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Soft, chewy and tender vegan date sweetened peanut butter cookies that are oil-free, gluten-free and require only 6 ingredients!
Classic peanut butter cookies will always be a weakness of mine. Soft, chewy and warm straight from the oven. So good.
I have a classic vegan peanut butter cookie recipe already. It’s on my Instagram page (I do plan to post it on here eventually) but it contains added sugar. Even though I love that recipe, I really wanted to work on a peanut butter cookie with all whole food plant based ingredients. I am happy to report that this recipe does not disappoint!
These cookies are:
Soft
Chewy
Delicous
Tender
Perfectly sweet
Healthy
Sweetened only with dates
Incredibly easy to make
Oil-free and gluten-free!
I don’t think anyone who would eat these vegan date sweetened peanut butter cookies would assume they were “healthy cookies.” The taste and texture is pretty much identical to a classic thick and chewy peanut butter cookie. They are easily made in a food processor and require about 10 minutes of baking time!
My 6 year old and 1 year old loves these cookies- safe to say these are totally kid and toddler approved.
Important Notes
I actually tested out this recipe a lot, because I wanted to get the texture just right. I tested a variation with a flax egg and without, and I decided I liked the flax egg version better! They are more chewy with the flax egg.
What’s key is the consistency of the dough before they go into the oven. The dough needs to be soft, moist, easily moldable but NOT sticky- just like a classic peanut butter cookie dough.
To start, measure out a cup of packed, pitted medjool dates.
This is important:
If your dates are dry, soak them in a bowl with warm water for about 10 minutes! Drain the liquid and lightly pat the dates with a paper towel to just slightly dry them off. You want them moist but not soaking/dripping wet.
If your dates are plump, moist and slightly sticky, do not worry about soaking them.
How to Make
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F and mix your water and ground flax seed to make your flax egg. Let the flax egg sit for about 10 minutes.
Add all of the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse for a couple minutes until the dates are in very tiny pieces and blended in well with the peanut butter.
The consistency of the dough should be soft and moist, but not wet or sticky. It may look crumbly at first but grab some dough in your hands and it should stick together just fine. If it doesn’t stick together, add a little water (about a tbsp).
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use about 2 & 1/2 tbsps of dough per cookie. Squeeze the dough in your hands a few times to stick together and roll it into a ball. You should have 12 balls. Flatten balls about halfway and use a fork to make the classic criss cross pattern.
Bake for about 7-9 minutes. Mine are perfect at 8 minutes. Watch these closely. You want to take them out of the oven when the bottoms of the cookies are light brown. They will be very soft and crumbly when hot, so make sure to cool them for 5-10 minutes before handling and eating.
Store leftovers covered on the counter. I do not recommend putting these in the refrigerator as they will dry out a bit.
If you love these vegan date sweetened peanut butter cookies, be sure to check out the recipe for these vegan date sweetened chocolate chip cookies!
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If you make this recipe, don’t forget to take a photo and tag @wholesome.crumbs on Instagram!
Vegan Date Sweetened Peanut Butter Cookies [GF, Oil-Free]
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 1 cup runny peanut butter see notes
- 1 cup packed pitted medjool dates (about 13-14 dates) see notes
- 1/4 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp pink salt depending on if your peanut butter is salted or not (mine is), you may want to salt to taste
- about 1 tbsp water see notes
- 1 flax egg 1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper then make your flax egg. Let this sit for about 10 minutes.
- If your dates are dry, soak them in a bowl with warm water for about 10 minutes. Drain the water and lightly pat the dates dry to remove some of the moisture. You want them wet, just not soaking. If your dates are already moist and slightly sticky, do not worry about soaking them.
- Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse for about 2 minutes, until the dates are in very tiny pieces and well mixed with the peanut butter. The dough may look crumbly but it should be moist, soft and doughy when you squeeze it in your hands. The consistency of the dough should be soft and moist but not wet or sticky. If it seems dry at all, add a little more water (about a tbsp).
- Use about 2 + 1/2 tbsps of dough per cookie. Squeeze the dough in your hands to help it stick together and then roll into balls. You should have 12 balls. Flatten about halfway and make the classic peanut butter cookie pattern with a fork.
- Bake for about 7-9 minutes. Mine are perfect at 8 minutes. They are done when the bottoms of the cookies are slightly browned. Watch these closely as you don't want them to overbake or they wont be as soft and moist.
- Cool for about 5-10 minutes before handling so they don't crumble.
- Store leftover covered on the counter. I noticed when I put these in the refrigerator, they dried out a bit.
Notes
- peanut butter: the peanut butter needs to be runny/drippy. I recommend using a new jar (well mixed) or take a jar out of the fridge and let it sit for a bit so the peanut butter softens to a runny texture.
- medjool dates: make sure to read the directions about if you should soak your dates or not.
- water: add about a tbsp of water to the dough if it doesn’t feel wet enough or if the dough doesn’t stick together.
The first instruction is to make the flax egg? It is not listed in the ingredients, is there 1, 2?
Oh my goodness thank you for catching this! Fixing it now. It’s just one flax egg! 🙂