Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Back before having to go on a gluten-free diet, a classic peanut butter cookie with some milk was the BEST thing to snack on after getting home from the rink.

The first few times I tried buying gf cookies .. Didn’t go so well. I’ve never been into a crumbly cookie, and that was pretty much the default for gluten-free peanut butter cookies at the time.

If I wanted gluten-free soft peanut butter cookies, I was going to need to design the recipe myself... so I did!

This recipe was first published in my second gluten-free cookbook - Beyond Flour 2 - back in 2016.

This easy gluten free peanut butter cookies recipe is a peanut butter lovers dream, making the best cookies - chewy texture, crispy edges, and a lot of delicious peanut butter flavor.

The texture is just right - dense but soft (the way we bake them), satisfying, chewy cookies. This recipe makes about 24 large cookies

A Note on Texture

If you like your cookies soft, bake for a little less time (I know one friend who goes only one step beyond "raw"!).

If you like them a little drier and crispier, bake for an extra minute or two.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients

This recipe has a few more ingredients than most pb cookie recipes, but using individual flours - as I do - really is the best way to ensure great taste and texture.

Anyway, let’s look at what all’s required here:

Peanut Butter

As one of the main ingredients - if not THE main ingredient - the peanut butter you use makes a difference.

Now that I’m back in Canada, I use Kraft smooth peanut butter for this recipe, pretty much exclusively. I missed it SO much, when I was living in the USA.

I prefer creamy peanut butter, both for every day use, and in this recipe. You can use natural peanut butter, “all peanuts” type peanut butters, etc.

If you’re more of a crunchy peanut butter fan - and don’t mind the extra texture in the cookies - go ahead and use that in this recipe.

If using a crunchy PB, I recommend adding an extra Tablespoon worth of peanut butter, to make up for the volume of the peanuts.

Gluten Free Flour Blend

Like all of my recipes, this recipe was created to use a blend of individual gluten-free flours and starches, specific to this recipe.

I look at the flavours and properties of each variety of gf flour to come up with a blend that brings great flavour AND texture, to whatever specific recipe I’m designing.

I find the results SO much better than those you get from using an all purpose gluten-free flour blend, and it’s like 30 seconds of extra effort to measure them.

Anyway, for this recipe I use:

Brown Rice Flour
Sorghum Flour
Coconut Flour
Tapioca Starch / Tapioca Flour
Xanthan Gum

Everything Else

Finally, there are the more common ingredients to round out the recipe:

Granulated / white sugar
Brown Sugar (You can use light or dark brown sugar)
Unsalted butter
Large eggs
Vanilla extract
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt

How to Make Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, this is a pictorial walk-through, with additional tips and info.

Make the Dough

In a medium bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (except sugars) until well combined, set aside.

In a stand mixer - or a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer - cream together butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy.

Add in eggs and vanilla extract, and mix until well incorporated and smooth.

Note: This is a really important step for best results making these cookies.

The dough starts out sticky, the chilling time allows the moisture to absorb. This is what prevents gritty texture that’s normally associated with gluten-free cookies!

You can chill it for a couple of days, if you like - but make sure it’s at least an hour!