These vegan peanut butter cookies are a peanut butter lovers dream dessert. They’re chewy, made in one bowl, gluten free, and ready in just 20 minutes! Keep them plain or add chocolate chips!
You probably know this by now but I have a thing for reallllly soft & chewy cookies. I like melt in your mouth pillowy fluffy cookies.
None of that crunchy nonsense. Maybe with a *slight* crunch on the bottom (keyword: slight), but all in all just really fluffy.
Well, these vegan peanut butter cookies are exactly that! Plus, they’ll be in and out of the oven in just 20 minutes and only require a few simple ingredients you probably have on hand. Yet another pantry staple recipe that’s really coming in clutch these days!
These cookies require just some good old creamy peanut butter, a bit of almond and oat flour, sugar, vegan butter, milk and a few other basic baking ingredients.
They’re naturally gluten free, dairy free, egg free and vegan! But don’t let that dissuade you if you’re none of those things, you’d never even know by the flavor/texture!
Key ingredients
PEANUT BUTTER. I suggest using a peanut butter with only two ingredients, peanuts and salt. If you use a salted peanut butter, use less additional salt in the recipe, if you use an unsalted, add a bit more.
BUTTER. You need some vegan butter to help keep the cookies nice and moist. You can sub for coconut oil, but I love the flavor butter adds.
FLOURS. We’ll be using oat flour and almond flour to keep these gluten free peanut butter cookies! I do not recommend any subs here.
SUGAR. A mix of brown and white sugar helps create that perfect texture.
MILK. A bit of milk helps add moisture. Any non-dairy milk will work here, I used soy.
How to make vegan cookies
Cream butter and sugar. In a medium mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars.
Add all wet ingredients. Add in all remaining wet ingredients and beat together until well combined.
Mix in dry ingredients. Add in the dry ingredients and beat again until a batter forms.
Scoop. Use a medium cookie scoop and measure into heaping balls. Roll in your hands to form an even ball, then roll in extra granulated sugar.
Repeat until all dough has been used and add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the tops with your fingertips (see photo below).
Bake. Bake for 11-15 minutes. The cookies will be soft when the come out of the oven. 12 minutes is ideal in my oven for nice chewy cookies, but you can bake for longer if you prefer a bit of crunch, but you risk drying them out if they stay in for too long.
Cool. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
The key to a soft texture
One of the reasons these cookies are so soft and pillowy is simply because of the peanut butter. It gets whipped with the other ingredients to create a really fluffy base for these cookies.
The second key is the short baking time. These cookies only need to be in the oven for about 12 minutes. Just enough time to cook them all the way through, but not so much time that they dry out and get crunchy.
They over bake very easily, and even if they seem too soft when they come out of the oven, don’t worry, they firm up a lot as they cool!
How to store and freeze
Once prepared, these cookies will keep at room temperature in an air tight container for about 3-5 days.
You can freeze these cookies either before or after baking. To freeze before, make the dough as usual, roll into balls and place in a freezer safe bag. Bake at 325, right from frozen, but for a few extra minutes.
To freeze after baking, allow the cookies to cool completely, then place in a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat in the oven until warm through the center.
The best peanut butter
Be sure you use a peanut butter that only has one or two ingredients: peanuts and salt or just peanuts.
If you’re using one with peanuts and salt, you can omit the extra salt in the dough if you’re worried about them getting too salty.
Other peanut butters that have oil/sugar in them will change the texture, so stick to the basics!
Want to do more baking? Try these!
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Vegan Caramel Sauce
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, tag me on instagram if you make this recipe so I can see your creation!
Chewy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp vegan butter softened
- ¼ cup non-dairy milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated cane sugar
Dry:
- 1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
- 1 cup fine oat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars.
- Add in all remaining wet ingredients and beat together until well combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients and beat again until a batter forms. Be sure to spoon and level the flour, don't scoop from the bag or you'll end up with more than you need!
- Use a medium cookie scoop and measure into heaping balls. Roll in your hands to form an even ball, then roll in extra granulated sugar.
- Repeat until all dough has been used and add to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the tops with your fingertips, they won't spread a ton while baking!
- Bake for 11-15 minutes.
- The cookies will be soft when the come out of the oven. 12 minutes is ideal in my oven for nice chewy cookies, but you can bake for longer if you prefer a bit of crunch, but you risk drying them out if they stay in for too long.
- Immediately when they come out of the oven, I like to slam down the cookie sheet on the stove to encourage spreading/crackling of the tops.
- Then, I take a large round cookie cutter and swirl it around each cookie to shape it into a perfect circle.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Gwen006 says
These turned out really well. I reduced the sugar to 1/3 white and 2/3brown, and no one would ever miss it. I did add a little extra salt cause my peanut butter was pure peanuts with no salt.
Claire Cary says
Perfect! So glad they worked with those subs.
CC says
HI THERE, how should we substitute the peanut butter for regular PB?
Claire Cary says
I’m not sure what you mean by that. Peanut butter is regular?
Kristin says
Hi there! Wondering if you can just use gluten free flour instead of the almond and oat?
Claire Cary says
I don’t recommend that as it would completely change the recipe and wet ingredients proportions.
Cheri says
Hi! I love your recipes but have one question…..
We are not a gluten free family. Can I sub regular flour for the oat flour? I can still use the almond flour where called for.
Thanks for all your good vegan work!!!
Claire Cary says
Thank you, Cheri! In any of my recipes, you can safely sub the gluten free all purpose flour for regular all purpose flour, but I don’t recommend going from oat flour to regular AP flour as the absorption of these flour is very different. Hope that helps!
Jill Borntrager says
Just wanted to let you know that these are the best peanut butter cookies we’ve ever made and eaten!!!!!! My daughter and I have autoimmune diseases and need to eat gluten free and dairy free in order to feel good. I want to thank you for this recipe. Wow!!!!! Absolutely phenomenal!!!!
Claire Cary says
Amazing!! That makes me so happy to hear, thanks Jill!
Dorothy says
This looks like the best vegan recipe for the cookies I’ve seen.. I have all ingredients on hand.. I can’t wait to make..
Claire Cary says
can’t wait to hear what you think!