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The Best Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

May 29, 2019 By bearplate 12 Comments

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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

vegan peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips

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.

Two Vegan Cookies on a white plate

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!
Pressed vegan peanut butter cookie dough on parchment paper.

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.

The best Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies on a white plate.

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.

Peanut butter cookie dough in a bowl with a blue background.

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!

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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
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Description

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


Ingredients

Scale
  • 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

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Comments

  1. Matt Ivan says

    May 29, 2019 at 3:49 pm

    Peanut butter and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations. Excited to try these vegan cookies!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Sandhya Hariharan says

    May 29, 2019 at 3:54 pm

    OMG.. these cookies are a treat and perfect for VEGAN lovers. I’m ready for anything with peanut butter 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  3. Caitlyn Erhardt says

    May 29, 2019 at 4:35 pm

    Can’t go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate! These look wonderful, and I love that they are vegan!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. Liz says

    May 29, 2019 at 4:54 pm

    Wow these peanut butter cookies look AMAZING! I love the peanut butter + chocolate combo!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  5. Sara Welch says

    May 29, 2019 at 5:51 pm

    There’s nothing quite as perfect as peanut butter with chocolate! Can’t wait to pop these in the oven; I can practically smell them baking!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Sugar says

      December 15, 2021 at 5:42 pm

      How many cookies does recipe yield ?

      Reply
  6. Veronica says

    November 15, 2019 at 11:23 am

    These cookies were…extremely crumbly. Delicious nonetheless, but they were very hard to work with and didn’t expand very much, even when flattened with a fork. I’m no baking expert, but I was also surprised that this recipe didn’t call for at least a little bit of milk; the dough was dry (and, again, crumbly). Maybe I’m just not used to vegan baked goods? Anyway, they get an A for overall taste!

    ★★★

    Reply
  7. Raquel says

    March 27, 2020 at 5:18 pm

    These cookies came out amazing! My family and myself couldn’t stop eating them! I did substitute the sugar for maple syrup. I thought the consistency of it would have been off because of it but they were perfect. They baked for 10 minutes and cake out soft and chewy. We are definitely making these again.

    Reply
  8. Amber says

    April 23, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    I’ve made these twice and both times they have been delicious! I’m not a baker so I’m sure I’m doing something wrong but both times they cookie just falls apart. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

    Reply
  9. Etta says

    January 9, 2021 at 3:44 pm

    Your PB cookie-making tricks are much appreciated! I love knowing the “why”! Delicious! We loved them!!!
    My cookies were also crumbly as a well-mixed batter and after refrigeration, so they demanded a lot of extra re-formation time in the kitchen. After a little online digging, I found another trick! Sounds like there can be great variability in water and oil content of different peanut butters and the make-up vegan butters. To address this, after all ingredients are added each baker can add up to three tablespoons of alternative milk until the right batter consistency/appearance is reached. I might suggest adding in 1/2 tablespoon increments. Knowing the perfect consistency may take some practice or further online digging for batter images.

    ★★★★

    Reply
  10. Teria says

    February 19, 2021 at 9:00 am

    Made these last night! Absolutely delicious. I did some with chocolate chips, dipped in melted chocolate or just peanut butter – my fav being only peanut butter!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  11. Sherrie says

    February 26, 2022 at 12:34 pm

    Excellent recipe, delicious cookies! I’m not vegan so I substituted an egg for the flaxseed, but that was the only modification I made. I used Earth Balance as suggested and all natural creamy peanut butter and the cookies came out soft and chewy as advertised.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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