This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
About This Recipe
I don’t know about you guys, but cookie dough is my weakness. It’s one of my absolute favorite desserts. I honestly enjoy it even more than I enjoy cookies! So I’m always looking for a new and healthy way to enjoy it. Enter this monster protein cookie dough recipe!
With most cookie dough recipes, you find they’re either loaded with butter (aka high calorie and high fat) or made with healthier ingredients, but they don’t taste like the real deal.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love me some chickpea cookie dough but this time I wanted legit REAL tasting cookie dough. So I got to experimenting.
I based this healthy cookie dough recipe off my Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Squares recipe. The dough was almost perfect as is, I just needed to make a few tweaks to make it more focused on the cookie dough, and to make it a Monster cookie dough.
And let me tell you guys, this Monster Protein Cookie Dough is the best of alllll the worlds. It’s lightened up, but done so in a way where we’re not losing any of that delicious cookie dough texture or flavor.
It also doesn’t have any added sugar, so it’ll keep blood sugar levels more stable compared to your traditional cookie dough. And with the healthy fats and added protein, this cookie dough is a very macro-balanced snack!
But the best part of all?! Is ridiculously easy to make and you only need a handful of ingredients. Seriously friends, it’s a must try! And if you love this recipe, you definitely should check out my Low Calorie Monster Cookie Balls or my Monster Cookie Dough Bars!
Why You’ll Love This Monster Protein Cookie Dough
- It tastes JUST like REAL cookie dough!!
- You get a delicious buttery sugary crunch with each bite.
- Thick and smooth texture + incredible flavor = the perfect treat!
- Lower in calories, carbs, and fat than your traditional cookie dough.
- Avoids the blood sugar spike and crash thanks to some healthy fats and added protein! Truly a balanced treat.
- Super easy to 2-4x the recipe if you want to make extra in advance (and why not because it freezes great!)
- Oats – I used quick oats. Old fashioned oats would work too if you don’t mind that they’re larger/heartier. Steel cut oats are not ideal for this recipe.
- Flour – All-purpose, gluten-free, and oat all work here! Use whatever you have on hand or whatever works best for your diet. For the most *real* cookie dough taste, use white flour. I have not tried any nut flour like almond flour, but I am sure it would work. It may just slightly change the taste (and the nutrition). I would not recommend coconut flour for this recipe.
- Vanilla protein powder – I used PEScience Vanilla for this recipe. Not all protein powders have the same formula or consistency, so remember that when making the recipe. You may need to add less protein powder (or add slightly more liquid) to achieve the desired wet/dry ratio or consistency. Vanilla also provides the most neutral tasting flavor but feel free to get creative!
- Salt – This helps balance out our sweetness and bring the flavors of the cookie dough out more. You may need to add more or less depending on the saltiness of your peanut butter.
- Brown sugar – I use Truvia or Swerve brown sugar usually. Monk fruit, stevia, coconut sugar, sugar or any other brown sugar blend all work as substitutions.
- Peanut Butter – Peanut butter is classic for monster cookie dough, but you can use almond butter and cashew butter too. If you have a nut allergy, sunflower butter works great, too.
- Butter – I used light butter. This helps cut back on some calories and fat. Normal room temperature butter works too, or if you need to sub you can add additional nut butter in it’s place.
- Vanilla extract
- M&Ms – I used mini M&Ms because they’re more of them and they spread further, but you can use any M&M variation. Or simply sub with semi-sweet, dark chocolate or mini chocolate chips!
Depending on how thick or thin you want your cookie dough, you may also need to add a few teaspoons of milk. Since it’s only a small amount of milk, oat milk, unsweetened almond milk, cashew milk, or any dairy or non-dairy milk will work just fine.
Make Vegan Cookie Dough! Just use a plant-based butter and plant-based protein powder. The only part that is a little more tricky is the M&Ms since they are not vegan. Here are some alternatives: Are M&Ms Vegan? They Are Not! (5 Alternatives for 2022). You could also use dairy-free mini chocolate chips in their place.
How To Make
The full printable recipe is below, but let me walk you through the process so you know what to expect when you’re making it!
1. Add the oats, flour, protein powder and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine.
2. Then, add the wet ingredients (brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract). Mix/mash together with a fork until all the ingredients are combined and you have a ball of dough. It may take a few minutes of mixing, but the dry ingredients will get incorporated. If you find that it’s not, you can always add milk 1/2 tsp at a time until you get a good cookie dough consistency.
3. Fold in the mini M&Ms.
4. Freeze for at least 30 minutes before enjoying. Keep stored in freezer. Trust me, if you think it’s good mixed just wait till you taste it cold & when it firms up like cookie dough!
How To Heat Treat Flour
Heat treating flour is super easy. You just gotta cook it long enough to kill the bacteria. Since this is a no-bake recipe, you’ll also want to make sure the flour has completely cooled before mixing it with the other ingredients. How to heat treat flour:
- Oven method: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the flour onto a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Then, set aside to cool completely.
- Microwave method: Add flour to a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 30 second increments (2-3x), stirring in between to avoid burning. Let the flour cool completely before using.
- Check with a thermometer to verify that the temperature is 160-165 degrees F.
- Make sure flour is completely cool before using.
Because oat flour is made from oats, it is safe to eat raw. If you don’t have oat flour, you can easily make oat flour from grinding up some oats in your food processor or blender.
Oat flour brings a delicious flavor to the cookie dough. Another plus (besides not having to heat treat) is that oat flour has more fiber in it than all-purpose flour. It’s also naturally gluten-free as long as you use gluten-free certified oats.
The only downside is that cookie dough made with oat flour doesn’t look as much like the real deal. It has more of a slight brown color to it. But for most of us eating at home anyway, this isn’t going to matter one bit!
But if you do want to use all purpose you can, just heat treating the flour before using it for the recipe!
Is there a substitution for protein powder?
If you wish to omit the protein powder, you can substitute with peanut butter powder or additional flour.
Can you freeze this protein powder cookie dough?
Sure! Just store in an air tight container and cookie dough will freeze well for 3-4 months. To defrost, simply leave cookie dough out at room temperature for 5-10 minutes.
Why do you need to heat treat if using all-purpose flour?
Flour is made from grains that are grown in fields where they may be exposed to a variety of harmful bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli. The processing that flour goes through to convert from plant to powder doesn’t kill them. And unlike lettuce or carrots, you can’t wash flour to clean it. The solution if you need to use regular flour? Heat treat the flour.
Oat flour, on the other hand is made from oats and is safe to eat raw. If you don’t have oat flour, you can easily make oat flour from grinding up some oats in your food processor or blender.
Did you make this? If you snap a photo, please be sure leave a review, tag me on Instagram or TikTok at @LaurenFitFoodie or hashtag #LaurenFitFoodie so I can see your creations!
Healthy Monster Protein Cookie Dough
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup quick oats (40g)
- 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (40g)
- 1/4 cup oat flour (30g)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (48g) I used Truvia
- 1/4 cup peanut butter (56g)
- 3 Tbsp light butter (42g)
- 1.5 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp mini M&M’s (40g)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes. Scroll for macros and MyFitnessPal code.
Instructions
- Add the oats, flour, protein powder and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine. Then add the brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract. Mix/mash together with a fork until all the ingredients are combined and you have a ball of dough. It may take a few minutes of mixing, but the dry ingredients will get incorporated. If you find that it’s not, you can always add milk 1/2 tsp at a time until you get a good cookie dough consistency.
- Fold in the mini M&M’s at the end.
- Freeze for at least 30 minutes before enjoying. Keep stored in freezer. Trust me, if you think it's good mixed just wait till you taste it cold & when it firms up like cookie dough!
- I usually don't when I am just making for myself, but if you wish to heat treat your raw flour to ensure food safety, follow the instructions below to heat treat your flour before making this recipe.
Video
Notes
- Oven method: preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the flour onto a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes, then set aside to cool completely.
- Microwave method: add flour to a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 30 second increments (2-3x) stirring in between to avoid burning.
- Check with a thermometer to verify that the temperature is 160-165 degrees F.
- Make sure flour is completely cool before using.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition is hand-calculated and accurate. No autocalulations! However, note that values can vary based on the brands you use and if you substitute ingredients.
