The Best Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft mouthwatering vegan cookies are packed with creamy peanut butter and rich dairy-free chocolate chips. If you’re looking for your new favorite cookie, look no further. These easy cookies are an instant classic

As you can probably tell I’m a bit of a cookie lover and I also really enjoy baking, which is a bit of a dangerous combination.

Some people are falsely under the impression that it’s difficult to make vegan baked goods or that vegan cookies will be hard or bland.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong!

How to bake vegan cookies

Vegan baking is really quite easy. Most of the ingredients needed are already vegan. In general it’s just a matter of replacing any dairy or eggs.

There are a number of ways to do this.

Dairy milk can easily be replaced with a non-dairy version like soy or almond milk.

Butter can be swapped out with a vegan butter like Earth Balance or potentially replaced with another fat like coconut or olive oil. It can also be replaced with applesauce or pureed pumpkin, but this will change the texture and flavor of the recipe.

Eggs can be also be substituted with applesauce, mashed banana, egg replacer or my personal favorite ground flax seeds.

Is sugar vegan?

While sugar it’s self is not made from animal products a lot of refined cane sugar is filtered through bone char.

To replace this simply use beet sugar, organic, or “unrefined” sugar.

How do you make amazing peanut butter cookies?

There are a couple of “tricks” to making amazing peanut butter cookies.

1. Use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar. Brown sugar is sugar that has had some of the molasses added back to it, it has a much richer flavor than plain granulated sugar. Using a mixture gives cookies a more complex flavor without overwhelming the peanut butter flavor.
2. Refrigerate the dough before baking! This is a step that I historically ignored. Who wants to wait an extra half an hour to eat cookies? Not me! Well, I hear to tell you I’ve seen the error in my ways! As I mentioned in my rosewater cookie recipe letting the dough chill gives the fat a chance to solidify. Chilled dough doesn’t spread as much and the result is a softer chewier cookie.
3. Press your cookies! Peanut butter cookies usually have the tell-tail crisscross pattern pushed into them. That’s because they’re denser than most cookies. Pressing them makes them an even thickness and ensures that the middle won’t be doughy.
4. Add chocolate chips! They make everything better!

What makes these cookies so awesome?

Besides the fact that the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is the most delicious pairing in the world, they are soft, sweet, and slightly salty. As an added bonus this recipes makes a LOT of cookies!

They’re a hit with non-vegans as well, making them a perfect choice for potlucks or other functions.

No weird ingredients!

This is something I encountered a lot when I first became vegan.

Every restaurant or bakery I went to made all of their vegan baked goods as healthy as possible. They served things like low-fat bran cookies made with grated carrots.

There is a time and place for healthy, low fat, high fiber foods packed full of hidden vegetables… this is not one of those times! If you’re making something decadent really go for it.

Vegan chocolate chips

Most chocolate chips aren’t vegan. Even dark chocolate or semi-sweet chip can contain dairy. Check the labels for things like whey, milk solids, whole milk powder, or butterfat.

I usually use either Enjoy Life or Guittard semi-sweet chips.

If you’re using a brand that isn’t specifically vegan, make sure you check the label every time. Historically I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips, but they changed their ingredients to include without any kind of notice.

How to make vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

These cookies are really easy to make!

Start by making mixing together your ground flax seeds with some warm water then let them sit for 10 minutes.

Mix the melted vegan butter together with the peanut butter and the vanilla extract. Beat in the salt, flax, and baking soda. Then slowly add the flour until it forms a dough. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Troubleshooting

1. Burnt bottoms. Because peanut butter cookies are already a golden color it can be hard to tell if they’re done baking. Look for a slightly darker color right at the base of the cookie. If you’re baking a lot of cookies at the same time make sure to look at a couple from different locations in your stove. Ovens don’t always have an even temperature throughout, resulting in some areas being hotter than others.
2. Some cookies are crunchy. Try to make your cookies all the same thickness. I like to use a two-inch scoop to measure out the dough. You don’t need to be that precise, but if your cookie size varies wildly some will bake faster than others.
3. The dough crumbled when I tried to press the cookie. This could be caused by one of three things. Either the dough wasn’t mixed thoroughly and some of it was too dry, the ball wasn’t packed hard enough, or the dough was too cold. If you plan on chilling the dough for longer than 30 mins, press them first.

More irresistible vegan cookie recipes

• Vegan Pistachio Rosewater Cookies
• Vegan Autumn Spice Oatmeal Cookies
• Triple Almond No Bake Cookies

Enjoy!

The Best Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

★★★★★ 4.7 from 9 reviews

• Author: bearplate
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 55 minutes
• Yield: 24 cookies 1x
• Category: dessert
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: vegan

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

Soft, delicious, and irresistible vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
• 3 Tbsp warm water
• 1/2 Cup vegan butter melted (I used Earth Balance)
• 1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup vegan chocolate chips

---

Instructions

Mix the ground flax seeds with the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl mix the melted vegan butter together with the peanut butter.  Add the sugar, vanilla extract, flax seed mixture, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined.  Slowly mix in the flour to form a dough. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop dough into 2 inch balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate the dough for 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Press the dough flat with a fork.

Bake for 8-12 mins or until the cookies are slightly golden around the bottom

---

---

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 170
• Fat: 8.9
• Carbohydrates: 22
• Protein: 3

Keywords: peanut butter, vegan, chocolate, cookie