Animal-Based Beef Cookies

Prep time: 4 hours      Cook time: 20 mins      Rest time: 10 mins     Total time: 4 hrs 30 mins

Makes: 7-8 large cookies

Make it Dairy-Free and AIP: Use animal fat other than ghee or butter

These animal-based beef cookies are made with animal foods like beef, eggs, and ghee and are sweetened with only fruit.

animal based beef cookies

What you need to make Animal-Based Beef Cookies

Ingredients:

Equipment:

Substitutions

You can substitute the ghee (or butter) for your animal fat of choice, although I do highly recommend ghee with this recipe due to its sweet and buttery flavor.

animal based beef cookies

animal based beef cookies

How to make Animal-Based Beef Cookies

Dehydrate the beef.

Cook the ground beef in your cooking pan on the stovetop until done. Don’t add any fat while cooking.

Once the ground beef is cooked, drain out all of the fat.

Transfer the cooked ground beef to a plate. Pat the beef dry with a towel to soak up as much of the remaining fat as you can.

Transfer the ground beef on top of a piece of parchment paper on your baking sheet. Spread the pieces out in as thin of a layer as possible to promote even baking.

Dehydrate the ground beef in the oven at 200 degrees for 3-4 hours. You may have to rotate the pieces while cooking. I usually swirl everything around with a fork every 30 minutes or so or when I remember. The pieces should be hard and crunchy when done. I typically keep an eye on mine at about the 2-hour mark. Mine was done right around 3 hours.

animal based beef cookies

animal based beef cookies

Prepare the dates.

Soak the pitted dates in water for 1-2 hours to get them soft.

Note: use 9 oz (about 1.5 cups) of dates if you like your cookies on the sweeter side, and 6 oz (about 1 cup) if you don’t want them as sweet. I used 9 oz and it was perfect for my taste.

Make the cookie dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In your blender, grind the dehydrated ground beef into a powder and set aside in your mixing bowl.

Scoop the ghee (or butter) into a glass container (or whatever you’re using to melt it) on the stovetop. Melt the ghee (or butter) until it is liquid.

Place the melted ghee (or butter), eggs, sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off), vanilla extract (if using), cinnamon, and soaked dates into your blender and blend until smooth.

Note: if you go through tons of salt in your household like we do, check out this salt purchasing hack that will save you money + make things more efficient. We started this last year, and I’m so happy we did!

Add the blended mixture to your mixing bowl with the dehydrated beef.

Fold the dehydrated ground beef into the blended mixture. The dough should be thick like normal cookie dough.

animal based beef cookies

animal based beef cookies

Bake the cookies.

Place a new piece of parchment paper onto your baking sheet, and form the dough into cookies.

Note: these cookies do not rise or spread, so you will need to form the dough pre-baking into whatever shape you prefer them to end up in.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes.

These cookies taste good fresh, but I (and my other taste-testers) all preferred them out of the fridge. Enjoy!

Store leftovers (if there are any!) in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge for 2-3 days.

animal based beef cookies

Tips to make the best Animal-Based Beef Cookies

  • Don’t skip on soaking the dates. It makes a big difference.
  • These cookies do not rise or spread, so you will need to form the dough pre-baking into whatever shape you prefer them to end up in.

animal based beef cookies

A few of my other favorite sweet eats:

Strawberry Truffles

Crunch Bars [with Beef]

Jumbo Chocolate Cups with Salted Chunky Date Filling

Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Spongey Cake Bars

Maple Bacon Doughnuts

Animal-Based Beef Cookies

animal based beef cookies

 

Animal-Based Beef Cookies

These animal-based beef cookies are made with animal foods like beef, eggs, and ghee and are sweetened with only fruit.
Tried this recipe?Mention @ashrothstein or tag #asheats!
Prep Time4 hrs
Cook Time20 mins
Resting Time10 mins
Total Time4 hrs 30 mins

Equipment

Ingredients

Instructions

If a visual will help, watch the Instagram Reel for this recipe.

    Dehydrate the beef.

    • Cook the ground beef in your cooking pan on the stovetop until done. Don't add any fat while cooking.
    • Once the ground beef is cooked, drain out all of the fat.
    • Transfer the cooked ground beef to a plate. Pat the beef dry with a towel to soak up as much of the remaining fat as you can.
    • Transfer the ground beef on top of a piece of parchment paper on your baking sheet. Spread the pieces out in as thin of a layer as possible to promote even baking.
    • Dehydrate the ground beef in the oven at 200 degrees for 3-4 hours. You may have to rotate the pieces while cooking. I usually swirl everything around with a fork every 30 minutes or so or when I remember. The pieces should be hard and crunchy when done. I typically keep an eye on mine at about the 2-hour mark. Mine was done right around 3 hours.
    • Once the beef is fully dehydrated, remove the beef pieces from the oven and let them cool.

    Prepare the dates.

    • Soak the pitted dates in water for 1-2 hours to get them soft.
    • Note: use 9 oz (about 1.5 cups) of dates if you like your cookies on the sweeter side, and 6 oz (about 1 cup) if you don’t want them as sweet. I used 9 oz and it was perfect for my taste.

    Make the cookie dough.

    • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
    • In your blender, grind the dehydrated ground beef into a powder and set aside in your mixing bowl.
    • Scoop the ghee (or butter) into a glass container (or whatever you're using to melt it) on the stovetop. Melt the ghee (or butter) until it is liquid.
    • Place the melted ghee (or butter), eggssea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off), vanilla extract (if using), cinnamon, and soaked dates into your blender and blend until smooth.
    • Note: if you go through tons of salt in your household like we do, check out this salt purchasing hack that will save you money + make things more efficient. We started this last year, and I'm so happy we did!
    • Add the blended mixture to your mixing bowl with the dehydrated beef.
    • Fold the dehydrated ground beef into the blended mixture. The dough should be thick like normal cookie dough.

    Bake the cookies.

    • Place a new piece of parchment paper onto your baking sheet, and form the dough into cookies.
    • Note: these cookies do not rise or spread, so you will need to form the dough pre-baking into whatever shape you prefer them to end up in.
    • Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
    • Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes.
    • These cookies taste good fresh, but I (and my other taste-testers) all preferred them out of the fridge. Enjoy!
    • Store leftovers (if there are any!) in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge for 2-3 days.

    What I used for this recipe:

    Looking for some more easy sweet eats? Try one of these recipes:

    Strawberry Truffles

    Crunch Bars [with Beef]

    Jumbo Chocolate Cups with Salted Chunky Date Filling

    Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins

    Spongey Cake Bars

    Maple Bacon Doughnuts

    Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting me!

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    Ashley Rothstein
    Ashley Rothstein

    Ashley Rothstein develops tasty, whole food, animal-based recipes that include a moderate amount of “minimally toxic” plant foods. To fix her own health issues, she bounced around between the carnivore, keto, and paleo diets for a few years. After experiencing and studying each diet philosophy, she learned she feels her best by merging the three and following an animal-based diet. As a glut at heart, she likes to channel her creativity and create meals that are healthy but also satisfy her inner gluttonous spirits.

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    4 Comments

    1. Anne
      October 21, 2022 / 4:37 pm

      Can I freeze? Was thinking of doubling the batch

      • Ashley Rothstein
        Author
        October 23, 2022 / 2:01 pm

        Yep!

    2. T
      February 10, 2023 / 12:39 am

      Can you omit the dates?

      • Ashley Rothstein
        Author
        February 12, 2023 / 3:58 pm

        You can, but the texture would likely be too dry.

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