These delicious gluten-free, oil-free, Vegan Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies are perfect for sharing, so make a double batch!
Sometimes you just need a little sweet treat. At least, I do. One of the best things that happened to me when I lost that extra 30 lbs (that I had carried around my entire adult life) by eating a whole-food, plant-based, oil-free diet is that now I can occasionally indulge in a little high fat, high-calorie food without gaining any weight. Yep! My metabolism became extremely efficient and it is easy to maintain my weight. It still blows my mind.
These cookies are easy to make and they are chewy and delicious. They freeze well, too. I’ve been known to eat them frozen…heh! Don’t judge.
Get all your ingredients out and measure them. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
You can see the brands that I used for most things in the picture above, in case you need to know.
Isn’t that the cutest bag clip?? His little tongue is the part that wraps around the bag and secures it by going through his mouth.
Okay, let’s get to it.
Mix the peanut butter with the sugar and applesauce. Add the vanilla. You can use a stand mixer for this or get a good arm workout and do it by hand. I prefer doing it by hand.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and start mixing. You will have to fold and press it in until all the flour is incorporated. It will be a thick dough.
Add the chocolate chips (unless you just want to make peanut butter cookies?) and fold and press them in until you have them dispersed fairly evenly through the dough.
Scoop onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. I used a medium scoop which is about 1.5″ and holds about a tablespoon…maybe a rounded tablespoon.
You can flatten these with the bottom of a drinking glass, or your hand or whatever you can find. Or you can leave them rounded. For classic peanut butter cookies, you can flatten them with a fork as I did in the picture.
Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. I find that 8 minutes works perfectly in my oven.
Remove from the oven and set the baking sheet on cooling rack for about 5 minutes before transferring cookies to the rack. They are tender until they cool off, so use a thin, sturdy spatula and a gentle hand. If you need to steal one before they are cool (and who doesn’t?) make sure you hold a napkin or something under the cookie on the way to your mouth because it will likely break and ooze melting chocolate. Not that I know this from personal experience.
- 1 cup peanut butter, room temperature use peanut butter with no added ingredients. Only peanuts (and salt if you aren't avoiding)
- 2/3 cup sugar I've had success with white, brown and coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup flour I use gluten-free, but I'm sure any type will work
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- A pinch of salt optional
- 2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips I have used chocolate chunks, minis and regular...all good!
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Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Mix the peanut butter, sugar, and applesauce. Add vanilla and mix well.
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Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt (if using).
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Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix and fold and press together until all dry ingredients are incorporated.
It will be a stiff dough.
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Add chocolate chips and press and mix them into the dough until they are fairly evenly dispersed.
Some will fall out of the dough but you can scoop them up with the cookie scoop as you scoop them onto the baking sheets. Or eat them.
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Scoop and press the dough into the cookie scoop until packed firmly. Deposit onto the baking sheet. These don't spread much, so you can put them fairly close together. See my blog post for pictures.
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If you want to flatten them, use a flat bottomed drinking glass. If the dough sticks justs slip a flat spatula in between dough and glass to separate.
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Bake for 8-9 minutes. They will be very soft, but turning golden.
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Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes before transferring cookies to the rack.
Use a thin, sturdy spatula and a gentle hand to transfer them. They will be tender until they are completely cool.
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Store in an airtight container. If they aren't all devoured in a day, they'll keep at room temperature for several days. I like to freeze them. They only take a short time to thaw...but they are excellent frozen too.
Freeze in an airtight container with parchment separating the layers, if stacking.
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