Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
The perfect vegan peanut butter cookies! These cookies are sweet and salty, chewy, and unbelievably good. They are made in under 30 minutes for a delicious sweet treat. Beware, they are highly addictive.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my privacy policy.
This post was originally published on November 02, 2016.
It’s cookie time on My Darling Vegan!
Since the new year, I haven’t shared any new cookie recipes on the blog. Perhaps this is because when it comes to cookies, I have no self control. Yes, cookies are my weakness. But in light of the past few weeks and the overwhelming stress of living through a global pandemic while balancing the daily stresses of managing restless kids while making time for work, I decided I needed a few more guilty pleasures around here.
We need more cookies!
And I’ve got the perfect cookie for the job. If you’re like me and think that chewy peanut butter cookies are the best thing ever, then you’re going to love this recipe. Soft, sweet, with a little bit of crunch, and the perfect chewy texture, these peanut butter cookies are a lifesaver. But beware, once you bite into one of these incredible cookies, you’re going to have a very hard time stopping.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
How to Make Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Soft, sweet, with a little bit of crunch, and the perfect chewy texture, these peanut butter cookies might be the best you’ve ever had. But beware, once you bite into one of these incredible cookies, you’re going to have a very hard time stopping.
The great news is they are no harder to make than any of my other cookies. Let’s take a closer look.
Step One – Make the Cookie Dough
To begin, mix together the dry ingredients. That’s the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk them together and set aside.
In a stand-up mixer, whip the sugar and butter until they are light and fluffy. Next, add the applesauce and vanilla extract. The applesauce acts as the binder for these cookies. You can’t taste the applesauce but if you would prefer a different kind of egg replacer, check out my complete guide on replacing eggs to get a few more ideas. Once these are added, the dough will start to look curdled. Don’t worry about this. When the dry ingredients are added, the dough will sort itself out.
Finally, add the dry ingredients until they are just combined. Be careful not to overmix or the dough will become gummy and dense.
Step Two – Bake the Cookies
I prefer using a small cookie scoop for this part. With a cookie scoop, you can get evenly measured cookies with minimal mess. Scoop the cookies onto the tray, about a dozen per tray, and press down slightly by creating a criss-cross pattern with your fork. See the picture above.
Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven when the edges have just started to set and the centers are still slightly underdone. This is key for the chewiness of these vegan cookies. Once they have cooled for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, they can be transferred to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
That’s it! So easy.
How to Create the Perfect Texture
I’m pretty picky about the texture of my cookies. Almost always I’ll go for a soft and chewy cookie. But if you love your cookies cakey or crispy, here are some small adjustments you can make to change the texture of your cookies.
Cakey Texture
This requires a dry dough that will rise in the oven and spread minimally.
- Use pre-chilled ingredients (vegan butter, non-dairy milk, etc.)
- Chill dough before baking
- Use baking powder instead of baking soda
- Increase the flour slightly
- Use white sugar
Chewy Texture
This requires a softer dough baked at a higher temperature.
- Chill the dough before baking
- Use high-protein flour like bread flour
- Add extra liquid or reduce the flour
- Use all brown sugar
- Remove from oven when slightly underdone
Crispy Texture
This requires a softer dough that will spread out before setting up.
- Use room temperature butter
- Bake at a lower temperature (325-350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Use brown sugar
- Add a little bit of liquid to the dough
- Bake all the way through
Tips and Tricks
These vegan peanut butter cookies are fairly straight forward. In fact, they are nearly fool-proof. However, here are a few things to keep in mind when making these cookies.
- Do not overmix the dough. Overmixing encourages the gluten to develop making your cookies gummy and dense.
- After you add the applesauce and vanilla extract, your dough may start to look curdled. Fear not! This is normal. Once you add the dry ingredients, the dough will sort itself out again.
- Pull cookies out when they are slightly underdone. I found 10 minutes to be the perfect baking time. They will continue to harden as they cool, giving you a crispy outside with a deliciously chewy center.
- Once cookies are completely cool, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Raw dough can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
- If you only want to make only a few at a time, you can store the remaining dough in the freezer. To do this, roll all the dough into balls. Place them on a baking sheet in the freezer to freeze all the way through. Once frozen, transfer your cookie dough into a large ziplock bag and return to the freezer. You can store the cookies this way for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to bake, remove from freezer and bake!
MORE VEGAN COOKIE RECIPES
If you know anything about me, then you know I love my cookies. Here are a few of my favorite vegan cookie recipes:
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Ginger Molasses Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chewy Cookies
There you have it! Beautiful, chewy vegan peanut butter cookies. Let’s take a look at the recipe card below.
The perfect vegan peanut butter cookie! These cookies are sweet and salty, chewy, and unbelievably good. They are made in under 30 minutes for a delicious sweet treat. Beware, they are highly addictive.
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories: 124 kcal
Author: Sarah McMinn
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
In a stand up mixer, cream together vegan butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add vanilla extract and applesauce.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. With the mixer running on the lowest setting, slowly add in the flour mixture until dough is uniformly mixed. Be careful not to over mix. Cover and chill dough for one hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. With a fork, gently flatten cookies in a criss-cross pattern.
Bake for 10 minutes until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for an additional 10 minutes. Transfer to wire cooling racks and let cookies cool completely.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Raw dough can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
- If you only want to make only a few at a time, you can store the remaining dough in the freezer. To do this, roll all the dough into balls. Place them on a baking sheet in the freezer to freeze all the way through. Once frozen, transfer your cookie dough into a large ziplock bag and return to the freezer. You can store the cookies this way for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to bake, remove from freezer and bake!
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the 