Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

Peanut butter cookies are crumbly, chewy cookies full of peanut butter flavor that typically feature a criss-cross pattern of fork marks on top. You can make peanut butter cookies with creamy peanut butter or with crunchy peanut butter for more texture. You can also swap the peanut butter for another nut butter, like almond butter. Traditional peanut butter cookie recipes include butter, but you can make the cookies vegan by using vegan butter, coconut oil, or non-dairy milk instead.

Follow these easy steps to make homemade vegan peanut butter cookies:

1. 1. Make the dough. Because vegan peanut butter cookies skip the butter in traditional peanut butter cookies, the dough is much stiffer. Using a stand mixer or electric mixer will make this process much easier. Adding vegan butter, coconut oil, or non-dairy milk adds some moisture to the dough so it won’t become crumbly.
2. 2. Roll the cookies. While non-vegan peanut butter cookie dough is typically chilled before rolling, vegan peanut butter cookie dough is firm enough to roll at room temperature without the wait. Roll cookies into two-tablespoon size balls, roll them in granulated sugar, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Vegan peanut butter cookies don’t spread much at all, so you don’t need to be too careful with the spacing.
3. 3. Press the cookies. Peanut butter cookies do not spread much on their own, so you have to press them on the baking sheet before baking. Use a fork to press the cookies to give them the traditional crosshatch look.
4. 4. Bake the cookies. Make sure to pull the cookies out of the oven when the edges just barely start to brown to ensure soft baked cookies. Because vegan peanut butter cookies have a high fat and sugar-to-flour ratio, they get very brittle, crispy, and crumbly if overbaked.

Vegan peanut butter cookies are relatively simple to make, but there are a few tips you should follow to make the best vegan peanut butter cookies you can:

1. 1. Make them gluten free. Swap all-purpose flour for a gluten-free blend, almond flour, or oat flour to make these cookies gluten-free.
2. 2. Use other nut butters. You can replace peanut butter with almond butter, cashew butter, or any other nut butter at a one-to-one ratio. You can also add mix-ins like vegan chocolate chips.
3. 3. Make-ahead for easy baking. You can freeze your raw vegan cookie dough in a freezer-proof bag for up to two months before you bake it. Form and press cookies, then freeze them for one hour on a baking sheet to set. Then store them in a sealed bag or airtight container in the freezer until ready to use. When you’re ready for your cookies, bake directly from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the cook time.
4. 4. Use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer. The cookie dough for these vegan peanut butter cookies gets very stiff as you mix it. While it’s possible to mix it by hand, you will have a lot more success and a much easier time using an appliance.