5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
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Published Feb 28, 2020, Updated Mar 05, 2024
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Peanut butter protein cookies made with just 5 simple ingredients: oats, protein powder, peanut butter, apple sauce and honey or maple syrup. Each cookie has 4 grams of protein! Gluten-free and dairy-free.
Few things are better than when healthy treats are acceptable any time of day… am I right?! These cookies are super nutrient dense. I think they could pass as a breakfast and definitely pass as a snack! If you’re looking for a reason to have more cookies in your life and you love peanut butter, you’re going to go crazy for these easy, 5-ingredient cookies.
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
- quick oats
- vanilla protein powder – I share my favorite plant-based protein powders in that blog. If you prefer whey protein, that works too!
- drippy natural peanut butter – you definitely want to use fresh, drippy peanut butter for this recipe. Dense, thick or dry peanut butter will give you crumbly cookies.
- unsweetened applesauce – use store-bought or make your own with my applesauce recipe.
- honey or maple syrup
How to Make High Protein Cookies
In a large bowl, mix your dry ingredients (the protein powder and oats).
In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (the peanut butter, applesauce and honey or maple syrup). Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
The consistency of your dough will depend on the protein powder and natural peanut butter you use. If needed, add an additional 1-2 Tablespoons of applesauce to moisten the dough.
Form the dough into one inch balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use a fork to press the ball down into a cookie shape and bake until golden brown!
Storing Peanut Butter Cookies
These cookies are so delicious it’s almost not even necessary to share storage tips! If you have self control… these store well in an airtight container on the counter, in the fridge or in the freezer! If you plan on storing for longer than a week, I recommend storing in the freezer.
More Healthy Cookie Recipes to Make:
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Protein Cookies
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- No Bake Protein Cookies
- Almond Flour Cookies
- Oatmeal Date Cookies
Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick oats
- 2 scoops, 50 grams of vanilla protein powder
- 1/2 cup drippy natural peanut butter*
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce + 1-2 Tablespoons more, if needed
- 2 Tablespoons honey or maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place oats and protein powder into a small bowl and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl mix together the peanut butter, applesauce and honey or maple syrup. Pour the wet peanut butter mixture over the dry mixture and stir well. Combining this mixture will take a little stirring power and it may seem a little crumbly at first. I used my hands to knead the dough near the end and that seems to help. If it’s too crumbly, you can add an extra 1-2 Tablespoons of applesauce to moisten it.
- Once combined, start forming the the dough into one inch balls.
- Place balls on a parchment lined baking sheet, press the ball down into a cookie shape with a fork and bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let cool and enjoy. Store any leftovers in a covered airtight container on the counter/in the fridge for immediate consumption or store in the freezer for later.
Notes
- For the protein powder, I recommend measuring by grams instead of by the scoop.
- The consistency of the dough may vary based on the brand of protein powder and peanut butter you use. If the dough seems too dry, add more applesauce as the recipe suggests or a splash of milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
unfortunately these turned out really dry and not really edible. I bake frequently and have made tones of cookies in my life. I’m sorry to say will have to throw these away.
Oh no!! I’m so sorry to hear that. Did you change anything about the recipe?
These are so good! My family loved them. I made them yesterday and they are all gone. I used Orgain Protein Powder and Laura Scudders old fashioned peanut butter. Thanks for the recipe.
Woo!! So glad these pb cookies were a hit. Thanks for the review, Erika. I so appreciate it!
These are delicious, and I don’t even own drippy peanut butter! I used store brand pb and added a scoop of PB2 (dry) just for extra flavor. I also stirred in 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips. I used enough applesauce to get a cookie dough consistency and also underbaked them a little. Excellent recipe!!
So glad these cookies turned out for you, Jeanna. Thanks for making them and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
Love this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m wondering if I calculated the macros wrong? Using the exact same ingredients, I’m seeing about double per cookie at 160 cal and 8p, 16c, 8f
Should I be making 24 cookies instead? Maybe my math is off
Hey Stacey – Nope, you should be getting 12 cookies out of this batter. What are you using to calculate your nutrition info?
I made these with chocolate protein powder, they taste amazing but are a little dry. Gonna add extra apple sauce next time.
Sorry to hear that! Did you add extra protein powder? What kind of peanut butter did you use? If your pb was on the drier side that could have been the issue.
Is it necessary to use quick oats for this recipe or can I use old fashioned rolled oats???
Thanks!
You can use rolled oats.
I don’t know if it’a bcz I used powdered Pb (I mixed it with water until it reached the same consistency as normal Pb and used the correct amount as well) but those turnt out so dry and bland, the texture was rubbery and the flavor wasn’t good.
Quite unfortunate as I was excited to see how those would turn out.
Oh no! So sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out for you, Lana. I haven’t tried these with powdered PB so I’m not sure if that would have been the reason for these cookies turning out rubbery and dry. Did you change anything else about the recipe?
I cooked these for my first time and they unfortunately burnt on the bottom. Unsure if it was the pan or I should have added more apple sauce. I’m gonna buy a new cookie sheet and see how the results turn out. However for the most part, the cookie was tasty.
Made these tonight – a quick and yummy treat! Thanks for the recipe!
Wanted to try several your recipes but only gluten free oats I’ve been able to find is Quaker Oats gluten free.
Hi Lillian – Those should work, or I know they also sell the Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free Oats on Amazon.