Delicately crisp and impossibly tender, these Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies will exceed your expectations. The ultimate cookie for peanut butter lovers, you would never guess they're made with almond flour. But they are, and that means they're gluten free.
Cooking with peanut butter is just fun. It takes you back to fond childhood memories of warm cookies straight from the oven. Particularly the classic, sugar-coated ones with the crisscrossed pattern. They're hard not to love.
Ingredients You Need to Make Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
- Blanched Almond Flour: Superfine, not almond meal.
- Baking Soda
- Kosher Salt
- Granulated Sugar: Regular or superfine.
- Brown Sugar: Light or dark.
- Butter: If you use unsalted butter, add an additional ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
- Peanut Butter: Crunchy or creamy peanut butter. (I used crunchy.)
- Egg: Large or Extra-Large.
- Vanilla Extract: Ideally pure vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla.
Reminiscent of a very tender shortbread, these Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies have the lovely texture you'd expect. Use your favorite natural peanut butter, chunky or smooth. These cookies will end up delicious either way.
Almond flour cookies can be tricky, but not these. You need just 9 everyday ingredients and 15 minutes to make this exceptionally forgiving dough. Form and bake your cookies immediately, or refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days. Or store in the freezer for 3 months for convenient, impromptu baking.
Dough Freezing Tips
To freeze the dough: scoop dough into balls and arrange side by side in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and freeze. Once frozen, transfer dough balls to a freezer bag. (Mark the temperature and time on the bag for quick reference.) When you're ready to bake them, let the dough balls thaw on a parchment lined baking sheet at room temperature for 15-20 minutes while the oven preheats. Or thaw frozen dough balls covered in the refrigerator overnight. Flatten in a crisscross pattern with a sugar dipped fork and they’re ready for the oven.
Once these cookies are baked, they'll hold up well for at least 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature (they also freeze beautifully for several months). They're the kind of comforting cookies that make a great housewarming gift or a welcome greeting for guests (as are my Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies). Either way, you'll get to enjoy the aroma as they bake.
Recipe Options:
- Add ½ cup chocolate chips for that timeless peanut butter / chocolate flavor combination.
- Use an alternate sweetener like coconut sugar for the brown sugar.
- Swap in almond butter for all or half of the peanut butter.
More Gluten Free Recipes to Try
- Almond Flour Oatmeal Cookies
- Almond Flour Sugar Cookies
- Almond Flour Brownies
- Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oat Flour Pancakes
- Almond Flour Pumpkin Bread
- Almond Flour Muffins
- Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
- Almond Flour Crackers
How to Make Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
Step 1: In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add peanut butter and mix until smooth.
Step 2: Add whisked dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix until well combined. Scoop dough out 2-tablespoon balls onto parchment lined baking sheet, placing balls 2-inches apart. With sugar dipped fork, flatten each ball in a crisscross pattern to about ½-inch thickness. Bake 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.
Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour 280g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt or ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar plus more for dipping fork, optional
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup butter 114g, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup peanut butter 264g, smooth or crunchy
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together sugars and butter at medium speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add peanut butter and mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, taking care not to over-mix.
- Pour a few tablespoons of granulated sugar into a small, wide bowl. Scoop dough out 2-tablespoon balls (this cookie scoop is ideal) and place on prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each ball. Dip fork into sugar and flatten each cookie ball in a criss-cross pattern to about ½ inch thick.
- Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack and let cool for a few minutes before carefully transferring cookies directly to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
Notes
- You can refrigerate dough for up to 3 days before baking. Or freeze pre-scooped dough balls for up to 3 months (freeze on a covered, parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer before transferring to freezer safe bag or container). Thaw dough balls in refrigerator or for about 30 minutes at room temperature before flattening with sugar coated fork and baking.
- Note that baking time is per batch.
Excellent! I made large cookies, so baked mine one minute longer, then let them cool completely before removing them from the parchment paper. These beat the ubiquitous 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies, hands down.
This is so great to hear, Dru! Thank you for coming back to let me know.
It is not often that I look at a recipe and have all the ingredients but I do today. You mentioned "almond flour cookies can be tricky", any thing in particular I need to look out for?
I'm so excited for you to try these, Karen! My main recommendation is to weigh your ingredients with almond flour recipes. I find that a little bit of moisture, too much or too little, sways the results more than in traditional flour recipes.
So I assumed wrongly that these cookies are chewy (thanks to almond flour), but I love "crisp and impossibly tender" cookies too. These look seriously delicious. Also, this makes me thinking that the recipe could be turned into some kind of no-baked cookies, too.
ooh that is a great idea, Ben. Thank you!
Ah, you're killin' it with the delicious almond flour cookies lately, Marissa! A good peanut butter cookie takes me back to childhood for sure - I used to love those! I haven't made them in ages, though. I think it's time! Plus, you've got me really intrigued with the almond flour here. I suspect a batch of these will be showing up in our kitchen very soon!
aww, thank you, David! I hope you'll give these a try!
Too dangerous to keep these around me! Peanut butter is a trigger food for me...once open, I would eat the whole darn jar! These look really delicate and wonderful, Marissa.
haha, I hear you, Angie! Thanks so much.