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These Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies are just the right bite to hit the spot when you’re craving something sweet! They’re loaded with lots of nutritious ingredients that also come together to create that idyllic chewy, creamy and lightly sweet glutne free peanut butter cookie that really satisfies.
If you loved my 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies, this gluten-free PB cookie recipe is for you! Perfect for snacking, dunking in hot chocolate or tea, or gifting to your gluten-free sensitive friends or family during the holidays. An easy treat that everyone can try and feel great about sharing. Top with flaky salt or a drizzle of chocolate to make them stand out.
“The GF PB cookie recipe is absolutely amazing! Made them yesterday… they were DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing such great recipes!: – Hunter
Recipe at a glance
Cuisine Inspiration: American
Primary Cooking Method: Baked
Dietary Info: Gluten Free
Key Flavor: Peanut Butter
Skill Level: Easy
Summary
- Perfectly Peanutty: These peanut butter cookies are packed with a rich nutty flavor that’s perfect for peanut butter lovers.
- Soft and Chewy: The texture of these gluten-free PB cookies are soft and chewy with a slight crispiness on the edges.
- Healthy Twist: Gluten free peanut butter cookies offer a healthier twist by using oat flour and no dairy making them perfect for a gluten free or vegan diet.
- Quick and Easy: Whip up a batch in a few simple steps and only 8 minutes in the oven!
Ingredients to make gluten free peanut butter cookies
- Peanut butter: Though you can experiment with other nut butters, to get the right consistency and that unmatchable flavor, go with your favorite, smooth peanut butter. If you’re using natural peanut butter, give it a very thorough stir to ensure you get the right amount of natural oils along with the pasty butter. It’s also really easy to make your own peanut butter!
- Cane sugar & brown sugar: The combination of the two adds sweetness to the recipe, but also adds structure. You can play around with the measurements to use more or less of each.
- Applesauce: Adds sweetness, but is also one form of leavening in this recipe. Opt for the unsweetened kind since we’re already adding sugar to the cookie dough.
- Oat flour: This is basically rolled oats or old fashioned oats blended in a blender until it looks like flour. It’s a great gluten-free flour option to use and adds nutritional benefits to the peanut butter cookies.
- Vanilla extract and salt: Both add flavor to the cookies.
- Baking soda: This helps the cookies rise, although they won’t spread too much.
Popular substitutions & additions
- More nuttiness: Using chunky peanut butter or adding chopped toasted peanuts to your cookie dough just enhances the peanut butter flavor even more.
- Chocolate: Consider adding chocolate chips or chunks for a classic peanut butter and chocolate combination that so many people love.
- Spice it up!: Even cookies can take some spice. Add warm spices like cinnamon, clove, or nutmeg to give these peanut butter cookies a seasonal and cozy twist.
- Dried Fruits or Coconut: For a tropical touch and extra chewiness, dried fruits like raisins, cranberries, or cherries and coconut flakes will add depth, flavor, and even more chew to this cookie.
How to make gluten free peanut butter cookies
The recipe is a very basic cookie recipe where you mix the wet ingredient in one bowl, the dry in another and combine everything together.
You don’t need any special equipment. However, since peanut butter is pretty tough to mix by hand, I would recommend using a hand mixer if you have one to blend together the peanut butter, cane sugar, brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract. Mix the dry ingredients together in another bowl and then mix the two bowls together.
Form balls out of the dough, place on parchment and flatten slightly. Then, it’s baking time!
“Truly a great balance of sweet, salty and delicious. I want more of these cookies everyday.” – Anastasia
Tips for making the best gluten free peanut butter cookies
- Make your own oat flour by grinding the oats in a blender. There’s no need to buy oat flour, as it’s cheaper and very convenient to make it at home if you have a blender.
- Work with a hand mixer to combine the wet ingredients. While it’s not necessary, it really helps to ensure that it is well incorporated. You can mix it by hand but it will take longer.
- Use a small cookie scoop to form the cookie dough balls. It’s much quicker and easier than rolling them by hand. It’s also a great way to ensure that the cookies are all the same size and shape. You can also use an ice cream scooper if you’d like!
- Avoid using natural peanut butter for these cookies. While I’m always a fan of unsweetened and natural peanut butter, as it can cause the cookies to spread more and have a crispier texture in this recipe. If you do use natural peanut butter, you may want to add a little more salt to the dough.
How to store gluten free peanut butter cookies
Once cooled, peanut butter cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If you want to enjoy them warm as if freshly baked, just pop a cookie in the microwave for a few seconds until it’s just heated through.
How long will gluten free peanut butter cookies last in the fridge?
These cookies can be stored at room temperature for about a week. However, if you want them to last a bit longer, you can store them in the fridge. In the fridge, these cookies will stay fresh for up to 2 weeks.
Can I freeze oat flour peanut butter cookies?
Yes, you certainly can! Once the cookies are completely cooled, put them in a freezer-safe bag or container. They can be frozen for up to 3 months. To enjoy, simply thaw them at room temperature or heat them gently in the microwave.
Frequently asked questions
These cookies are not just gluten free, but they are vegan too. I substituted the eggs in this recipe with applesauce, which helps to bind the dough together and keeps the cookies wonderfully moist.
These gluten free cookies only take around 8 minutes to bake, so be sure to keep your eye on them. The cookies should be cooked until they are firm and the edges are light brown in color. The peanut butter make the cookies brown in color, so you may need to quickly take them out of the oven to check the edges.
To make these peanut butter cookies grain free, I substituted all purpose flour for oat flour. I haven’t made these cookies another alternative flour, but I would guess that you could use almond flour in the place of oat flour if that’s what you have.
More peanut butter recipes:
- 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
- Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Bread
- Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
When you’re craving cookies or a dessert that can be easily portioned, these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies are a dream come true. Packed with fantastic flavor, they are a great balance of sweet, salty and delicious. It doesn’t hurt that they are also high fiber, protein and incredibly nutrient dense, too.
If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!
This Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookie recipe was originally published on October 14, 2016. I’m re-sharing it today with update photos.
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- sea salt
Instructions
- Blend peanut butter with cane sugar, brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract with a hand mixer until well-mixed
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients (oat flour, baking soda, and salt).
- Mix peanut butter mixture with the dry ingredients and form cookie balls. Place on parchment paper and flatten using a fork
- Bake at 350F for 8 minutes or until they turn golden. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from tray.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Hi! If I wanted to use eggs instead of applesauce for this recipe, how many would I use?
I would use one egg in place of the 1/4 cup of applesauce.
What type of brown sugar did you use and what size cookie scoop. Also in the video, the brown sugar didn’t look like one tablespoon.
I used light brown sugar and it should be about 1 tablespoon. It’s possible two was used in the video, but I filmed it a while ago. The cookie scoop is a 1.5 tablespoon one.
The GF PB cookie recipe is absolutely amazing! Made them yesterday… they were DELICIOUS! Thank you for sharing such great recipes!
Aww thank you so much!! So glad to hear it! 🙂
Nevermind. I just read the info before the recipe and see that pulverized oats is what you are using.
Can I pulverize old fashion oats for the oat flour? I know it will be a little more coarse. Will I need to adjust the amount?
Truly a great balance of sweet, salty and delicious.
I want more of these cookies everyday.