Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

Crunchy peanut butter cookies that are easy and delicious!

Ah, the traditional, crispy peanut butter cookie!

These cookies made many an appearance in our biscuit tin over Christmas and holiday times for me as a child, and I will always have a fondness for them.

Some cookies, like chocolate chip cookies, I like to make with a slight softness to them, a chewiness that lends itself to the chocolate chips and is reminiscent of a firm brownie. Not these though. Nope, not at all!

How I know a proper peanut butter cookie to be is crispy and crunchy and peanut-buttery, and that is what I was aiming for when veganizing this recipe. If these were soft, they would make me think they may be stale. It might be a South African thing, as we are not so used to soft cookies, but most cookies just must be crisp.

We actually call them biscuits here in South Africa, as well as in the UK, but let me not confuse them with the American biscuit, which is more akin to what Brits and South African’s call a scone. ‘Cookie’ seems to be a generic enough term and so that is what I am using.

I have only made these with Flora vegan margarine, but I have a feeling that any or most vegan butters would work, as well as Canola vegan margarine. I have yet to try it with coconut oil as a substitute for the margarine, but that is what I will be trying next (once we have got through eating all my previous experiments!). 🐷🐷

A variation I did try, and can highly recommend if you are a chocolate lover like me, is to drizzle these with melted chocolate once cooked and cooled. It adds another dimension (who doesn’t like chocolate and peanut butter?) and it makes it look more festive and luxurious.

If you are partial to the heavenly peanut butter and chocolate combo, you must give this recipe a try: peanut butter chocolate eggs.

You could also sprinkle chopped peanuts over the top before baking, or even multi-coloured sprinkles if you are making these for youngsters (just read the ingredients as I have found a lot of vermicelli and sprinkles contain hidden animal products).

Another thing I want to try is adding chocolate chips to the dough, but have not tried it as yet.

Most importantly, have fun making and eating these! They are simple and easy to whip up, they don’t call for fancy ingredients, but are incredibly satisfying to eat, and would also make great gifts. Alternatively, take a plate to your next social gathering (who are we kidding, no one is going anywhere right now during lockdown, but we can hone our baking skills for when the time comes that we can gather socially, right? You are going to be everyones bestie when you bring things like this!).

An added bonus is that these freeze well, so make a double batch and freeze half for when the cookie monster strikes, or when, at some stage of relative normalcy in the future you are invited to an impromptu get-together – just take some out and let them thaw at room temperature.

Crispy, crunchy, sweet, peanutty, and vegan cookies – get into that kitchen and give these a try!

More chocolatey recipes to explore:

• Simple and rich vegan chocolate cake.
• Peanut butter chocolate eggs.
• Vegan salted caramel chocolates.
• Vegan wacky chocolate cake – quick and simple!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Catherine Stevenson Course: SweetsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

18

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Crispy, crunchy peanut butter cookies that are the quintessential addition to any cookie jar!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Flora vegan margarine

• 2/3 cup peanut butter *see notes

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 Tbs plant milk, if needed

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 180C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment/baking paper and grease.
• Place the margarine, sugar and peanut butter into a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until creamy, about 1-2 minutes.
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the peanut butter mixture, and bring the dough together with a spoon.
• If the mixture seems a bit dry or crumbly add the tablespoon of milk and mix until fully combined, taking care not to overwork.
• Take tablespoon amounts and roll them into balls. Place them on the baking trays and flatten with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern on top of the cookie. Dip the fork tines into flour to prevent it sticking to the dough.
• Bake for between 15-20 minutes, until golden.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Notes

• I have tried these using natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt), as well as sweetened Yum Yum peanut butter (which includes emulsifiers and added oils etc), and they work well with both. I did find that with the natural peanut butter, depending on how naturally oily it is could have a slight effect on the end product.
• I have made these with brown sugar, and although they do still work, brown sugar tends to make them slightly softer and not as crisp as what I wanted for this recipe.
• When I made these with natural peanut butter, I found I needed a tablespoon of plant-based milk to ensure the dough was moist enough. When I made them with regular sweetened peanut butter I did not need to moisten the dough with any milk. Only use the tablespoon of milk if you feel the dough is a tad too dry.