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Here’s how to make the best vegan peanut butter cookies, soft and perfectly crumbly, with just the right salty sweetness (and optional chocolate drizzle).
This post was created in partnership with ALDI. All opinions are our own.
It’s cookie time! What’s your ultimate cookie? These vegan peanut butter cookies are where it’s at for Alex and me! They’re soft but perfectly crumbly, and salty sweet. Decorated with the classic criss-cross pattern, they’ve got a sparkle of sugar. And a chocolate icing drizzle makes them look even more fun. (Plus, Larson and I are choco-holics!) All the ingredients for these cookies are from ALDI, our favorite place to stock up on high quality, affordable and organic baking ingredients. Ready to bake?
Want to try it too? Let us know if you head to ALDI to stock up and make this recipe! Head to the ALDI website for a store locator. Tell us in the comments below or tag us on Instagram using @acouplecooks and @aldiusa.
Are they really the BEST vegan peanut butter cookies?
OK, we’ll be honest. Alex and I are picky cookie people! The cookies we like aren’t just a sugar bomb. They’re cookie recipes that have nuance, distinct flavor and texture, and are just sweet enough. If you follow along with us, you’ll know Alex and I love to make vegan desserts, though we don’t eat exclusively that way. Here, we’ve come up with a recipe for the very best vegan peanut butter cookies. And they are seriously good.
Eat them plain as a classic peanut butter cookie, or add our simple chocolate icing to make them suitable for a holiday cookie tray! They’re a perfect healthy-ish Christmas cookie, but they work for anytime too. Our son Larson is totally obsessed with them (we keep them in the freezer and use them on special occasions).
The tricks to making vegan peanut butter cookies
You won’t have to mention these are vegan (to people who’d be wary). All you’ll have to mention is that they’re incredible peanut butter cookies! They’re not too sweet, perfectly salty, and have the best soft but crumbly texture. Want us to reveal the magic? Here’s how our trick is done:
- Coconut oil. Instead of butter, these vegan cookies use organic coconut oil.
- Just enough sugar. These cookies are sweetened just enough, and a sprinkle on top adds another sparkle.
- Lots of peanut butter. Peanut butter adds texture and big peanut flavor. It also helps as a binder: no egg needed!
- Almond milk. Non-dairy milk works perfectly here!
Tips for an even bake
It’s hard to get an even bake and appearance on cookies! Of course, they’ll taste good either way: but it’s nice to have a picture-perfect appearance. Here are our secrets for making the perfect vegan peanut butter cookies:
- Measure 1 ½ tablespoons dough (or use a Size 40 cookie scoop). A cookie scoop isn’t required here because you’ll re-form the cookies into balls with your fingers. The most important part is to portion it out in exactly 1 ½ tablespoons of dough. A cookie scoop is nice for this job if you have one!
- Bake each baking sheet separately, and rotate the sheet halfway through. To get the most even bake, it’s nice to bake each baking sheet separately, instead of all 24 cookies together. It improves airflow and helps to keep the heat even (instead of having one sheet closer to the heat source). Also make sure to rotate the sheet halfway through the bake time.
Add a chocolate drizzle if you’d like!
Now, these vegan peanut butter cookies are incredibly tasty as is! Serve them plain as the classic peanut butter cookie. But for the holiday season, we decided to decorate these cookies by adding a vegan chocolate icing! Powdered sugar icing is our favorite easy icing for cookies and cakes, and we created a chocolate version just for these cookies. Here’s how it’s done:
- Mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder together with almond milk until a creamy glaze forms.
- If it’s still a bit dry, add more almond milk a teaspoon at a time if necessary until a thick but drizzle-able consistency is reached. Be careful not to add too much liquid or the icing will spread and not dry properly.
- Use a fork to drizzle the icing onto the cookies. Yes a fork, not a spoon! While using a spoon seems natural, it results in a chunkier drizzle: a fork is perfect for making a thin line like shown in the photos.
These vegan peanut butter cookies are…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based and dairy-free. For gluten-free, see Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies.
Print
Best Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
Description
Here’s how to make the best vegan peanut butter cookies, soft and perfectly crumbly, with just the right salty sweetness (and optional chocolate drizzle).
Ingredients
For the peanut butter cookies
- ⅓ cup refined coconut oil
- ⅓ cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2/3 cup cane sugar (or granulated sugar)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the vegan chocolate icing (optional)
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 2 ½ tablespoons almond milk, plus additional as necessary
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over low heat, stir together the coconut oil, milk and vanilla extract until warm and combined. Pour into a large mixing bowl and add the peanut butter and sugar. Stir until well combined (small peanut butter lumps are ok). Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and kosher salt and stir with spatula until combined into a cohesive dough.
- Transfer the dough to a covered container and refrigerate for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the bowl with the dough from the refrigerator. Make 24 1 ½ tablespoon-sized balls (using a size 40 cookie scoop, if you have it) and place them onto the baking sheet. Roll the balls between your hands to make them as spherical as possible. Place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Use a fork to flatten the balls and make a criss-cross pattern (it’s helpful to dip the fork into a small bowl of water before each one to prevent sticking). Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar.
- Bake each tray separately, about 13 to 14 minutes total, (rotating halfway through at about 6 minutes) until edges are just firm. Cool for 5 minutes on the tray, then remove to a cooling rack. (Baking the tray separately gets the most even bake.) Serve once cooled to room temperature, or add the optional chocolate icing. Store in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or freeze before icing for 3 months.
- For the chocolate icing (optional): In a medium bowl, use a fork to stir together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and almond milk until a smooth sauce forms and all lumps are dissolved. Add almond milk a teaspoon at a time if necessary until a thick but drizzle-able consistency is reached (be careful not to add too much liquid). Dip a fork into the glaze and drizzle in a zigzag pattern. Let sit at room temperature until the glaze is dry, about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Vegan
Keywords: Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, Vegan Chocolate Icing
These peanut butter cookies are so good and easy to make. I added some chocolate chips and also reduced the bake time to 8 minutes. They turned out perfectly delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
These look delicious, and I think my grandchildren would enjoy them!
These are really delicious. I rarely like coconut oil in my baking because I feel like the flavor is too strong, but in this recipe, it harmonizes so well with the peanut butter that I don’t mind it!
So glad you enjoyed them!
These are amazing! Thank you for this recipe. They turned out perfect. Love that they are healthy!
Hi! Do you have any suggestions for using less sugar? I like to keep it to 1/2 cup or less. Could I sub in a little more of something else? Thank you, these look great!
I think you could try these with 1/2 cup sugar and they would work. Let us know how it goes!
Could I use vegan butter in place of coconut oil ? ^_^
That should work!
HI there,
I made this for a friend and she absolutely LOVED them! I mean yes I agree they’re amazing.
Have you ever tried baking this same recipe with GF Flour or substitute and use something else to make it gluten free? I did see your recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies but I know she likes the taste of these I’d rather use this recipe and change the flour.
★★★★★
We haven’t tried it, but I think a 1:1 GF flour would work fine. They might end up a bit crumblier but it should work for this style of cookie. Please let us know if you try!
Hi Alex,
So I made it with GF Flour and it went down a treat. I rolled them out in a ball and flattened them with the end of my rolling pin and I actually used a snowflake cutter to add a little design in the middle. They look cool.
Thank you once again for sharing this recipe. I will try a few more now :)
★★★★★
Thank you for letting us know!
I made these today but made them differently to avoid white flour and sugar. I used almond flour and oat fiber for the flour, and instead of sugar I used a sweetner blend. I also made a dip in the middle and added some milk chocolate chips. They turned out really well. Thank you so much.
★★★★★
This recipe works great with my special coconut oil 🌿
★★★★★