Flourless Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

I’m neither vegan nor gluten-free, but I couldn’t resist these Flourless Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies. They’re so easy that you can whip them up in no time for a snack or dessert. Scrumptious too. But don’t take my word for it. Try them plain, with flaked salt,or with a Nutella or chocolate center.

This recipe comes from my tendency to spend too much time noodling around the web. I adapted it from an Epicurious one that landed in my email recently. While I vowed to limit sweets after the new year (who hasn’t?), I couldn’t resist when snow and ice limited my walks and Covid limited my social interactions. Plus, I had writing work to do, which led to big time procrastination. The confluence of theses factors led me to wonder what would happen if I tinkered with the Molly Baz/Epicurious version. 

That version is three ingredients and not vegan. I could easily just have stayed with that and been perfectly happy, but I was thinking of my son Liam and his husband. They’re vegan. So to assure that they could enjoy the cookies on their next visit or in a care package, I’ve substituted apple sauce for the egg. 

Plus, I made a few other changes because, well … why not? In any event, they’re still simple as can be.

Sometimes, my posted recipes are deliberately vegan, such as my recent Vegan Curried Coconut Carrot Soup. I’ve also posted vegan recipes from others. For example, I posted two recipes from the Gluten-Free Instant Pot book by my friends Jane and Sara. Instant Pot Creamy Vegan Wild Rice Soup and Instant Pot Chipotle Pumpkin Vegan Chili are both (obviously) vegan. But I’ve also posted recipes that happen to be vegan but aren’t denominated as such. In fact, those recipes happen to be vegan but weren’t intended to be. That’s the case with all the vegetable dishes that do not include eggs, meat, or dairy. 

But when it comes to sweets, I have difficulty staying in the vegan lane. All of the cakes I have posted (and most that I bake) use eggs. The same holds true for cookies. But now that I’ve tried these, I might just have to reconsider, at least when it comes to cookies. 

Although these are pretty good plain, I absolutely loved the addition of nutella or flaked (Maldon) sea salt. My non-vegan tasters liked the ones with salt the best because they felt the salt “elevated” the taste. I’m on the fence, liking both the salt-added and nutella versions equally.  I’m also imagining a large chocolate chip or two in the center would be nice, or maybe a bit of candied ginger. As you can tell, another batch is in my future – and soon. 

Tips for Making Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

• Don’t worry if the batter seems too dry at first. The batter begins quite dry and then gets moist as you mix it. Don’t freak out if it seems too dry at first. Just keep mixing it until the consistency becomes malleable.
• Roll them into small balls for uniformity. Forget the cookie scoop or teaspoons. Just use your hands to mold the batter into small balls. By the way, I rolled these in sugar before baking. It was a nice touch but didn’t seem to make much of a difference to the end result. Next time, I’ll probably skip that step.
• To add nutella or chocolate chips, make an indentation. If you are adding Nutella or chocolate chips, use the backside of a teaspoon or smaller spoon to make an indentation in each cookie. (Chocolate chips go on before baking, while you add the Nutella after they’re baked.) If you are adding salt, just cross hatch the top of the cookie with the tines of a fork, then add the flaked salt before baking.
• Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet. Let the cookies cool to room temperature on the cookie sheet before moving them to a wire rack or plate. They will fall apart if you move them too soon.