Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

5 from 5 votes
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These Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies are flourless, chewy and oh so delicious with dark chocolate chips and a sprinkle of sea salt.

healthy peanut butter cookies on a plate
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The BEST Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

We’re serious! These healthy peanut butter cookies are seriously the best we’ve ever had. They’re perfectly chewy, flourless, and (of course!) pack that delicious peanut butter flavor we all love.

What Makes These Cookies Healthy?

We’ve made a few simple ingredient swaps from traditional peanut butter cookies

They’re Flourless: These healthy peanut butter cookies are flourless and gluten free thanks to almond flour (which is actually just ground up almonds).

All-Natural Peanut Butter: We’re big fans of using all-natural drippy peanut butter with one ingredient – PEANUTS, and none of those extra fillers you often find in many nut butters. Smucker’s All-Natural is or go-to.

No Granulated Sugar: Instead of using white granulated sugar like many cookies do, we use light brown sugar for these cookies. Feel free to sub 1:1 for coconut sugar if that’s your jam!

Dark Chocolate Chips: While these healthy peanut butter cookies can definitely be made without chocolate chips, we love the taste that dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips give these cookies (instead of milk chocolate chips).

healthy peanut butter cookie ingredients in a bowl

How to Make Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat and Mix Ingredients

First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Next, place all ingredients into a medium bowl and mix until combined. Your dough should be a similar consistency to classic cookie dough.

If it seems too dry, you probably didn’t use drippy enough peanut butter. Feel free to add 1 to 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil.

Scoop Cookie Dough

Use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop dough into your hands. Roll into a ball and slightly flatten in a cookie shape (more on this below!) and place on the baking sheet. Repeat until you’ve made all your cookies (this recipe will make around 10 cookies!).

Add additional chocolate chips (if you love chocolate) to the tops of each cookie and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Bake Those Cookies

Bake at 350ºF for 9-11 minutes, or until the cookies have firmed up.

Immediately transfer cookies from baking sheet to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before eating. ENJOY!

healthy peanut butter cookies on a cookie sheet ready to. be baked

After you mix the dough up for these healthy peanut butter cookies, it’s no secret that you’ll scoop them out and put them on a pan. HOWEVER, do not forget to slightly flatten the peanut butter cookie dough before you put them on the pan.

They will spread out a bit, so only SLIGHTLY flatten them so that they don’t spread out too much!

Here’s what you do:

  1. Mix the cookie dough in a large bowl.
  2. Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie dough scoop, scoop a cookie dough ball in your hands.
  3. Next, roll the cookie dough into a ball and slightly flatten it in the palm of your hands.
  4. Place the cookie dough ball on a greased baking sheet.

WHY DO I HAVE TO FLATTEN THESE COOKIE DOUGH BALLS BEFORE BAKING?

You have to slightly flatten the cookie dough balls before placing them on the baking sheet because if you do not, they will end up as a dome shape rather than a perfect, flat top, chewy cookie.

How to Make These Coconut-Free

We know lots of you can’t do coconut products, so we also tested this recipe without coconut flour, oil, and sugar. The cookies do expand more, so just make sure you spread your cookies out, only press them down slightly, and only do 8 cookies per sheet.

To make these cookies coconut-free, simply just omit the coconut flour and coconut oil and use brown sugar as directed. Then, follow the recipe as written.

By omitting the coconut oil and coconut flour, your cookies will be slightly chewier and equally as delicious!

healthy peanut butter cookies on a cooling rack

How to Store Peanut Butter Cookies

Keep these cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, making sure they fully cool before storing.

Can you Freeze Cookies?

Absolutely! These healthy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Simply allow the cookies to cool completely, and then store in an air-tight container (large Ziplocs work great for this!), and write the date you made the cookies + the name of the cookies on the bag before placing in the freezer.

Thawing Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

Thaw these cookies at room temperature overnight, or if you’re in a pinch for a healthy cookie right now, remove from the freezer and place a cookie in the microwave for 1 minute on defrost, or until it’s chewy and delicious.

healthy peanut butter cookies topped with dark chocolate chips and coarse sea salt
5 from 5 votes

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

These Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies are flourless, chewy and oh so delicious with dark chocolate chips and a sprinkle of sea salt.
By: Lee Funke
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Servings: 10 -12
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Ingredients 

Wet

Instructions 

  • First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
  • Next, place all ingredients into a medium bowl and mix until combined. Then, add melted coconut oil and mix again. Your dough should be similar to classic cookie dough. If it feels too dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil. If it feels a little too wet, you can add 1-2 more tablespoons of almond flour.
  • Use a 1.5-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop dough into your hands. Roll into a ball and slightly flatten and place on the baking sheet. These cookies will expand, so I like to do 8 per cookie sheet. Repeat until all dough is gone.
  • Add additional chocolate chips (if you love chocolate) to the tops of each cookie and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
  • Bake at 350ºF for 10-13 minutes, or until the cookies begin to turn golden brown on the outsides.
  • Let cookies sit on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer from the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before eating. As the cookies cool, they will firm up, so be sure to let this process happen.
  • Let cookies cool completely before storing in an airtight container. As they cool, they will firm up even more.

Tips & Notes

  • In order for this recipe to work, the consistency of your peanut butter must be drippy. The consistency of the dough should be like classic cookie dough. If it’s not, you can add a tablespoon or two of coconut oil and that should do the trick! 
  • If you use coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, you are more likely to need to use coconut oil as it absorbs more fat than brown sugar.
  • Your cookies may seem cakey right when they come out of the oven, but if you let them sit for 10 minutes, they will become chewy and delicious. 
  • To make coconut-free: we tested this recipe without coconut products and the changes are simple. Omit the coconut oil and coconut flour altogether and follow the recipe as is. Do note that this variation will spread out more than the cookies WITH coconut flour, so make sure to only do 8 cookies per sheet! These cookies will come out with a chewier texture. 
  • Nutrition information includes coconut products and is for 12 cookies.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 cookie, Calories: 179 kcal, Carbohydrates: 18 g, Protein: 5 g, Fat: 11 g, Fiber: 2 g, Sugar: 4 g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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About Emily Richter

Emily is Fit Foodie Finds' editor-in-chief. She has a master's degree in strategic communication and a passion for food. She is an incredible at-home cook, making her writing an important part of the content creation process.

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Jody - Fit at 55
October 28, 2013 2:40 pm

I am afraid to make! 🙂

ashley - baker by nature
October 28, 2013 2:09 pm

Totally trying these out tonight! We love anything peanut butter 😉

Katie @ 24 Carrot Life
October 28, 2013 1:39 pm

Yum! I love flourless peanut butter cookies so much!

Hillary | Nutrition Nut on the Run
October 28, 2013 1:23 pm

I have a huge jar of creamy PB that needs to be turned into cookies; thanks for the inspiration 🙂

Courtney
October 28, 2013 1:03 pm

are those unreal m&m’s in them?

Lauren
Lauren
October 28, 2013 11:10 am

Lee,
Will this recipe work with natural peanut butter (just peanuts)?

Lauren

Haley L
October 28, 2013 10:43 am

These look delicious! Anything with peanut butter sounds good to me 🙂
Haley – egginon.wordpress.com

Lexi
October 28, 2013 8:09 am

Mmmm These look killer!!!!!

Livi
October 28, 2013 8:08 am

easy and healthy{ish}– what’s not to love?!

Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves
October 28, 2013 6:15 am

Yum! Peanut butter cookies are my favorite!