The best peanut butter cookie recipe is super easy to make! They are so chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside, this is the perfect snack to enjoy any day of the week.
When the fall weather hits, theres nothing I love more than filling my house with the smell of freshly baked cookies. And getting the first bite of a chewy cookie fresh out the oven? Legit heaven! So because I am totally obsessed with peanut butter (I literally eat the stuff every day), and I have copious amounts of it in the house, right before baby came I made a big batch of toddler friendly peanut butter cookies to freeze. Let’s just say this is best peanut butter cookie recipe and they’ve come in handy as breastfeeding fuel.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works
I love how these vegan peanut butter cookies are perfectly crispy while still being chewy. Need more convincing? Here’s more reasons why this recipe works:
- Kid-friendly (always a win!!)
- Loaded with healthy fats (flax, almond flour, peanut butter, and hemp seeds)
- Freezer friendly
- Super tasty
Key Ingredients
Ground flax — To make this peanut butter cookies recipe vegan, I use a flax egg instead of a regular egg. All you need to do is mix 1 tablespoon of flax with some water and let it sit in the fridge until it thickens. This adds a ton of healthy omega 3s, protein and fibre, and requires no eggs.
Natural Peanut Butter — Make sure to look for peanut butter that only lists “peanuts” in the ingredient list to ensure that its natural and doesn’t contain any hydrogenated oils and added sugar. If you’re making these for babies under 1, also choose one without salt.
Vegan Butter — This will make the cookies extra tender. Feel free to substitute for regular butter if you don’t need to make these cookies vegan or dairy free.
Maple Syrup & Brown Sugar — You know, for sweetness and texture. These are cookies, after all.
Vanilla Extract, Salt & Cinnamon — All the fixings for enhancing the flavour of the best peanut butter cookie recipe.
Almond Flour — Almond flour is basically just finely ground up almonds. I love it for making these peanut butter cookies gluten free, while also adding in some healthy fats, protein and fibre. It’s a great way to slow down the absorption of sugar in baked goods so you don’t get a sugar spike.
Hemp Hearts — Y’all know I put hemp hearts on everything because they’re an easy way to boost up the protein, fibre and healthy omega 3 fats in my kiddo’s (and my) snacks.
How to Make This Recipe
Step 1: Mix together the 1 tbsp flax with water in a small ramekin and sit in the fridge for 15 minutes to set as a flax egg.
Step 2: In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, butter, maple, and sugar. Beat using electric beaters until fluffy and combined.
Step 3: Add the flax egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
Step 4: In another large bowl, mix together the almond flour, flax, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the wet to the dry ingredients. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour.
Step 5: Preheat to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll a heaping tablespoon into balls and flatten until they’re about 2 inches in diameter.
Step 6: Lightly press your fork into them to make a cross hatch and sprinkle with hemp hearts. Make sure there is at least an inch between the cookies.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom. These vegan peanut butter cookies are very delicate so allow them to cool completely before transferring them to an air-tight container.
Expert Tips
To make the best peanut butter cookie recipe, always use room temperature butter, vegan or non-vegan. It makes it much easier to cream with sugar. Otherwise you won’t get a uniform consistency. You also need to make sure to refrigerate the batter. This will make it way easier to scoop the cookies. It also helps prevents the cookies from spreading a ton while it bakes.
To make these cookies gluten free, I use almond flour instead of a wheat based flour which is made from ground almonds. I love using almond flour because not only is it naturally gluten free, but it is also more nutrient-dense and lower in carbs than most flours – like wheat flour or coconut flour. Keep in mind that almond flour and almond meal are not the same. Almond meal is such coarser. This was not tested with almond meal but if you try it, please let me know how it goes in the comments down below!
As these vegan peanut butter cookies are gluten free and vegan, they’re admittedly delicate cookies. They don’t have as much structure as a typical cookie because the almond flour doesn’t have any gluten in it. But I actually really prefer that texture because it means they’re SUPER chewy and not dry. It does mean you need to allow the cookies to fully cool before you transfer them to a storage container.
Recipe FAQs
Yes absolutely! They’re especially a hit with kiddos who LOVE peanut butter (like my Big Boy E). They’re also lower in sugar and higher in healthy fats, protein and fibre compared to store-bought peanut butter cookies, so you can feel good about giving them to your toddler and kids. They’re also really soft and chewy so they’re safe for younger new eaters as well (just note that there is some added sugar).
They are not, however, allergy friendly because of the peanut butter, so I wouldn’t recommend sending these in your kiddos lunch box to school. But if peanut allergies aren’t an issue for your child, then these cookies would be great to enjoy at home as an after school snack.
If you or your little one have a peanut allergy, you can substitute the peanut butter for almond butter instead. You can also use Sun Butter (made from sunflower seeds) or Wow Butter (made from soy) as safe alternatives, especially if you or your child are allergic to all nuts.
Before freezing these cookies, FULLY allow them to cool on the baking tray (I don’t recommend transferring them to a cooling rack because they are very delicate). You can transfer the baking sheet to the freezer and allow them to freeze without touching for an hour. Then you can transfer them to a freezer bag. When you want to enjoy a peanut butter cookie, you can take it out of the freezer and let it sit at room temperature until thawed (they’re thin so they really won’t take long), or you can microwave them in 10 second intervals. These peanut butter cookies will keep in the freezer for about 3-4 months.
If left unsupervised? Not long! If you keep an eye on them and pack them up, these cookies are good for a week stored in an airtight container.
Now loves tell me, do you love the nostalgia of peanut butter cookies? Leave me a comment below with your thoughts.
More Recipes You Might Like
If you liked this post for the best peanut butter cookie recipe, you might enjoy some of the other cookie recipes on the blog:
- Chai Cookies
- Lemon Poppyseed Cookies
- Salted Tahini Cookies
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Breakfast Cookies
- Salted Chocolate Almond Cookies
Best Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (Vegan & Gluten Free)
Ingredients
Flax Egg
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- 2 1/2 tbsp water
Everything Else
- ½ cup natural peanut butter
- ¼ cup vegan butter softened
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup almond flour
- ¼ cup ground flax
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp hemp hearts
Instructions
- Mix together the 1 tbsp flax with water in a small ramekin and sit in the fridge for 15 minutes to set as a flax egg.
- In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, butter, maple, and sugar. Beat using electric beaters until fluffy and combined.
- Add the flax egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
- In another large bowl, mix together the almond flour, flax, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the wet to the dry ingredients.
- Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour.
- Preheat to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll a heaping tablespoon into balls and flatten until they’re about 2 inches in diameter.
- Lightly press your fork into them to make a cross hatch and sprinkle with hemp hearts. Make sure there is at least an inch between the cookies.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom. These are very delicate cookies so allow them to cool completely before transferring them to an air-tight container.
Notes
- Always use room temperature butter, vegan or non-vegan. It makes it much easier to cream with sugar. Otherwise you won’t get a uniform consistency.
- You need to make sure to refrigerate the batter. This will make it way easier to scoop the cookies. It also helps prevents the cookies from spreading a ton while it bakes.
- To make these cookies gluten free, I use almond flour instead of a wheat based flour which is made from ground almonds. I love using almond flour because not only is it naturally gluten free, but it is also more nutrient-dense and lower in carbs than most flours – like wheat flour or coconut flour. Keep in mind that almond flour and almond meal are not the same. Almond meal is such coarser. This was not tested with almond meal but if you try it, please let me know how it goes in the comments down below!
- As these are gluten free and vegan, they’re admittedly delicate cookies. They don’t have as much structure as a typical cookie because the almond flour doesn’t have any gluten in it. But I actually really prefer that texture because it means they’re SUPER chewy and not dry. It does mean you need to allow the cookies to fully cool before you transfer them to a storage container.
Nutrition
Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.
Vanessa says
I made these this morning with my toddler minus the cinnamon and vanilla (as he is intolerant to those). I used almond meal and they turned out perfect. Super yummy, we both loved them 😊
Alexa says
Fabulous! My sis and I were craving something sweet (and peanut butter-y), but we were low on almost everything. Th esse cookies were really easy to whip up and it didn’t take a whole lot of resources. Plus they came out really good! They tasted wonderful. I totally recommend these as a quick and tasty sweet fix!