These delicious and healthy peanut butter cookies are made in one bowl and with only 4 ingredients. Sweetened with maple syrup and made without eggs or butter! Vegan + gluten-free.
While I love my healthy peanut butter blossoms, I’ve been wanting to create a classic peanut butter cookie recipe and here they are!
And guess what? You only need FOUR ingredients to make these… no butter, no eggs and no traditional flour! I know it doesn’t seem right… but it is correct and these cookies are simply delicious!
In years past, I have always loved getting together with my family and friends for cookie baking and cookie exchanges! This year looks different, but I’m still determined to get creative and connect. I see Zoom or FaceTime baking days in my future… with ugly holiday sweaters, holiday music, the whole shebang.
This recipe would be perfect to make while Zoom-ing with a loved one – just gather the ingredients, mix and bake!
Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients
Like I mentioned above, you only need four simple ingredients (five if you decide to add the salt). If you’re like me you probably have all of the ingredients to make these cookies sitting in your kitchen right now!
creamy natural peanut butter – look for a brand with just one or two ingredients (peanuts and salt).
maple syrup – make sure to get pure maple syrup, not the artificial pancake syrup.
flaked sea salt – optional but I like sprinkling on top for added flavor.
Substitutions & Notes
Almond flour – I highly recommend using almond flour for this recipe for the best result, but I have tested it with oat flour and the cookies will still turn out, but they are a bit more dry tasting because oat flour has less fat than almond flour.
Peanut butter – I’m assuming you can swap with any nut or seed butter, but I’ve only tested the recipe with natural peanut butter and almond butter, which is also delicious!
Maple syrup – You can totally use another liquid sweetener like coconut nectar or honey. I’ve tested these with honey and they were yummy, but I personally like the flavor of maple syrup better.
How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies
Because we’re not using eggs, butter or traditional flour, these cookies can be made in one bowl. Woo-hoo for less dishes! Here’s how to make them:
Mix wet ingredients – Add peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla into a mixing bowl. Stir until combined.
Add dry ingredients – Add the almond flour to the wet ingredients and stir until incorporated.
Shape cookies – Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten each dough ball with a fork, making a criss cross pattern and sprinkle with sea salt if using.
Bake – Bake at 350ºF for 12 minutes or until the cookies begin to brown. Let cookies cool on a wire rack and enjoy!
These delicious and healthy peanut butter cookies are made in one bowl and with only 4 ingredients. Sweetened with maple syrup and made without eggs or butter!
I made these exactly as instructed, and set the timer for 10 minutes. They were thoroughly burnt-and I know my oven is accurate. Sorry, but these are going in the trash!
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that, Marian. I haven’t had an issue with them burning before but I’ll test them again to make sure. Thanks for sharing your experience and sorry they didn’t work out.
Oh no! I’m not sure, Kelly. I haven’t had that issue before but I did use parchment paper as opposed to a silicone mat. Did you change anything else about the recipe?
I have been very conscious lately about what ingredients I feed to my family, especially my toddler. She kept asking for cookies so I looked up a clean recipe. I found these and it’s safe to say it’s a family favorite now! So easy, very clean ingredients, and quick! Thank you for this recipe!
Yay! I am so happy to hear this, Kelsie! I’m glad your family is loving these cookies and that you feel good about them, it’s the best kind of review! 🙂
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These taste like peanut butter shortbread cookies-fantastic!
Yay! So glad you’re loving these cookies, Tara. Thanks so much for leaving a review, I appreciate it so very much!
These were really great! I added a BUNCH of salt to the top and it made them 10 times more tasty! 12 minute baking time worked perfectly in my oven.
Yum! I love adding salt to cookies! So glad you enjoyed these, Becky. Thanks for sharing your review.
I made these exactly as instructed, and set the timer for 10 minutes. They were thoroughly burnt-and I know my oven is accurate. Sorry, but these are going in the trash!
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that, Marian. I haven’t had an issue with them burning before but I’ll test them again to make sure. Thanks for sharing your experience and sorry they didn’t work out.
So I put the cookies on a silicone baking mat on a pan, and the bottoms burned after 8 minutes 😞 Is it the mat that caused it?
Oh no! I’m not sure, Kelly. I haven’t had that issue before but I did use parchment paper as opposed to a silicone mat. Did you change anything else about the recipe?
I have been very conscious lately about what ingredients I feed to my family, especially my toddler. She kept asking for cookies so I looked up a clean recipe. I found these and it’s safe to say it’s a family favorite now! So easy, very clean ingredients, and quick! Thank you for this recipe!
Yay! I am so happy to hear this, Kelsie! I’m glad your family is loving these cookies and that you feel good about them, it’s the best kind of review! 🙂