Put on your party hats! June 12 is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day! Let’s get ready to celebrate with this delicious, plant-based cookie recipe.
These Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies are impossible to stop eating!
There’s something incredibly nostalgic about simple peanut butter cookies. Is it the creamy, peanut-buttery taste? The iconic pattern on top? The irresistibly soft texture?
Chances are you helped your mama make these cookies when you were little. Standing on a wooden chair in the kitchen with your little apron on. With a big grin, ready to help.
These cookies are a great baking option for getting kids involved in the kitchen. Your kids can work on their fine motor skills as they mix and roll the dough into little cookie balls.
But if you’re worried about messy, peanut-butter fingers getting smudges all over your countertops, I don’t blame you! Give those little fingers a fork, and show them how to make the criss-cross pattern on top of these cookies.
You can tell them this is the most important step of baking peanut butter cookies. If not for the classic pattern on top, would people even recognize them? It’s doubtful.
These cookies are so creamy your family won’t believe they’re vegan-friendly too. You’ll all agree they’re absolutely delicious! And they’ll bring you right back to childhood.
These protein-packed cookies pair perfectly with a cold glass of oatmilk (or your favorite, plant-based milk of choice). Cookies and milk. Is there anything more delicious?
Trust me when I say you’ll want to make a double batch. If they aren’t devoured immediately, you can throw them in the freezer and save them for a last-minute event.
Grandma stopped by unexpectedly? Pull out the cookies, and let them thaw while you warm up the tea. She might even insist you stole her classic recipe. These eggless cookies are also great for tailgate parties, picnics, and midnight snacks. Like I said, you’ll be glad you made the extra batch.
For the best peanut butter taste, you’ll want to use all-natural peanut butter—the kind you have to stir. If it has more ingredients than just peanuts and salt, you’re not doing it right. Any extra ingredients will downplay the flavor of your cookies. No one wants that. Stick to the all-natural stuff. It also has less sugar.
There are lots of recipes for peanut butter cookies—some with only 3 ingredients. It might be tempting to try a simpler approach, but trust me—you’ll find yourself disappointed. Can you even call it a cookie if there’s no flour? That’s definitely up for debate.
Typically, cookie recipes require eggs to bind the ingredients together. Without it, the dough will fall apart. And you’ll be left with a crumbly mess. This recipe makes a perfect dough without eggs. How? It uses Neat eggs.
Neat eggs are made of chia seeds and garbanzo beans. They’re a great swap for eggs in your favorite recipes—brownies, cookies, muffins, you name it. You can skip the egg, and still have a perfectly formed dough that won’t crumble apart.
There are lots of ways to make egg-free dough, but Neat eggs make things super simple. Because Neat is shelf-stable, you can store the package in the pantry and pull it out whenever you need it. The two simple ingredients—chia seeds and garbanzo beans—are full of fiber, high in protein, and contain several essential vitamins and minerals.
Whether you have an egg allergy or you’re sticking to a vegan-friendly diet, these cookies are perfect for you. They’re also great for those times when you have a craving for cookies but realize your egg carton is empty. That’s always a bummer. Instead, you can grab your package of Neat eggs from the cabinet and start baking right away. It’s a seamless switch.
Fresh from the oven, these peanut butter cookies are hard to resist. Give them a few minutes to rest before you dive in. As they cool, they will firm up a bit. So if they start to break apart, just give them another minute or two to cool down before you move them onto the wire rack.
From start to finish, the total time to make these cookies is less than 15 minutes. That’s a big win for those of us with busy schedules.
This eggless recipe is something you can share with your kids as you have fun making memories together. Who knows—baking these cookies with you might be one of their favorite childhood memories. Enjoy it!
Ingredients Needed
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ cup plant-based butter
- 1 cup peanut butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- 1 neat egg, prepared according to package instructions
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep Time: 1 minute
Baking Time: 10 minutes
Servings: Makes 18 cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- With an electric or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar. Add the peanut butter and mix well. Then add the neat egg, vanilla, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry flour and the baking powder.
- Then, gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture.
- Roll the dough into one-inch balls and place on the cookie sheet.
- Flatten cookies with a fork, making a criss-cross on the top of each cookie.
- Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. The cookies will be soft and will continue to set up when cooled. Let them cool completely before removing from the cookie sheet. Enjoy!
Impress your family and friends by whipping up a batch of these plant-based, peanut butter cookies. Everyone will be glad you did.
Notes
- George Washington Carver is often wrongly attributed as the inventor of peanut butter. He did, however, create more than 300 products from the peanut plant. Peanut butter just wasn’t one of them.
- According to the National Peanut Butter Board, “In 1895 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (the creator of Kellogg’s cereal) patented a process for creating peanut butter from raw peanuts.”
- Did you know the cross-cross pattern on top of peanut butter cookies is what helps the dough spread evenly while cooking? Peanut butter cookies are denser than most other cookie doughs, so they need a little help getting a perfectly even bake. If you find your cookie edges are getting crispy before the middle is fully baked, flatten the dough a little more before putting them in the oven.
- If your cookies are dry and crumbly, it’s probably because you cooked them for too long. These cookies can be a little tricky because they don’t turn brown when they’re done. If they do turn brown, it means you’ve baked them for too long. Keep a close eye on the oven and grab them before they start to turn.
- Peanut butter is a fan-favorite food for adults and children alike. While it is high in calories and fat, it is a good plant-based protein for healthy eating. It’s also a great food for managing blood sugar levels and improving heart health.
- You can store your peanut butter cookies in an air-tight container on your counter for several days or put them in the freezer for much longer. But let’s be honest, they’ll be gobbled up long before that.
- Neat egg is vegan-friendly, shelf-stable, Kosher, non-GMO project verified, and cholesterol-free. It’s also soy-free and gluten-free. It’s an all-natural alternative to eggs. And one package is the equivalent of 18 eggs.
