-lined baking pan and then lift out and cut into energy bars.
Nuts and seeds can be mix and matched up to 2 cups total.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 209
- Fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 23 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 5 g
Keywords: superfood cookies, no-bake healthy cookies
These are deli and Carmelly – definitely 5 ⭐️
★★★★★
Thanks, Jackie! So glad you enjoyed.
These were really tasty even without the quinoa!
★★★★★
These sound so good and quick to make! Do you toast the nuts first or leave them raw?
I left them raw but you could toast them for added flavour. 🙂
All about trying new no-bake cookie and energy bite recipes!! YUM
Yes, they’re the best!