I call these babies “No-Peanut Butter Cookies”. They taste just like classic peanut butter cookies, crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside. They’re Paleo, free of peanuts, gluten, grains, dairy, GMO’s and sugars. Even better, they’re incredibly easy to make, high in protein and ridiculously low in carbs. Hooray! Use ANY nut butter you like. I used toasted cashew, pumpkin, and almond butters, plus raw hemp butter. See my nut nutritional analysis.
You’ll need altogether 1 1/2 cups nut butter. You can also make your own nut butters. Lightly toasted nuts give you a LOT more flavor in these cookies.
Many of us are avoiding peanuts because of allergies, high mold content, and since legumes are not part of the Paleo diet. Almond butter is extremely high in protein. Hemp seeds are a complete protein and rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Pumpkin seeds are a nutritional powerhouse, with beneficial plant compounds called phytosterols, plus free-radical scavenging antioxidants to benefit your heart, liver, and immune system.
These cookies will not spike blood sugar or cause weight gain if you use one of the suggested non-glycemic sweeteners. Flatten cookie balls with the tines of a fork before baking. These do not spread when baking. Freeze leftover cookies for a rainy day in a BPA-free freezing container. This recipe makes about 60 tempting cookies.
Yup, those are my teeth marks! I froze the rest so I wouldn’t eat the whole batch!
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups sweetener to taste, such as Just Like Sugar Table Top natural chicory root sweetener, or your favorite dry sweetener.
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon maple flavor (optional)
- 1/4 heaping teaspoon unprocessed salt, or less if your nuts are salted.
- 1/2 apple, cut in chunks (if mixing by hand, grated)
- 1 1/2 cups toasted nut butter, such as cashew, almond, hemp, and/or pumpkin.
- 2/3 cup almond meal
- 1/4 cup your favorite protein powder (or substitute almond meal)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Cover 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a blender or food processor add the wet ingredients: eggs, sweetener, vanilla, maple, salt, and apple chunks. Blend well until smooth.
- To the food processor add the dry ingredients: nut butter, almond meal, and protein powder if using. Process well. (If mixing by hand, pour the wet ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.)
- Using a spoon and your hands, form balls 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter, and place on the cookie sheet. Flatten in criss-cross marks with the tines of a fork dipped into a granulated sweetener.
- Bake 15 - 20 minutes. They won't brown much on top. When they're golden brown on the bottom of the cookie, they're finished. Enjoy!
3 Replies to ""Peanut Butter" Cookies with no Gluten, Grain, or Peanuts! Ha Ha!"
Kay Allen April 5, 2024 (2:36 pm)
Hi! I made these, but the dough was more like batter. I added more almond meal, but they’re still so runny, and don’t look like your picture. Is there a missing dry ingredient?
Jane Barthelemy April 12, 2024 (10:31 pm)
Hi Kay,
Thanks for your message. So sorry your cookies came out runny. Hmmm…why could that be? I’m thinking it could be caused by variable liquid concentration in some of the ingredients. Especially the eggs, type of nut butter, how much the nut better is toasted, and the apple, which I added to make them softer. This recipe worked perfectly just as I wrote it. But if your nut butter is runny, or your eggs are larger than standard, you’d get runny batter. It’s hard to remove an egg after you add it – Ha Ha! Next time, try just one egg, and see how it goes. This is a risk with “natural” ingredients, that they aren’t standardized. If they were all standard, we’d be living in a boring world. I remember testing this recipe several times, not because of the liquid, but to get the tastiest combination of nut butters. I ended up using almond butter with a little sunflower butter. They were yummy. Ha Ha! Try again and let us know how it goes. Thanks again, Jane
fernanda July 27, 2023 (1:31 pm)
This is a great recipe Jane I love cookies but I weigh over 400 pounds. I also have Atheromatous disease, disease breast cancer chronic respiratory disease degenerative disease and diabetes but these I can enjoy. Ha Ha.