These vegan peanut butter cookies are soft, buttery, and delightfully melt in your mouth. Packed full of natural peanut butter and coming together using pantry staples in just one bowl, these cookies are the perfect treat for the peanut butter lover and are easy enough for the beginner baker.
This is one of the easiest and most delicious cookie recipes that I’ve published. If you love peanut butter that is, because these cookies are packed full of peanut butter flavour.
You know that soft, sticky peanut butter texture that kind of sticks to the roof of your mouth that you get when you eat it with a spoon straight from the jar? Well it’s that, sweetened a little and baked into a melt-in-your mouth, buttery cookie.
Just writing this is making me hungry and I just ate one (ok it was two…).
There are a thousand, probably more to be honest, peanut butter cookie recipes on the internet, so what makes this one the one that you should make? Well, peanut butter cookies can often be dry, crumbly, and frankly just lacking flavour.
These cookies on the other hand are soft, tender yes but melty not dry and brittle. And most importantly they taste like peanut butter. Can you tell yet how much I love them?
This recipe is also made vegan, meaning we have no eggs or dairy in the recipe which is great if you’re looking for a recipe to cater for special diets, but also makes it a great pantry staples recipe. You can also switch the flour to a gluten free plain flour and make them suitable for gluten free diets.
This is a one bowl, no chilling required, easy and delicious recipe. If you want to bake but don’t want to get into a whole thing that will take hours and destroy the kitchen, then this is undoubtedly the recipe for you.
Key Ingredients
This peanut butter cookie recipe uses simple pantry ingredients that you may already have on hand!
Note all ingredients and their quantities are laid out in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Dairy free butter – for best results you want a good quality vegan butter alternative. I always use Nuttelex Buttery which is an Australian product but I believe the closest US alternative is Earth Balance.
- White sugar – not only adds sweetness but helps the cookies spread a little while baking.
- Brown sugar – these cookies should be soft and chewy which is the texture the brown sugar creates as well as adding a hint of caramel that enhances the peanut butter flavour.
- Vanilla extract – a good amount of vanilla extract adds so much flavour and ensures these cookies are not bland.
- Peanut butter – these cookies work best using a 100% natural peanut butter that doesn’t contain any sugar or extras (you’re looking for just peanuts and salt). I’m currently obsessed with Mayver’s which is 100% Australian.
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour in the US, you can also substitute with a 1-1 gluten free flour blend.
- Baking powder – gives our cookies a little puff in the oven and helps create lightness and spreading.
Step-By-Step Instructions
To make these easy peanut butter cookies, you’ll need a few of the usual baking tools. A large mixing bowl, a spatula, a cookie scoop if possible and an electric mixer. I recently got a Kitchenaid cordless handheld mixer and while maybe a little unnecessary, it’s amazingly convenient!
You’ll start by mixing together the vegan butter with the white and brown sugar in your large mixing bowl using your electric mixer. Once it’s nice and creamy, you can add in the vanilla and the peanut butter.
As we’re using natural peanut butter, you’ll need to give it a very good stir in the jar first as the oil will have separated and be sitting on the top which is perfectly normal.
Once your mixture is creamy, add in the flour and baking powder and switch to your spatula. Mix through until just combined and a soft dough has formed.
Using your cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out balls of dough and roll between your hands and place on a prepared baking tray. Using a fork dipped in extra flour, gently press each ball down slightly, leaving an indentation. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies have slightly spread and are firm on top. They will still be very soft and look underbaked when you remove them from the oven which is ok! They will continue to cook as you let them cool on the baking tray for an additional 10 minutes.
Once they are firm, you can remove them from the tray and let them cool completely on a wire rack before storing them in an airtight container. You can also sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little salt for extra flavour.
Recipe FAQs
These cookies will keep in an airtight container on the kitchen bench for 3-5 days depending on how warm it is. To extend the life of the cookies a little longer you can keep them in the fridge.
If you want to freeze them, you can place them in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap in the freezer for up to 2 months. When ready to eat, let them thaw on the kitchen bench.
Unlike most cookie doughs where chilling is recommended, it is not needed for this recipe as the dough holds together and doesn’t spread much while baking.
If the temperature is particularly warm in your kitchen and you find the dough a bit too sticky, you may find chilling the dough for 30 minutes helpful. In summer I always bake with the air conditioning on which helps ensure my ‘room temperature’ is controlled and not overly hot as I live in Queensland.
If you do want to make the dough ahead of time, you can absolutely store it in the fridge until you’re ready but make sure to let it come back to room temperature before baking.
If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with @eightforestlane as I would love to see.
More vegan cookie recipes:
ANZAC Biscuits
Melting Moments
Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Homemade Tim Tams (Vegan)
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (125 grams) vegan butter
- ½ cup white sugar/granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 cup plain flour/all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the vegan butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy.
- Add in the vanilla extract and natural peanut butter and continue to mix. Make sure to give the natural peanut butter a good stir in the jar before adding it, as the oil might have separated.
- Once the mixture is creamy, incorporate the plain flour and baking powder using a spatula until just combined, forming a soft dough.
- Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out portions of dough and roll them between your hands. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking tray.
- With a fork dipped in extra flour, gently press each dough ball down slightly, leaving an indentation on the top. Repeat this process until all the dough has been used.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies have slightly spread and are firm on top. Note that the cookies may appear underbaked, but they will continue to cook as they cool.
- Once out of the oven, let the cookies cool on the baking tray for an additional 10 minutes to firm up. Then, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Optionally, sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little salt for extra flavour.
- Once completely cooled, you can store the vegan peanut butter cookies in an airtight container to maintain their freshness for up to 3-5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
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