So begins the time of the year when it’s totally acceptable to have a freezer bursting with cookies. There’s always something on hand for unexpected guests, not to mention evening nibbles while cozied up in front of the TV, which we’ve been kinda glued to lately (oops). My friends and family are about to be bombarded with cookies over the next few weeks. I just hope they don’t mind when I force them to fill out a recipe feedback form removing all pleasure from the cookie eating experience. There are always strings attached, you know.

These peanut butter chocolate cookies are made gluten-free by using almonds and gluten-free oats – both ground in my Vitamix to make a flour. You can either grind it yourself in a high-speed blender or you can buy pre-made almond and oat flour. I weighed and measured the amounts to take the guess work out of it for you. As is the case with many of my vegan cookie recipes, a flax egg (which is simply ground flax mixed with water) mimics the texture of a traditional hen’s egg.

Almond flour gives these cookies a crispy, chewy, and crumbly quality. If you’re looking for a softer texture, you might want to try swapping the almond flour for an all-purpose gluten-free flour (and perhaps a touch of almond milk if the batter is dry). After the cookies came out of the oven, I sprinkled them with flaked sea salt to bring out the peanut butter flavour and make everything pop! Flaked sea salt, where have you been all my life?

Crispy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-Free)

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Adapted from my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 22 (2-inch diametre) cookies

Ingredients:

1 flax egg: (1 tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 tbsp water)
1/4 cup non-dairy buttery spread (I used soy-free Earth Balance in the red tub) (45g)
1/4 cup natural peanut butter (70g)
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar (80g)
1/4 cup organic cane sugar (55g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, blended into a flour (105g or 1 cup oat flour)
1 cup almonds, blended into a flour (145g or 1 cup + 2 tbsp almond flour)
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips, but you can use regular sized too)

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the flax egg and set aside for 5 minutes so it can thicken up.
2. With an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the buttery spread and peanut butter until combined. Add both sugars and beat for 1 minute more. Beat in the flax egg and vanilla extract until combined.
3. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, salt, oat flour, and almond flour) one by one. If your dough is dry (this could be the case if too much flour is used), you can add a touch of almond milk to thin it out. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Shape 1-inch balls of dough (smaller than golf balls) and place on the baking sheet. If chocolate chips aren’t sticking to the dough, just press them in with your fingers. There is no need to flatten the balls as the cookies spread out a lot. Place balls 2-3 inches apart.
5. Bake for about 11-13 minutes (I baked for 12 mins) until lightly golden. The underside will also be a rich golden brown shade. The cookies will be very soft coming out of the oven, but they will harden as they cool. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle cookies with flaked sea salt to bring out the peanut butter flavour even more.

Eric’s two cents – “I’m not a big peanut butter fan, but if you put a plate of 12 of these cookies in front of me, I’d probably still eat them all.”

Wise words, husband, wise words.