The deliciousness of unbaked cookies in an easy high-protein snack! This chocolate chip cookie dough bark is vegan and grain-free, made with simple ingredients in just 10 minutes!
SPONSORED BY SUNBUTTER
First it was date bark, then it was banana bark, now it’s cookie dough bark, and NOW is when I am jumping on board. Because I can’t resist anything cookie dough. And if you add some protein powder to make it a more balanced snack, mix in my favorite sunflower seed butter, and top with a layer of salty chocolate…COME TO MEEEEE.
How To Make High Protein Cookie Dough Bark
This cookie dough is not designed to ever be baked. It’s designed to be snacked mid-afternoon as a homemade protein bar-ish sweet treat or crumbled up on top of a creamy pint of vanilla ice cream or shattered and shared with cookie dough loving friends. But the good thing about an unbaked cookie dough is it’s almost impossible to mess up, highly customizable, and made with just a handful of easy ingredients you probably already have.
Vegan Gluten-Free Cookie Dough Ingredients
- Almond flour. Protein powder as the only dry ingredient would be not tasty, so almond flour is the perfect compliment. It’s the ideal texture and is perfectly safe to consume raw. You could try oat flour instead, but reduce the amount (try half as much) or your dough will be too dry.
- Protein powder. A vanilla or plain/unsweetened variety is best, I used a plant based protein powder but you can use whatever you have/love.
- Organic SunButter. Instead of butter or coconut oil – which could make for an oily cookie dough – we are using Organic SunButter for that moisture and “buttery” flavor. I love the Organic variety because it’s literally just organic sunflower seeds, no sweetener or salt. But any of their non-chocolate (unless you want a double chocolate bark) varieties will work here too.
- Maple syrup. Or any liquid sweetener you like. I don’t recommend coconut sugar, you need that liquid to get the right dough consistency.
- Vanilla and salt.
- Almond milk. Just a tablespoon or two if you dough it too dry/crumbly, it should be thick but moist enough to hold together in a ball.
- Chocolate chips. I prefer mini for mixing into the dough, but any variety works for the chocolate topping. And a couple teaspoons of coconut oil mixed into the topping chocolate, helps create a thinner snappier texture (but it’s optional!)
- Flaky salt. Optional as well, but so aesthetic and delicious.
Cookie Dough Bark Step-By-Step
When I tell you the hardest part of this recipe is not stealing too many bites from the bowl and leaving yourself enough dough to fill the pan, I am not exaggerating at all. It’s one bow and 10 minutes of effort, couldn’t be any easier. We start by mixing everything together for the cookie dough layer, this will be a pretty thick batter so expect a mini arm workout. Next, spread the dough out into the thinnest layer possible on a baking sheet. I used a quarter baking sheet (12″ x 9″), so not a full size sheet pan. I do recommend lining it with parchment paper so it doesn’t stick, and I don’t recommend going all the way to the edges or it will be tricky to get the bark out of the pan in one piece.
Next comes the chocolate topping – this is simply melted chocolate, slightly cooled so it’s not too runny, spread on top into a thin even layer. I like to let it cool and harden a little bit before adding the flaky salt so it doesn’t all sink in. Or top with chopped nuts, coconut, freeze dried fruit crumbles…there are so many possibilities!
And then just refrigerate until it’s ready, about 4 hours. You can freeze it to speed this up, but personally I like the texture of the cookie dough better at fridge temperature than frozen. Once it’s had a chance to firm up, break apart into cookie dough shards of whatever size you like.
Protein Cookie Dough Bark FAQs
In the fridge in an airtight container is ideal, it will be fine for 1-2 weeks like that.
Sure! All almond flour will be fine, you may need an extra 1/4 cup though.
It’s hard to say exactly as the number of pieces and size of each piece varies, but about 4g to 5g per piece. Full nutrition info included below the recipe!
Sure! My protein powder was unsweetened, but if you are using a variety that is quite sweet you can omit the maple syrup and add more SunButter and/or milk instead to make up for the lack of liquid. I would recommend taste testing the batter before you form the bark to make sure it’s sweet enough and adjust as needed.
More Cookie Dough Recipes You’ll Love
- Cookie Dough Fudge
- Cookie Dough Froyo Bites
- Cookie Dough Oreos
- Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sundae Cones
- Cookie Dough Protein Bars
T
Protein Cookie Dough Bark
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Chilling Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 pieces 1x
- Category: snack
- Method: no bake
- Cuisine: american
Description
The deliciousness of unbaked cookies in an easy high-protein snack! This chocolate chip cookie dough bark is vegan and grain-free, made with simple ingredients in just 10 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (56g) almond flour
- 1/2 cup (60g) protein powder (plain or vanilla)
- 1/4 cup (65g) Organic SunButter
- 1/4 cup (80g) maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1–2 tbsp almond milk as needed
- 1 cup (180g) mini chocolate chips (divided)
- 2 tsps coconut oil
Instructions
- Mix together the almond flour, protein powder, SunButter, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt.
- If it’s really thick or dry, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of almond milk.
- Add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, and mix.
- Press this mixture out onto a parchment lined baking sheet into a thin layer.
- Melt the remaining chocolate chips with the coconut oil.
- Pour over top of the cookie dough layer, and spread almost to the edges.
- Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
- Break into even-ish sized pieces (I got about 12, but you can make them smaller).
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Keywords: snack, cookie, no bake, chocolate, easy, meal prep, dairy free, plant based, protein
This is the same recipe I use for protein bites and it’s 10/10 every time! Sometimes I add ground seeds for hormone support or I’ll do half monkfruit and half maple. I love HU chocolate for the topping. Your photos are stunning as always!!
★★★★★
I think it’s the perfect ratio if you’re going for a grain free cookie dough, and it doesn’t taste too protein-y either! I’ve never tried it with monk fruit, but I bet that works really well too. HU always when it comes to melted toppings🙌 thanks girl!