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
Yield
20 medium or 15 large cookies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These gluten-free and vegan chocolate chip cookies are crispy, chewy, and perfect for dunking into a glass of almond milk! Ready in a half hour, you'll turn to this recipe again and again due to its quick prep time and irresistible flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flax
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup (45 grams) non-dairy buttery spread*
- 1/4 cup (70 grams) natural smooth peanut butter or almond butter**
- 1/2 cup (80 grams) lightly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (55 grams) organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, blended into a flour (105 grams or 1 cup oat flour)
- 1 cup almonds, blended into a meal (145 grams or 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond meal)
- 1/3 cup mini non-dairy chocolate chips (or regular size chips)***
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, mix together the ground flax and water. Set aside for a few minutes so it can thicken.
- 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 mixture and vanilla extract until combined.
- Now, beat in the dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, salt, oat flour, and almond meal) one by one.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, reserving about 1 tablespoon for pressing into the top of the dough balls.
- Shape 1-inch balls of dough (smaller than golf balls) and place on the baking sheet 2 inches apart. You can also use a retractable cookie scoop. 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 while baking. Press reserved chips into the tops of the dough balls.
- Bake for about 11 to 13 minutes until spread out and lightly golden. The cookies will be very soft coming out of the oven, but they will crisp up as they cool. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack for another 10 minutes.
Tip:
- * I use soy-free Earth Balance.
- ** Be sure to stir the peanut butter well before using. Also, avoid using the dry nut butter that's often found at the bottom of the jar. It's simply too thick and dry for this recipe and will result in cookies that don't spread.
- *** For "pretty" cookies, reserve 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips for pressing into the tops of the dough balls before baking. I use Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
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.
Thank you so much Angela for sharing the delicious recipes. I want to try this immediately. Keep Sharing!
I have made this recipe twice from the almond butter cookbook version. Everybody is in love with it! No one has any idea that it is a healthier treat! My husband says these are the best cookies ever. I follow the recipe exactly and use a food scale to measure everything. They turn out picture perfect each time!
Hey Lindsay, I’m so happy your family loves the cookies! They’re a big hit in our house too.
Yum, yum, and yum! I made these from cookbook so chose almond butter and coconut oil instead of butter. Due to what I had, I went with half cup coconut sugar and quarter cup cane sugar. Will definitely make again. I love the texture of crisp and chewy.
Hey Shelley, thank you! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the cookbook too. Thanks for your support :)
Hi Angela! This is definitely a go-to recipe for me, so when I was craving a gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookie, I decided to try and adapt this one. I added a tbsp of molasses, a heaping tsp of cinnamon, did 1/2 cup oat flour and 1/2 cup whole rolled oats (instead of the whole cup oat flour) and added a decent 3/4 cup or so of big juicy raisins, and it worked PERFECT! I’d love to see a GF oatmeal raisin cookie on the app, if you can run off this idea and polish it up a bit! They were sooooo yummy, but I’m sure you’d have a way to make them even better! Thanks!!!
Hey Whittney, thanks so much for sharing your swaps! I love your idea of adding raisins, too…yum. So glad the cookies were a hit!
Loved the taste of these cookies.I made the version form the cookbook I used a one inch cookie scoop, but ended up with 32 cookies instead of 16 as the recipe says. Also my cookies did not spread very much. Any suggestions…I really want to try them again.
Hi Edith, For spreading, it’s important to use “runny” nut butter that is not too dry or thick (and of course follow the recipe as written as they’re sensitive to small changes). You can also try pushing down on the mounds before baking too. I hope this helps and I’d love to hear how it goes next time.
This is my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe! I like chewy cookies, not crispy and despite the name of the recipe they are delicious and soft and chewy. I follow the recipe exactly and they turn out delicious and perfect every time. I can’t wait to make them for the holidays!
So happy you love these so much Jennifer! Thanks for your review :)
Wow, I am making this ASAP. Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies are both my favorites, so I can’t imagine how amazing they will be combined!
I hope you love them as much as we do! I’d love to hear how it goes
Mine turned out more like chocolate peanut butter balls but they are truly phenomenal! So soft and moist. Lovely recipe – easy to follow. I subbed Stevia in the Raw instead of the cane sugar and that seemed to work!
The Best!! I use coconut oil instead of buttery spread and almond butter instead of peanut butter-Replace half the oat flour with coconut flakes, add nuts–totally addicting!!
I love your swaps! Thanks for sharing Sheila :)
PS: I am not vegan and these are still my favorite chewy cookie(under cook them)and friends RAVE about them–great job on recipe development.
Thanks Sheila! I’m so happy you love them so much. :)
Hello, you mentioned have a freezer bursting with cookies. How to I freeze this recipe? Do I freeze the dough or do I freeze bakes cookies? Honestly, these are so good I crave them all the time. BEST cookie recipe EVER! Thanks for sharing!
Aww thank you! So glad you love them so much. :)
For freezing you can freeze the baked (and cooled) cookies or you can freeze the dough. I would suggest pre-portioning them into balls, freezing the balls, then popping them into a freezer safe bag. You can bake from frozen but you will need a bit more bake time. Or you can thaw them on the countertop first and then bake as directed. Hope this helps!
OMG…i got oh she glows cookbook for christmas and I finally got around to making these cookies….they are AMAZING! I seriously at 4 right away and my husband ate another 5 in one sitting! Will definitely be making these ALL THE TIME!
Awww thanks Lisa!! That’s so awesome to hear!
Can these be made like the chocolate chunk cookie with maple syrup, arrow root, and coconut oil?
oh that’s a great question! I’m not sure…if you try any swaps I’d love to hear how it goes :)
Hi, I love the taste of the cookies. But mine don’t flatten out. I can never leave them in a ball shape to bake. Am j doing something wrong??
Thanks
I love this recipe from your first book! This time, I added two tablespoons of Brewer’s yeast to turn them in lactation cookies. Amazing!! Thank you so much!
These are absolutely amazing
I didn’t have cane sugar so just used brown sugar
Love ?