There’s hardly anything better than a gluten free peanut butter cookies. I mean, I love peanut butter on all kinds of things, but a great gluten free peanut butter cookie is hard to top.
This amazingly easy, everybody-loves-em gluten free peanut butter cookies recipe is soft and chewy, and a little crispy on the outside — it pretty much checks off all the perfect cookie boxes.
It’s one of those go-to, hurry up and bake recipes that you can always rely on, and of course, for those times when you just NEED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (I’m sure you’ve been there, right?).
Chewy or crunchy, this recipe is for you. A reader asked me just last week if I had a recipe for gluten free peanut butter cookies that actually made soft and chewy cookies. Apparently, she’d used my gfJules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour in several other peoples’ recipes, and the cookies always turned out crunchy.
Good crunchy, but not when you really want chewy. It’s like grabbing a fork when you needed a spoon. Helpful, but not.
My answer? Of course I do! I also have over 460 other delicious gluten free recipes right here on my gfJules site (probably why it’s been voted #1 Gluten Free Blog 5 years in a row).
Just look at the top of the screen and you’ll see a search bar (pictured below). Type in what you’re looking for and voila! The recipes are yours for the taking!
So even if you’re not in the mood for gluten free peanut butter cookies today, you may be in the mood for something else. You’ll probably find a recipe for it here on gfJules.com.
Give the search bar a whirl, or just scroll down on my Recipes Tab for recipe inspiration any time you need it!
Ok, back to the cookies at hand!
In my opinion, there’s not much that peanut butter doesn’t make better (and for you sunflower seed butter fans, this recipe works great with those instead).
Examples: peanut butter with cut apples or pears; PB&J; peanut butter & banana sandwiches; peanut butter on a spoon with vanilla or chocolate ice cream; gluten free peanut butter blondies (instead of brownies); shrimp or tofu sauteed in peanut butter; gluten free peanut butter pie; these gluten free peanut butter cookies; … my husband even likes peanut butter with macaroni and cheese. I kid you not.
But even with all these delicious peanut buttery options, there’s not much that could top these amazing, crowd-pleasing, makes-you-smile gluten free peanut butter cookies. When made with coconut peanut butter or coconut oil, the flavor is over the top! Seriously it is next level.
And the fact that this cookie recipe is so easy means that you’ll want to make these gluten free yummies again and again. Which is a good thing, because they won’t last long.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy peanut butter (beside in peanut butter cookies)? Tell me something new! I just might try it, too!
If you’re in search of a great gluten free peanut butter cookie recipe that’s even faster to make & bake, hop over to my Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe made from my gfJules Gluten Free Cookie Mix. So quick and easy, you’ll wonder why you don’t have a cookie jar full of these delicious cookies at all times!
You can even make these gluten free Peanut Butter Cookies GRAIN FREE with my new Nada Flour! Check out how gorgeous these turned out!
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Gluten Free Peanut Butter cookies made just the way you like them: soft and chewy and emphasis on the peanut butter. No funky tasting flours here. Just delicious peanut butter flavor wrapped up in a perfect cookie!
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut oil or vegetable shortening
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar or unrefined coconut palm sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated cane sugar
- 3 tsp. Ener-G® GF Egg Replacer whisked into 4 Tbs. warm water (OR 2 eggs)
- 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups natural peanut butter, crunchy or creamy (Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter or Earth Balance® Natural Peanut Butter)
- 3 cups (405 grams) gfJules Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour OR 330 grams gfJules Nada Flour*
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup granulated cane sugar for rolling
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Cream together coconut oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the combined egg replacer and vanilla, then stir in the peanut butter until well mixed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together gfJules Flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.
Mix dry mixture into wet mixture, in three separate additions, beating well after each addition. Dough will be thick, but if it's crumbly, stir in water or your favorite milk by the tablespoon to get the dough to hold together into a soft dough so that you can squeeze the dough in your hand and it will form a ball.
Make cookies immediately, or if refrigerating, cover dough well and bring to room temperature before rolling out cookies because coconut oil makes the cookie dough more fragile when cold.
Measure one tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the sugar and place on prepared cookie sheet. Repeat, placing the balls about 1 inch apart.
Gently flatten each cookie using a fork, pressing once across the cookie, then again, making a crisscross pattern.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned. Bake for only 8 minutes if you like your cookies chewy; bake for 10 minutes or even up to 12 minutes if you like them crunchy.
Let the cookies stand 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
Notes
I use Earth Balance natural peanut butter for these gluten free cookies. If the natural peanut butter you're using is particularly oily and thin, you may need to add extra gfJules Flour to balance it out and keep the cookies from becoming too thin, too.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size 2 cookiesAmount Per Serving Calories 197Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 0mgSodium 140mgCarbohydrates 29gFiber 2gSugar 18gProtein 4g
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Can you freeze the dough?
Hi Dorinda, yes! Freezing gluten free cookie dough like this is such a smart thing to do!
~jules
Do you have a recipe using your original cookie mix to make peanut butter cookies?
Hi Lee Ann, I do! I actually have 12 Gluten Free Cookie Recipes using my gfJules Cookie Mix in my Cookie eBook, and one of them is a super easy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe! I’ve linked to it here, but you can also find it in the ebook section of the Shop pages on my site. ENJOY!
~jules
I was in the mood for Peanut Butter cookies and hunted up this recipe a few days ago. Modified by putting a square of a very high cocoa content chocolate bar on top instead of the rolling in sugar and crosshatching with forks. One does have to be careful to let them cool on the cookie sheet before trying to move them, and cool a bit longer on the rack before eating as the chocolate holds in the heat. But they are WONDERFUL. Using your flour, of course. There is a package of your pizza crust mix sitting ready for Friday Night Pizza Night later today. Many thanks.
Hi Jerri that chocolate addition sounds divine!!! One thing that will help with the waiting after baking is to bake on parchment paper because you can lift the whole parchment off of the cookie sheet and transfer to a cooling rack without handling the hot cookies. For next time!
So glad you’re having fun baking and I hope you enjoyed Friday Night Pizza Night, too!!
~jules
I live at high altitude and just made these using coconut oil. I did not adjust the recipe, as the dough was exactly as described by Jules. I did have to bale them for 15 minutes. They came out soft and chewy, and slightly browned . Perfect! 😊
Fantastic! So glad to know they turned out great with coconut oil, even at high altitude! And yes, often altitude will cause things to need to be baked longer, so I’m glad you just kept them in a bit longer. Thanks for coming back to let me know! Happy baking!
~jules
I just made these amazing cookies. I used the vegetable shortening, regular eggs and regular peanut butter. These are the absolute best gf cookies ever. Love your gf flour!
Oh Debbi that makes me so happy to hear! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know! Happy baking!
~julees
Just made 3 dozen of these luscious peanut butter cookies! Used Jules G-F flour, light brown sugar, real egg. Followed the recipe. My husband is not GF, but raved anout them! I placed a few mini chocolate chips on top of the hot cookies. Oh, yum! So tender, like a shortbread. Couldn’t wait to tell you how great these are!!
Oh wow, Marilyn, what a wonderful result! I’m so very happy to hear how much you both loved them! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know!!!
~jules
These were terrible! I followed the directions exactly. The dough was firm and, they were grainy . I know GF flour is not like regular flour but I expected something that was edible. They got dumped into the garbage. Total waste of time.
Hi Mary, if they were grainy, then I’m assuming you used another flour instead of my gfJules Flour? My gfJules Flour isn’t grainy at all, so it would never deliver such results. I appreciate you leaving feedback, but when using other ingredients besides what’s called for in the recipe, it’s disappointing to see a one-star review. I hope you try it again using my gfJules Flour. It’s repeatedly been voted #1 Certified Gluten Free Flour blend because of how well it performs in all kinds of recipes and because it’s NOT grainy. 🙂
~jules
Can you use honey instead of sugar? I love the taste of honey in PB cookies 🙂
Hi Julie, maybe try subbing out a bit of the granulated sugar for honey. Granulated sugar is what creates that nice crispy caramelized edge on cookies, and it changes the body of the dough to just make a 1:1 sub for honey. Let me know what you work out!
~jules
I love peanut butter cookies! Can’t wait to try
Thank you for making these with egg replacer! I’ll have to try them with almond butter!
Yes – yum! I love the flavor of almond butter!
~jules
These do look soft and perfectly like Grandma use to make them!
Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorites! I haven’t experimented with that egg replacer yet but I’ve been wanting to 🙂 These look delicious
These peanut butter cookies look delicious! My mom used to make these all the time, but it’s been years since I’ve had one! Can’t wait to try your recipe.
My wife saw this and made a large batch. Just like Mom used to make 🙂
AWESOME to hear, Craig! There’s nothing like a great peanut butter cookie (or several)!
~jules
Love these cookies! Thank you.
YAY! so glad you loved the recipe, too!
~jules
Love these cookies!
These look perfect! Wish I had a couple right now!
This recipe worked out perfectly for me. I was looking for a nice, chewy GF peanut butter cookie and this fits the bill. The only change I made was, rather than rolling the balls in sugar, I baked as directed, then topped with melted dark chocolate after they had cooled. Yum!
YUM! Love the chocolate addition, Wendy! And so glad you got the chewy peanut butter cookies you were after!
~jules
Can you use regular PB, not natural ??
HI Elle, you can, it will just be sweeter.
~jules