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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These are really impressive! I have made them several times now, and both my grandmas have asked for the recipe, and my neighbors seem to really like them too! Easy, mess free, and delicious. A gluten free treat that even gluten eaters like is a huge feat!
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Makes me so happy! Thanks, Marina!
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These are delicious. I tried them with and without the salt sprinkled after baking. The vote was to add the salt, but I put it on when they are still warm so that the flake salt “sticks”. My husband and daughter are gluten free and I now only use gluten free flour. These are a great option for us!
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Thank you, Veronica! So glad you found something you can all enjoy!
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Wanted to know what you though about freezing some of the dough. To able just to put out and cook at a later date.
BTW My wife can’t have gluten and she just loves these.
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Yes, you can definitely freeze! Just scoop into balls and freeze in a freezer safe bag for up to 2 months. Bake at 325 for a few extra minutes to account for the frozen dough.
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Delicious! I doubled the recipe and got even more cookies than I expected. Thankfully they’re delicious so it’s not a problem to have so many! 🙂 Thanks!
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A good problem to have! Thanks, Jennifer!
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Looking to know what’s the best brand you recommend for the peanut butter?
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I like Trader Joes!
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We have tried several different gf PBJ cookie recipes and this is now out go to. The only issue is that next time I will need to make a double batch!
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A good problem to have! Thanks, Amy!
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These are so good!!! I made them twice, the first time i definitely didn’t bang the pan hard enough so they weren’t thin and I think I slightly over baked them. But this second time oh my!! I banged the pan halfway through and then again when I took them out. They look just like the picture and i’m so happy! I also added 2 eggs instead of the 1 this time, because i think my peanut butter is a bit different and the cookies needed some more moisture.
They’re very delicious and super easy to make! Totally recommend
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Perfect! So glad you made them work for you, thanks Carla!
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I’ve made these and love them! Question – How long can I chill the dough for? Like can I make the dough one day and leave it in the fridge overnight and bake the next day? Thank you!
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Yes, totally fine!
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These are so yummy!
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Awesome cookies…great recipe! Have never made Peanut Butter cookies without flour of any kind. Thank you for sharing, yummy.
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So glad you loved these!
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So good!!
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Hi, Claire! I love all of your recipes I’ve tried so far but I found these to be gritty. Did I do something wrong?
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They definitely shouldn’t be gritty! You can try beating the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer instead of just whisking to dissolve it a bit. What brand of peanut butter did you use?
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Okay I will have to try that next time. Thank you!
I used the Kirkland brand peanut butter from Costco.-
Using sugar cane sugar (harder to find but G&H is a reliable brand) rather than sugar beet sugar will make ALL the difference in your baked goods.
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I have a question. Could you make this into a bar. I want to use it for a carnel apple pizza?
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That could work! I’d bake in an 8×8 pan for about 25-30 minutes.
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Delicious! But I didn’t find it necessary to remove from oven and whack if I flattened the cookies sufficiently with the bottom of a glass to begin with. I also made cookies half the size in recipe and formed the dough into balls to get a smoother outline when finished.
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Perfect, so glad you enjoyed these!
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Yum! I think it would be fine with any kind of peanut butter
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