Grain-free Peanut Butter Cookies

A soft center with crispy edges and bursting with peanut butter flavor… there’s not much to not like about these grain-free peanut butter cookies! Super easy to make, uses simple ingredients, could be considered a healthy cookie, have I sold you on making these cookies yet? Peanut butter is my flavor. Chocolate, it’s okay, but peanut butter, anything with peanut butter will float my boat. So it would be quite obvious that I fell in love with these peanut butter cookies after the first bite! Aside from my absolute favorite cookies of all time (gluten-free peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chips cookies), these peanut butter cookies would probably take second place, which is saying something for the recipe!

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Modern Pioneer Recipe

These grain-free peanut butter cookies are a modern pioneer recipe! I don’t know exactly when peanut butter became a household commodity, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t something the trail cooks kept stored in their chuckwagon. I would have loved trying to be an early pioneer, but the lack of peanut butter would have been my sore spot.

With that being said, I think these grain-free peanut butter cookies are a modern pioneer recipe staple! They are perfect for when you want a high-protein, sweet snack or need a little something to satisfy the sweet tooth after dinner. I tried to keep the ingredients as wholesome and simple as I could, which results in a delicious but ‘healthier’ cookie to indulge in!

These peanut butter cookies are allergy-friendly. Obviously they are not peanut free (that would defeat the purpose of a peanut butter cookie), but they do contain anti-inflammatory ingredients and ones that are easier for your body to digest and metabolize. For a cookie, these peanut butter cookies are pretty healthy without sacrificing any taste or texture!

These peanut butter cookies are….

• gluten-free
• grain-free
• dairy-free option
• tree nut free
• no refined sugars
• corn free

Not Just 3 Ingredients

Some of you may be familiar with the classic 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie. Yes, that recipe is also a staple in my house and it consists of organic peanut butter, coconut sugar, and an egg. However, when making these peanut butter cookies, I was striving for something that was still simple but had a little more subsistence to it. I wanted a soft cookie that had a crispy outside, was hardy but not too heavy and had the perfect peanut butter flavor. The inclusion of grain-free flours in this recipe help me achieve the desired cookie texture!

So, despite not being just 3 simple ingredients, these peanut butter cookies are still super easy to make and use simple ingredients! The organic butter in this recipe helps the cookies have crispy edges while the grain-free flours help keep the cookies light and soft on the inside.

I chose a combination of grain-free flours to make these cookies with. The combination of tapioca flour, cassava flour, and coconut flour created the perfect cookie batter. The tapioca flour keeps the batter light. Cassava flour helps balance out the flavor of the coconut flour and adds sustenance to the batter. The coconut flour makes the batter easy to handle without making the cookies taste like coconut.

When it comes to a perfect grain-free peanut butter cookie batter that is easy to work with and simple to make, this peanut butter cookie recipe hits the nail on the head!

Creative Cookies

Not only are these grain-free peanut butter cookies super simple to make, but they also allow for endless creative options! Getting creative with cookies is one of my favorite parts about cookie baking! When making my favorite peanut butter oatmeal cookies, I like to try a variety of add-ins, such as chocolate gems, marshmallows, and chocolate chunks. For the versatile grain-free, egg-free cookies that I like to make, I get creative with that recipe by experimenting with all the different flavors I can turn the recipe into! Chocolate chip, double chocolate, mint chocolate, lemon poopy seed… you name it… that recipe can make it!

But for these peanut butter cookies, I had different ideas! With these grain-free peanut butter cookies, it was all about the looks. I wanted to get creative with how these cookies could look. Of course, we all love the classic peanut butter cookie with the fork prints, and I’m not above staying classic! These peanut butter cookies taste fantastic in the classic peanut butter cookie style, but if you want to add a little variety to your peanut butter cookies, try these fun alternatives!

Creative Cookie Ideas:

• chocolate dipped: Melt some allergy-friendly chocolate chips and spread the chocolate over half of each cookie.
• add-ins: Melting and spreading chocolate chips sound like too much work? Try doing some add-ins right to the batter before making the cookies! I’ve added mini chocolate chips to these cookies and they turned out great! Basically like a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie!
• cougar tracks/bear paws: Instead of fork printing the cookies, flatten them into disks before you bake them. Then use melted chocolate to put different animal tracks on the cookies!
• double-peanut cookies: There can never be too much peanut flavor if you ask me! Try adding in some chopped peanuts to the batter to make a double-peanut peanut butter cookie!
• cookie sandwich: Since I love peanut butter, I also have a soft spot for pb&j sandwiches. Try turning these cookies into a peanut butter and jelly cookie sandwich!

With the endless options for creativity, you will never get tired of these peanut butter cookies!

Storing Tips

While I highly doubt these peanut butter cookies will last too long, I do want to give you a few storage tips in case you are trying to horde some cookies or need to implement some measures to improve your self-control.

Once the cookies have completely cooled, you can transfer them to a storage container. These grain-free peanut butter cookies should be kept in an air-tight container to preserve their freshness and prevent them from drying out. I like to use re-usable glass pryrex dishes or re-usable plastic bins to store my cookies in.

Grain-free peanut butter cookies can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days. In the fridge, they can be kept for 5-7 days. However, my favorite way to store (and eat) these cookies is by putting them in the freezer. I LOVE frozen cookies! Just about any kind of cookie tastes better frozen if you ask me!

Keep in mind that if you chocolate dip the cookies, you will want to wait for the chocolate to harden before moving the cookies to a storage container. Anytime I store cookies, I always put a layer of parchment paper or waxed parchment paper between the cookie layers.

These cookies also make a great travel dessert option! Whether you’re rustic camping, RV camping, staying in a cabin, these cookies make a great high-energy accompaniment to anyone’s travels!

Recipe Tips

No, there aren’t just 3 simple ingredients in these cookies, but more ingredients doesn’t have to make a complicated recipe! These peanut butter cookies are still super easy to make because they use ingredients that are wholesome and handy in the modern pioneer kitchen. Here are some recipe tips to ensure your cookies turn out perfect!

• To make these cookies dairy-free, you can use coconut oil or your favorite butter alternative instead of the butter.
• I have not tried making these cookies egg-free. The eggs really help these cookies hold together, so I’m afraid that omitting the protein and moisture provided by the eggs would affect the end results.
• For flour substitutions, I have not tried any other flour combinations. However, I think you could safely try omitting the cassava flour and doing 50/50 with tapioca flour and coconut flour without too much difficulty.
• Make sure you use organic, all-natural peanut butter with no sugar added to keep these cookies healthy!
• I like to use coconut sugar in most of my recipes because it is a slow-metabolizing sugar that is natural and easier to digest. You can also use maple sugar instead.
• When choosing a baking powder, make sure it doesn’t contain corn starch as an anti-caking agent. I have found Hain Pure Foods baking powder to be a reliable option.

These grain-free peanut butter cookies are super easy to make, contain wholesome ingredients, and are bursting with peanut butter flavor! For peanut butter addicts like me, having a batch of these cookies stashed away in my freezer is perfect for brightening up any day!

Where to Find the Ingredients

• Otto’s Naturals cassava flour
• Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
• Nutiva coconut flour
• Nutiva coconut sugar
• Simple Organic vanilla extract
• Hain Pure Foods baking powder
• Organic peanut butter
• Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips
• Lily’s chocolate chips
• Supplies: parchment paper, cookie baking trays

These grain-free peanut butter cookies are the perfect allergy-friendly, modern pioneer dessert option! They whip up so quickly and there are endless ways to get creative with this recipe! I loved turning my cookies into cougar tracks, but when I’m feeling especially deprived of peanut butter, I like to make the double-peanut peanut butter version! Any way you look at it, these cookies are sure to be a crowd pleaser amongst kids, adults, chocolate lovers, or peanut butter addicts alike!

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by Alexa