These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are flourless and have the absolute best texture! They’re incredibly quick and easy to make and the result is an ultra peanut buttery cookie.

I would say that I specialize in cookie recipes. I kind of think of myself as a cookieologist, tinkering away in the kitchen making cookies dozens of times to get them perfect.

The recipe I based today’s recipe on is one of those labors of love. It’s my Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies recipe, but with a modified chia egg in place of the regular egg.

How long it took me to realize I just needed to reduce the water in the chia egg to make the perfect texture in this vegan version is a bit embarrassing, but here they are!

By the way, these cookies are especially delicious with homemade peanut butter! Here’s how to make peanut butter in just 5 minutes.

These cookies are like the popular 3-ingredient flourless peanut butter cookies. But way better. Like WAY better.

I do like simple, which that classic recipe is, but by adding some baking soda, salt and vanilla, I find that they taste tremendously better. And they’re still just as easy!

Ingredients

Nothing fancy here! The only thing you might not have is the chia seeds.

• Natural peanut butter – you must use the kind with just peanuts and salt. No added fat or sugar. Be careful because a lot of brands say “natural” on the jar but indeed contain fat and sugar.


• Coconut sugar – I’ve tried these cookies with brown sugar, granulated sugar and coconut sugar. Everyone agreed that the slightly caramel-like taste from the coconut sugar added a lot of great flavor to the cookies!
  
  With regular brown sugar and granulated sugar, they again tasted too much like sugar. Brown sugar was much better than granulated, though.


• Chia seeds – you can use a little electric coffee grinder, a food processor, or a high-speed blender to grind them. You combine them with water to create a chia egg, which replaces the egg in the recipe.
  
  Note – you need to make a modified chia egg!
  
  Normally you use 1 tablespoon of chia seeds + 3 tablespoons of water. If you do that, your cookies will be super flat messes.
  
  I also prefer to use ground chia seeds. I don’t like the texture of the seeds in my cookies or anything else I make.
  
  So! Use 1 tablespoon of ground chia seeds + 2.5 tablespoons of water for your chia egg.
  
  I’ve only used chia eggs in this recipe. Flax eggs might work if you also reduce the amount of water to 2.5 tablespoons.
  
  But I haven’t tried it, nor have I tried any other subs. I am team chia eggs all the way. 😁



• Chocolate chips – you can omit these, if you want. And since these are vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, you’ll want to be sure to use vegan chocolate.
  
  In Germany, almost all semi-sweet chocolate is dairy-free and therefore vegan. In the US, I think a lot of semi-sweet chocolate has dairy in it. So always check your labels!
  
  If you’re very sensitive to gluten, you might want to check out my post on Are Chocolate Chips Gluten-free? to see which brands are safe for celiacs. And if you’re vegan, I have a vegan version – Are Chocolate Chips Vegan?


• Vanilla extract, baking soda and salt

How to make them

Cookie recipes don’t get much easier than this! It’s all done in one bowl.

1. Mix everything, except for the chocolate chips, together in a bowl.


2. Stir in the chocolate.


3. Divide into balls and place on the pan.


4. Bake!

The taste + texture

Because there isn’t any flour to detract from other flavors, they’re the peanut butteriest peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had! These peanut butter Vegan No-bake Cookies are also awesome, but they taste more like a mix of peanut butter and maple syrup (which definitely isn’t a bad thing!).

The original 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies recipe tastes quite strongly of sugar, in my opinion, so in today’s recipe, I reduced the amount of sweetener. I also used coconut sugar instead of brown or granulated sugar, which helps with the flavor, and added some vanilla and baking soda.

The baking soda improves the texture greatly. They really have the best texture of any peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had. They’re perfectly chewy and have wonderfully crisp edges.

Other nut butter?

I’ve also tried these cookies with almond butter and sunflower seed butter, but they didn’t work out.

Believe me, I’ve tried. Like 30 times over the last few years. They were greasy, flat and spread a ton.

I’ve said it a ton of times before, but different kinds of nut butter aren’t always interchangeable! Especially in a recipe like this where there are so few ingredients and every ingredient is important.

Here are some other cookie recipes with almond butter and sunflower seed butter:

• Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies – perfectly chewy almond flour and almond butter-based cookies.


• No-bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies – you can use either almond butter or sunflower seed butter in these cookies. They’re my go-to for quick cookies in the summer!


• No-bake Almond Butter Cookies – unlike the almond flour cookies above, these are actually almond flavored and have chopped almonds in them, too.


• Bliss Balls – these aren’t cookies but are my favorite snack so I had to include them. ;) You can use either almond or sunflower seed butter in these!

Substitution questions:

• I’m not vegan. Can I use a regular egg? Yup! 1 large egg, which is 50 grams out of the shell.


• Can I use another type of nut butter? For those of you who don’t read the top part of the post, where I just addressed this… ;) I’ve tried these peanut butter cookies with almond butter and sunflower seed butter and they spread totally flat. I don’t recommend experimenting unless you’re prepared for failure.
  
  If you’d prefer cookies with almond butter, I’ve got several listed above. You could also try these Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! They sound great.


• Can I use regular peanut butter? It has to be the kind with just peanuts and salt. No fat or sugar.
  
  If you want to use normal peanut butter, I’d recommend finding a recipe for vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that already calls for it. I bet most already do!


• Can I use another granulated sweetener other than what’s listed? I don’t recommend it. I’ve made these cookies with brown and granulated sugar instead of coconut sugar, but the cookies just tasted super sugary rather than peanut buttery. The coconut sugar adds a delicious, caramel-like flavor that’s perfect with the peanut butter!


• Can I use a liquid sweetener? Unfortunately not. You need a granulated one unless you feel like reworking the recipe to accommodate the additional liquid you’re adding to the recipe. Please don’t waste your ingredients. ;)


• Can I reduce the sweetener? If you do, the cookies will be less chewy, cakeier and probably a bit puffy. They also won’t spread like the ones in the photo.
  
  You might be able to reduce it to 2/3 cup (from 3/4 cup) without a HUGE difference, but please don’t reduce it by any more than that.


• Can I omit the baking soda or use baking powder? No. It has to be baking soda, and you can’t omit it. The cookies won’t work otherwise.
  
  The classic 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies don’t have baking soda in them, but they also call for regular peanut butter like Jif, Skippy, etc. That type of peanut butter has added fat and sugar in it, and it’s also super firm and not runny like natural peanut butter.


• How do I make these keto? I’m working on it! I hope to have it ready in time for Christmas.

More vegan peanut butter desserts

If these vegan peanut butter chocolate cookies aren’t for you, I have loads of peanut butter recipes and the following are some of my favorites.

• Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge – it’s like a cross between caramel and fudge and one of my favorite candy recipes ever.


• Healthy Peanut Butter Balls – these are like buckeyes, but maple-sweetened and just as delicious!


• Gluten-free No-bake Cookies – this one is another naturally gluten-free recipe as it just calls for oats and no flour.


• Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats – no marshmallows here! These treats are naturally sweetened and a bit too addictive. ;)

So which vegan peanut butter treat is your favorite? If you make these Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, please tell me about it! If you post pictures on social media, tag #texanerin, so I can see your delicious baked goods! Thanks, everyone and enjoy!

Resources if you’re new to eating gluten-free/vegan!

• Is Baking Soda Gluten-free?
• Are Chocolate Chips Gluten-free?
• Is Peanut Butter Gluten-free?
• Is Vanilla Extract Gluten-free?
• Is Baking Soda Vegan?
• Are Chocolate Chips Vegan?
• Is Peanut Butter Vegan?
• Is Vanilla Extract Vegan?

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

♥♥♥♥♥

Rated 5.0 by 2 readers

• Print

• Prep Time: 10 min
• Cook Time: 15 min
• Ready in: 25 min
• Yield: 9

Ingredients

• 1 cup (256 grams) natural peanut butter (the kind with just peanuts and salt)
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) coconut sugar, very tightly packed (it's best to weigh this)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 teaspoon if your peanut butter is unsalted)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 2.5 tablespoons water for chia egg
• 1 cup (170 grams) vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips + another 1/4-1/3 cup for the tops of the dough balls

Directions

1. Position the oven rack to the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (170 °C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl large enough to mix all the ingredients, stir together the ground chia seeds and water. It should only take a few seconds for it to get thickened like an egg.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients, except for the chocolate chips. Use an electric mixer on low to combine it. At first, it will be very thin but after about 30 seconds of mixing, it should be firm enough to roll into balls. Add in the 1 cup chocolate chips. The dough may or may not feel oily.
4. Divide into nine 50-gram balls and place about 4" apart on the prepared cookie sheet. If using homemade very runny peanut butter, they spread a lot! Look at the video to see what my peanut butter looks like. If yours is firmer, you'll likely want to press the dough balls down. Cover with more chocolate chips.
5. Bake immediately. It seems as though letting them sit for a while affects how they bake up. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until they've crackled nicely and no longer appear wet in the middle. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet, where they'll continue to bake. If you don't let them cool on the baking sheet, the bottoms of the cookies likely won't be baked enough.
6. Store totally cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.

Permalink: https://www.texanerin.com/vegan-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Recipe by Texanerin Baking | www.texanerin.com

Like what you see and want more?
Join over 12,400 readers and sweeten up
your inbox with new posts for free!

Your information will not be shared with or sold to a third party.
This subscription is free of charge and can be canceled at any time.