Peanut Butter Peanut Cookies
Deliciously nutty vegan cookies made with creamy peanut butter and crunchy peanuts.
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- Total time
- 20 minutes
- Makes
- 12 cookies
- Oven
- 350°F
- Ingredients
- 7
About these cookies
These cookies get peanut flavor twice: from a full cup of natural peanut butter in the dough and from chopped peanuts folded through it. The edges bake up crisp and golden, the centers stay dense and fudgy, and packed brown sugar adds a light caramel note under the roasted nuttiness. With seven ingredients, one bowl and no egg replacer, you can go from jar to cooling rack in about 20 minutes.
Steps
- Tap a step to check it off.
Tips for success
- Stir the natural peanut butter well before you measure it. The oil that separates out is the only fat in this dough, so a dry scoop from the bottom of the jar gives sandy, crumbly cookies. Runny, room-temperature peanut butter works best. Check the label too: some brands add honey, which isn't vegan.
- Beat the peanut butter and soft, fresh brown sugar together until no dry sugar is left and the mix looks like glossy wet sand. If the dough still won't hold together when you squeeze it after adding the flour, work in 1 tablespoon of unsweetened plant milk, adding a little at a time.
- Squeeze each tablespoon of dough firmly into a smooth ball before you put it on the parchment so it doesn't crack when you press the crosshatch in. If the fork sticks, dip it in a little sugar or cold water between cookies.
- Take the cookies out when the edges are golden but the centers still look soft and puffy. They firm up during the 5-minute rest on the baking sheet, and moving them sooner can break them. If your oven runs hot, check at 10 minutes, since the baking soda helps them brown fast.
Swaps
- Peanut butter: use the same amount of natural almond butter. The cookies will taste milder and be a little more cakey, and you won't get as much peanut flavor.
- Chopped peanuts: swap in 1/2 cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips for a sweeter cookie with less crunch, or use chopped unsalted roasted almonds for the same crunch with a different nut flavor.
- Brown sugar: use the same amount of coconut sugar. You'll get a deeper, toffee-like flavor, but the cookies will be drier and less chewy, so you'll probably need the tablespoon of plant milk.
- All-purpose flour: use a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend that contains xanthan gum. The cookies will be more fragile, so chill the dough balls for 10 minutes before you press them with the fork.
Storing
Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They firm up a bit after the first day. You can freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months, or freeze the forked dough balls and bake them from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes to the 10–12 minute bake. To refresh them, warm them for 3–4 minutes in a 300°F (150°C) oven.
