These flourless peanut butter chocolate cookies are so rich and indulgent tasting, you won’t miss the flour and butter. Made with only 7 simple ingredients, you’ll find any excuse to make them!
This recipe may not be considered health food (this is a dessert recipe website, after all), but I absolutely will put these indulgent-tasting chocolate peanut butter cookies into a healthier/healthy-ish dessert category. Flourless cookies, starting from a base of just natural peanut butter and unsweetened cocoa powder, is absolutely a healthier choice than say, chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter cookies.
These 7 ingredient cookies taste like thick, incredibly chewy peanut butter brownies. Thick, chewy chewy chewy brownies. We loved how soft and rich tasting they were and how the centers of the cookies were moist, yet somewhat crumbly. A texture lover’s dream cookie, indeed.
This gluten free cookie recipe is an adaption of my Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies, which came from my Flourless Almond Butter Cookies, which I adapted from King Arthur’s Flourless cookies. See what happens when you find a winning basic cookie recipe?
There are so many ways to play around with this nut butter based flourless cookie recipe. Clearly, I have a little too much fun in the kitchen sometimes.
I made today’s cookies with my favorite homemade peanut butter. If you look closely, you can see some of the peanuts not ground up in the cookies. I like my peanut butter on the crunchy, grainy side. My homemade peanut butter is made from honey roasted peanuts and has won the hearts of all my friends and family who’ve tasted it. I’m pretty sure there is a honey roasted peanut shortage in my area, solely because of that recipe.
Other ingredients used: 1 egg, brown sugar (I successfully reduced the amount), a dash of vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda for some lift, and peanut butter chips. The peanut butter chips are optional and you may certainly use a healthier add-in option like peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, etc. Some readers have had luck using a vegan flax egg option.
A note on the brown sugar: I have never had success using a liquid sweetener like maple syrup or honey in this gluten free cookie recipe. Update: I have, however, successfully made them with coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Very tasty!
The secret to their soft, chewy centers? Bake the cookies for only 9-10 minutes. Under-baking is key to their soft brownie-like interior! If you over-bake them, the cookies will be quite hard and crispy.
It’s a total head scratcher that a simple 7 ingredient cookie can taste so darn fudgy and rich.
These flourless brownie-like cookies are little miracles! Go ahead and double the recipe… you’ll be thankful you did! And then go try these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies next.
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg until beaten. Mix in the peanut butter, then the brown sugar, baking soda, and cocoa powder. Mix everything together very well, then mix in the vanilla extract. Finally, fold in the peanut butter chips until combined.
- Scoop the dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons each (I like using this medium cookie scoop), onto prepared baking sheet. Bake two batches – 6-7 cookies on each baking sheet each. Gently press down on the dough mounds with the back of a spoon. If you find the cookie dough balls are a little oily from your peanut butter (mine usually are), blot each with a paper towel.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will look very soft—that’s ok! For crispier cookies, bake up to 11-12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Sometimes I press a couple more peanut butter chips into the tops of each cookie immediately after coming out of the oven. This is optional and only for looks!
You may also like...
