Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
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These easy gluten-free peanut butter cookies are full of flavor, sure to satisfy your peanut butter craving, and are completely vegan and egg-free.
Well, there’s a time and place for everything, and if that place is my blog then the time is 2020. Can I get an AMEN?
What a weird year, friends. So totally weird.
But not totally BAD weird. There’s been a lot of good weird for us this year.
And while I won’t bore you with the details of our year, I will say, this year brought a bunch of trying of new things for our family, especially in the food department.
After using a meal service (that I referenced in this BBQ brisket hash post) for nearly 2 years, we had to abandon it in March in exchange for cooking for ourselves again.
We were a little rusty, but we made it happen, and we started implementing home-cooked breakfasts nearly daily during all the time we had together every single day for weeks upon weeks.
One of our sons fell in love with breakfast sandwiches, the other discovered a love affair he never knew existed with raisins, and Matt and I started experimenting with different ingredients we had on hand to limit the amount of trips we had to take to the grocery store.
Not only that, but our BIL & SIL became vegan within the last year, so we naturally had a lot of discussions with them about alternatives and baking and all those sorts of things.
I then realized that because they had gone vegan, I lost two of the best taste-testers I had!! No more handing off traditional baked goods– it had to be free of animal products. Which doesn’t happen too often with my traditional baking.
I knew I had to include a vegan cookie in this year’s 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, as a nod to one of the other sets of Aprils for their enlightening of us in the food area this year and broadening our perspectives.
And yes, they got 90% of these almond flour peanut butter cookies, because they totally deserved it after missing out on, oh, nearly all of the rest of the baked goods of 2020.
Now, if you’re in the market for some non-vegan peanut butter cookies, fear not: I have traditional peanut butter blossoms in the archives as well as what I would call the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had in my ultimate peanut butter cookies.
But if you’re here for almond flour cookies (gluten free) that are also vegan, this is where it’s at!
I do have to preface this with: these cookies have a very distinct texture. Because we’re not using butter or eggs, we have far less fat to work with than usual, so that buttery, gooey texture is definitely not here.
Could I have used a vegan butter or an egg substitute? Sure! But what I like to keep here at FAF are things that are free of whatever thing I say they are naturally.
Meaning no gluten free flours, non-dairy butters, or flaxseed eggs. Remember time and place for everything? I stay in my lane here!
That said, these cookies are no less delicious than traditional peanut butter cookies, but there is definitely a slightly more crumbly texture to them.
And a hint? They have the most moisture on day 1, so… Eat them all right away? This sounds like a totally acceptable solution.
As stated in the title, these cookies are made with almond flour or almond meal. I discussed the difference back with my almond flour banana bread, if you’re interested in what the difference actually is, but for these cookies, either will do.
You’ll also be using natural peanut butter, the stuff that is just peanuts and salt, though you can use the stuff with added oil and sugar if you’d like.
Our sweetener is maple syrup, but agave would also work.
A little salt and vanilla for amplification of flavor and baking soda for rise and we’re all set!
The dough for these is scoopable, but it won’t spread very much. That’s where your fork + crisscross pattern comes in.
Wet the fork a bit before pressing into the dough ball, and fix any major cracks you see, if you’d like to. Honestly, they all taste the same so… WHATEVER!
Since there are no eggs in these, they will be quite fragile when they come out of the oven. Allow them a full 10 minute rest before transferring them off of the baking sheet.
These cookies were loved by all who tried them, and the kids totally thought they were the “best peanut butter cookies ever” (because they’re 2 and 4 and anything that is called a “cookie” is already an amazing in their eyes).
They passed the vegan taste-testers’ test and made a fabulous less-guilt treat for all of us at some point that day.
Though I’m no vegan baking pro, I will say I was quite impressed with myself on these. They fit the peanut butter cookie bill and they will forever be here on my blog as my first naturally vegan cookie.
I hope you’ll give them a try and I’m sure you know at least one vegan friend you can share them with– or make one whole Christmas cookie tray with just almond flour peanut butter cookies.
I don’t think a single peanut butter lover would be mad about that one.
Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 and ⅓ cup (150g) almond flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (180g) natural peanut butter
- ⅓ cup (80g) maple syrup
- 2 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until everything is combined.
- Using a cookie scoop (I use this #50 cookie scoop for all of my standard size cookies), drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Then, using a fork dipped in water to insure it doesn't stick, press down on each ball of dough to form a crisscross pattern. You may have to wet your fork between each crisscross.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, being careful not to disturb them. After the 10 minutes, transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Cookies are best on the first or second day, but can be stored at room temperature, covered tightly, up to 5 days. Cookies freeze well, up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Excited to try. Thank you. 🙂