Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies: How to Make Your Own

Is there anything better than a delicious, chewy peanut butter cookie to finish your day?

Peanut butter cookies are among the most popular cookie recipes in the world. Plus, unlike most chocolate-filled options, these cookies are extremely versatile. You can make peanut butter cookie dough that’s healthy, replace standard milk with soy milk, and even find recipes completely free from refined sugar.

On top of that, peanut butter cookies are easy to make and bake. You can create a cookie dough ball in advance and throw it in the freezer for later. Plus, there’s the option to experiment with different ingredients, like almond or vanilla extract, oat flour, maple syrup, and more. With so many ingredients to experiment with, peanut butter cookies are a great option if you are looking to make a vegan treat. 

What Can You Substitute for Eggs in a Peanut Butter Cookie?

The peanut butter cookie is a popular favorite among cookie dough lovers. It can be a particularly handy choice for people who want to go vegan, as you can adjust your recipe and baking to cut out all kinds of ingredients.

Most of the standard peanut butter cookies you’ll find at the supermarket or grocery store will contain eggs as a way to bind the cookie in the baking process. However, you can make a vegan peanut butter cookie with no egg at all. For instance, some of the most common alternatives to eggs in vegan peanut butter cookies include:

•         Pureed silken tofu
•         Pureed fruit, like apple or banana
•         Cornstarch mixed with warm water
•         Vegetable shortening and baking soda
•         Ground flaxseed mixed with warm water
•         Almond milk and flax seed

There are also options like flax egg to consider too. It all depends on what you’re most comfortable working with when you’re baking. When you’re using an egg replacement for vegan cookies, just add more of the replacement substance when more eggs are required. For instance, for two eggs, you might use half a cup of applesauce instead of a quarter.

Remember, flax is great for protein too!

How to Make Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Type “vegan cookie” into Google, and you’ll get dozens of great cookie recipe options to choose from. You’ll find that every cookie is slightly different, so it might be worth adding keywords to your search like “chewy” if you’re looking for a specific texture.

This peanut butter cookie recipe is one of the simplest options for vegans to try. You can even consider using different kinds of nut butter if you like, like almond butter instead. Here are the ingredients you need:

•         ½ cup of vegan butter
•         1 cup of Crazy Richard’s creamy natural peanut butter
•         ¾ cup of sugar
•         ½ cup of brown sugar
•         1 Tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with warm water
•         1 Tablespoon of soy or almond milk
•         1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
•         1 teaspoon baking soda
•         ¼ teaspoon of sea salt

To make your chewy, egg-free peanut butter cookies, cream the softened butter, sugars, and your peanut butter together with a spoon or electric mixer. You can add your vanilla extract and milk during this stage too, just be careful not to add too much vanilla extract at once.

Add the water and cornstarch mixture, along with the existing mixture of natural peanut butter, brown sugar, and almond milk. The mixture for your peanut butter cookie should look quite wet and sticky at this point. Don’t steal a spoonful until the cookie dough is ready!

Next, add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and mix well into the wet ingredients until you can no longer see the flour mixture. You can also add coconut flour instead of standard flour if you prefer and experiment with ingredients like chia seeds.

Baking Your Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

When your dough is fully mixed together, you can spoon balls of the cookie dough onto a baking tray. Consider using coconut oil or another substance to keep the cookies from sticking. Leave plenty of space between the cookies so they can spread out. Take a fork and press the dough balls down to create a flatter cookie, then bake them in the oven for around 10 to 12 minutes.

Let your cookies cool for fifteen minutes after taking them out of the oven to give them that chewy texture. If you want to take the recipe to the next level, you could consider adding coconut oil to some vegan chocolate and melting it. Dip each natural peanut butter cookie into the coconut oil and vegan chocolate mixture.

If you decide to dip your cookies in vegan chocolate, you should leave them to cool on a covered tray for a while after dipping. You can also throw some vegan chocolate chips into the original recipe if you prefer.

Can You Freeze Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies?

Most cookies made with the standard recipe of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and chocolate are suitable for freezing. You can also freeze peanut butter cookies if you know how to prep the dough correctly. Most cookie doughs freeze quite well, but you’ll need to make sure that you separate the cookies into balls before putting them in the freezer if you don’t want the dough to become too solid.

Freeze your vegan peanut butter cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then you can transfer them to another freezer bag or container later on. Remember not to leave your dough in the freezer for too long, as this could have a negative impact on various ingredients, including almond flour, almond milk, and the sugar in your cookies, and could cause freezer burn.

If you notice that your peanut butter cookie dough is starting to look less colorful or has a strange odor, you should probably avoid using it.

Are These Cookies Healthier?

Vegan peanut butter cookies aren’t automatically healthier than their non-vegan counterparts. Creating a healthy peanut butter cookie means considering the ingredients carefully, like using coconut flour or almond flour, and avoiding additives like xanthan gum. You can be sure you’re making a healthy choice with Crazy Richard’s peanut butter because there are no additives, just peanuts! 

Choosing the right chewy cookie recipe with vegan chocolate and low-fat coconut oil can help you to avoid some of the less healthy components of the standard peanut butter cookie. However, you will need to carefully consider the ingredients if you’re not making your cookie dough yourself.

Just because a cookie on the shelf says that it has natural peanut butter or low-fat almond butter in its ingredients doesn’t mean that it’s as healthy as you might think. Whenever you’re buying or making vegan peanut butter cookies, check the recipe carefully, and pay attention to any extra calories or other concerns that might indicate the cookies aren’t as healthy as you think.

You’ll often find that making your own vegan peanut butter cookies at home will help you make the recipe as healthy as possible because you can choose what kind of baking ingredients you use. It’s up to you to determine what goes into your peanut butter cookie dough with a homemade batch, which means that you can reduce things like refined sugar and ensure you’re only using natural peanut butter in your recipe.

So do yourself a favor and buy some Crazy Richard’s all-natural peanut butter to ensure that you’re using the best ingredients to make healthy and delicious vegan peanut butter cookies! Or if you feel like trying something new, check out our other peanut butter recipes. Enjoy!