Peanut butter cookie recipes tend to fall into two camps. One is like a traditional wheat-flour cookie with added peanut butter, such as this double peanut butter cookies recipe. Others, including this healthy peanut butter cookies recipe, are very simple and mainly based on peanut butter. This particular recipe has a couple of changes that make it a relatively good dessert or snack if you’re cutting back on certain ingredients.
They contain few ingredients and need only a few minutes of preparation. They bake quickly and store well. If you’re just learning to bake, this is an excellent beginner recipe and a lesson in how just a few ingredients can produce a rich treat.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies Ingredients
- Large egg: The egg binds the ingredients and give the dough some strength. The egg is also a source of moisture for the dough and helps make the mixture smoother and easier to handle.
- Creamy peanut butter: If you want peanut flavor, you need peanut butter.
- Oat bran: While the ground peanuts in the peanut butter act as a form of flour, adding a little oat bran makes the dough firmer and easier to shape.
- Maple syrup: Maple syrup is your sweetener and a source of moisture.
Directions
Step 1: Mix the ingredients
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the egg, creamy peanut butter, oat bran and maple syrup together in a large bowl.
Step 2: Form the cookies
Scoop out level tablespoons of dough and shape them into balls. Place them on ungreased baking sheets and flatten each with a fork to get those classic lines.
Step 3: Bake
Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. Once done, remove the cookies from the baking sheets and let the cookies cool on a wire rack.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies Variations
- Use crunchy peanut butter: Most peanut butter brands have creamy and crunchy versions. If you want to have peanut bits in these cookies, try using the crunchy type of peanut butter. You can also mix in chopped peanuts with the creamy peanut butter, if you prefer.
- Try “healthier” add-ins: Many peanut butter cookie recipes have options to include additional ingredients like candies or chocolate chunks mixed in. If you’re making these as a dessert and still want to add a little more sweetness, look at add-ins like chocolate chips that have only basic ingredients or that are made to be allergy-friendly. Raisins and other chopped dried fruit are alternatives, too.
- Go gluten-free: Ensure the oat bran you use is certified gluten-free if you want to eliminate gluten from the recipe. It helps to double-check the ingredients in the peanut butter, too, to ensure there are no additives that might contain gluten.
How to Store Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies
Let the cookies cool completely before trying to store them. Place the cooled cookies in either an airtight container or a cookie jar that has a well-fitting lid, and store the container at room temperature. Eat the cookies within four to five days.
Can you freeze healthy peanut butter cookies?
If you think you won’t be able to eat all those cookies in a few days, you can freeze the remainder. You’ll want to freeze them in two steps. First, freeze them in one layer on something like a small cookie sheet that you’ve lined with wax paper or parchment. That allows them to freeze enough to not have a moist exterior, which would make the cookies freeze together in bunches if you just threw them in a bag from the start. After about 30 minutes or so, peel the cookies off the liners and stack them in a freezer-safe bag. To thaw the cookies, take them out of the freezer bag, even if you’re thawing all of the cookies at once. You can thaw them at room temperature. Eat them within two months.
Can you make healthy peanut butter cookies ahead of time?
You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it. Mix the dough and separate into balls. Line cookie sheets with parchment or wax paper and place the balls on the paper. Flatten the balls. Let those freeze for about 30 minutes, until the exterior of each dough ball is no longer sticky. Place the frozen balls of dough in an airtight freezer bag or container, and bake them within two months.
Sometimes it helps to take the bag out and gently check it to ensure each dough portion is still loose. When you do bake them, remove the dough from the freezer bag. Bake as directed, adding one to two minutes to the bake time.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies Tips
Can you use natural peanut butter in these cookies?
You can bake the cookies with natural peanut butter. Be aware that, depending on the ingredients, natural peanut butter may give the cookies a different texture. They may be drier or more moist, and they could have a crumblier texture. You may want to bake a smaller test batch first to see what happens with your chosen brand. That way, you don’t end up with dozens of cookies that you don’t like.
What makes these cookies “healthier”?
This recipe has a couple of substitutions that either reduce ingredients that people often try to cut back on, or that add nutrition. Maple syrup swaps for the refined sugar you find in many recipes for peanut butter cookies. While many recipes use brown sugar and not white sugar, even brown sugar is often refined to an extent. And keep in mind that maple syrup is still a form of sugar. The recipe also uses oat bran instead of flour. Oat bran is a good source of fiber and protein, although you’re using only 1/4 cup in this recipe.
Can you use peanut butter with xylitol in these cookies?
In terms of baking, you should be able to use peanut butter that contains xylitol as its sweetener. It helps to make a small test batch to verify whether you’ll like the results. However, if you do use anything that contains xylitol, never feed the cookies to pets, especially dogs, and keep the cookies well out of reach of those curious pets. Xylitol is highly toxic to dogs, and even the small amount that ends up in each cookie could be a problem. The research is still not definite regarding xylitol in cats; while xylitol does not appear to have the same effects on cats, it’s best to just keep the cookies out of reach of any furry friends.
