Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Don’t be fooled by the simple ingredient list, these gluten free peanut butter cookies taste just like the real thing, but without the flour! They’re thin but chewy and bursting with peanut butter flavor.
These cookies were a true labor of love to perfect, but oh my gosh it was worth it! I went through many iterations of these to try and get the perfectly crinkly top while keeping them nice and chewy.
I didn’t want the dry and crumbly cookie with fork marks, just a classic rich peanut butter flavor and chewy texture! These gluten free peanut butter cookies are extremely chewy, easy to make and have the BEST flavor. No dry and crispy cookies here!
Of course, if crispy cookies are your thing you can easily just bake these for longer. BUT, if you follow the instructions you’ll end up with chewy cookies with a rich peanut butter flavor.
Plus, they’re naturally oil free, butter free and have 8 grams of protein per cookie. Dare I call these healthy cookies?!
This recipe is not vegan, but you can try my vegan/GF peanut butter cookies made with almond and oat flour if you need an egg free option! If you love this recipe, try my oat flour cookies or chocolate chip snickerdoodles next!
How to make gluten free peanut butter cookies
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients except for the peanut butter.
Fold in the peanut butter until well combined. Transfer the dough to the fridge and let chill for ideally 1 hour, but at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (not 350!)
Use a 1.5-2 inch medium cookie scoop and scoop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the tops of the cookies with your fingertips slightly.
Sprinkle on additional sugar on top of the cookies if desired.
Bake for 11-15 minutes, depending on your oven. They should have crackly tops and a slightly golden bottom when they’re done. They will harden quite a bit as they cool.
During the final 5 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and slam the baking sheet down (on your counter, stove top or other tough surface).
This step is optional, but it will help the cookies spread properly and give them a nice crackly top. Even if they spread a lot, they’ll still be chewy, don’t worry!
Remove from the oven and let cool. They’ll be very delicate until they finish cooling, so avoid touching them until fully cool. Once cool, sprinkle with salt flakes if desired. Enjoy and try my peanut butter protein balls next!
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The key to crackly and crinkly tops
Not using flour. Since these are flourless cookies, these cookies are able to spread and crackle more easily.
Too much flour can prevent cookies from spreading at all, so we don’t have to worry about that with these. Not using flour also means these cookies won’t be dry and crumbly like some other recipes!
A lower oven temperature. A lower oven temperature and slightly longer baking time allows the cookies to spread and get crackly tops without drying out or becoming crunchy.
They’ll stay super chewy but get thin and crackly- my favorite! Be sure to preheat your oven to 325, not 350!
Just the right amount of baking soda. Too much baking soda and you’ll end up with one singular blob of what is supposed to be cookies but definitely doesn’t look like cookies (it’s happened), but too little and they won’t spread at all. Just 1/2 teaspoon in this recipe is perfect for crackly tops!
How to keep cookies chewy
You should have no problems keeping these gluten free peanut butter cookies nice and chewy for several days!
Especially if you’re like me and always take cookies out of the oven prematurely because the idea of crunchy cookies is just an absolute no for me. Anyone else?!
The best thing to do is keep them in a sealed container at room temperature to prevent them from getting stale and hard.
Ingredient swaps
SUGAR. This recipe calls for both white and brown sugar. You can sub the brown sugar for coconut sugar, but this may change how the cookies spread.
I do not recommend making these refined sugar free with all coconut sugar. For best results, follow the recipe as is!
EGG. I don’t recommend making this recipe vegan! This recipe calls for one egg, and since there is no flour, it is a key ingredient to bind everything together. Instead, you can try my vegan and gluten free peanut butter cookies!
PEANUT BUTTER. I have tested these with both natural peanut butter and a skippy/jif type peanut butter. I generally use one with the only ingredients as peanut butter and salt, but either will work.
Try these next!
- Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Blondies
- Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chickpea Cookies
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
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Flourless Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
- 1 cup runny natural peanut butter only ingredients should be peanuts and salt
- ⅔ cup granulated cane sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients except for the peanut butter.
- Fold in the peanut butter until well combined. Transfer the dough to the fridge and let chill for ideally 1 hour, but at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (not 350!)
- Use a 1.5-2 inch medium cookie scoop and scoop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the tops of the cookies with your fingertips slightly.
- Sprinkle on additional sugar on top of the cookies if desired.
- Bake for 11-15 minutes, depending on your oven. They should have crackly tops and a slightly golden bottom when they’re done. They will harden quite a bit as they cool.
- During the final 5 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and slam the baking sheet down (on your counter, stove top or other tough surface).
- This step is optional, but it will help the cookies spread properly and give them a nice crackly top. Even if they spread a lot, they’ll still be chewy, don’t worry!
- Remove from the oven and let cool. I like to use a round cookie cutter as soon as they come out of oven and scoot it around the edges to create perfect circles.
- Once cool, sprinkle with salt flakes and enjoy!
Notes
Comments
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Excellent easy recipe
I added chocolate chips…..yummy
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Hello! we love these cookies! Do you think they would freeze well?
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Yes! Just let cool then add to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat at 300 until warm through the center.
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These gluten free peanut butter cookies are the best cookies I’ve ever had. I fix them every week. They are so delicious. Thank you.
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Thank you so much, Sara!
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Can these be made larger, like 3 oz?If so, how much would the bake time increase to?
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Yes just increase the bake time by about 3-5 minutes!
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Very flexible recipe, used different sugars, used non runny peanut butter, I didn’t believe how perfectly they turned out, chewy and crackly topped. Requires little to none baking skills, low mess and ingredients. I will absolutely be making these again. Im not gluten free but I now prefer these as often peanut butter cookies can be hard and dry.
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What sugars did you substitute?
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These are insanely good- the flaky sea salt on top is the perfect addition! Not dry like some peanut butter cookies can be. Even if I wasn’t GF I would use this recipe.
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The cookies crumble. What can I add to keep them together?
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What kind of peanut butter are you using and did you make any subs? Did they seem over baked or dry?
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leave a comment and rating