Throughout my entire childhood, my mom worked part-time, which meant that she left us at home during the summers from 7 am until 2 pm. Mom hired a baby-sitter while we were still in grade school, but once I reached middle school, she trusted us to stay by ourselves.
My younger brother and I knew how to serve ourselves breakfast—shake out the cereal box and pour in the milk—but Mom always stocked the fridge with our favorite lunch items of yogurt, bread, cheese, and lots of fruit. However, the jar of peanut butter called my name fairly loudly every once in a while, so I’d wander into the pantry and grab that instead.
On those days, lunch consisted of two things: peanut butter and crackers. I’d dip one buttery cracker into the jar at a time, scraping up at least a teaspoon of peanut butter every time. With 10-15 crackers for lunch, that really added up… And Mom had to buy a fresh jar nearly every other week!
But besides crackers, sandwiches, and toast, we didn’t really eat peanut butter any other way, including desserts. (I always preferred my cookies with lots of chocolate!) But after seeing one too many peanut butter treats on Pinterest, I decided that might need to change and set out to make these…
The Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies! They’re soft, chewy, and have a prominent nutty peanut butter flavor, but not too much to make you feel bogged down and sluggish. With the irresistible balance of sweet and salty, these won’t last long at all in your cookie jar!
To help you understand what makes these the ultimate healthy peanut butter cookies, let’s talk a little baking science. (Or feel free to skip this section and head straight to the recipe!)
First off, the dry ingredients. I chose white whole wheat flour because it gives you the benefits of fiber and extra nutrients like with regular whole wheat flour, but it has a lighter, less wheat-y taste. Then you’ll need baking powder for rise and just a hint of salt. Most peanut butters already come salted, so adjust the amounts to suit your tastes.
The rest of the ingredients proved to be a bit trickier, so let’s move on to sugar. I started out by trying honey, but that added too much moisture to the cookie dough. The cookies spread as flat as pancakes, even with over 3 hours of chilling, and they tasted like muffins—not cookies!
I switched to brown sugar and coconut sugar next because they’re both solid sugars, so they didn’t add the same moisture. Both of these options taste exactly the same (no tropical coconut taste, I promise!), but they look a little different. The coconut sugar cookies are darker and look speckled because the coconut sugar doesn’t dissolve quite as well. But that doesn’t affect their taste or texture!
Note: Coconut sugar is clean eating friendly, while brown sugar is not.
And now for the most important part… The peanut butter! I tried making these cookies with 8, 9, and 10 tablespoons. The first batch didn’t have quite enough peanut butter flavor—just a little too faint for my tastes—but the batch with 10 tablespoons turned out a little greasier than I wanted. So to quote Goldilocks, 9 tablespoons was “just right!”
I originally tried using pure peanut butter and an egg as the fat sources, but those cookies failed the spread, even without chilling. To increase the spread, I omitted the egg yolk and added in a tiny bit of butter because butter melts when heated. The resulting cookies spread a tiny bit (think a few millimeters), so you’ll still need to flatten the cookie dough to the thickness and width that you want.
My secret to soft and chewy cookies? Slightly underbake them (not a second more than is called for in the recipe!), and leave them on the warm pan to cool for longer. This allows the centers to continue cooking all the way through without the outsides turning crisp and crunchy. The cookies will stay soft and chewy for an entire week—if they last that long!
So grab a glass of milk, your favorite jar of peanut butter, and start baking! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your cookies and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| The Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp (4g) baking powder
- ¼ tsp (2g) salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp (10mL) vanilla extract
- 9 tbsp (144g) homemade creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup (192g) coconut sugar or brown sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in the peanut butter until completely incorporated. Stir in the sugar. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.
- Roll the dough into 24 balls, and place onto the prepared baking sheets. Flatten to the desired thickness and width. Bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, and all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
I highly recommend using my easy homemade creamy peanut butter recipe. (It only takes 5 minutes to make!) This recipe works best with natural-style peanut butter made with just peanuts and salt. It will also work with Skippy Natural creamy peanut butter. Do not use crunchy peanut butter; the cookies won't turn out.
Coconut sugar is clean eating friendly, while brown sugar is not.
The cookies barely spread at all during baking, so flatten them to the desired thickness and width before placing the baking sheets in the oven.
The cookie dough should look crumbly when you first mix it up, but as long as you can roll it into balls without the balls falling apart, it's the right consistency! If your cookie dough is too dry to roll into balls, add milk one tablespoon at a time until the cookie dough holds together.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
Hey Amy, I was wondering if you could substitute the wheat flour for oat flour? I only have all purpose and oats :/
Thank you, I really cannot wait to try this recipe!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Alexis! For this particular recipe, the all-purpose flour is probably a safer bet. Oat flour absorbs so much moisture that I’d be concerned that your cookies might turn out dry and crumbly. I’d love to hear what you think if you try them! 🙂
Absolutely loved these! They are so amazingly simple to make and took me only 15 minutes!
I’m SO glad you loved these cookies Sophie! That means a lot to me! 🙂
Too dry and did not taste like they were cooked. Also fell apart when eating, a good result.
If the cookies were too dry, then there was probably too much flour or a different peanut butter was used. What brand of peanut butter did you use, or was it homemade? Also, how did you measure the flour — with a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, did you scoop the measuring cup directly into your container of flour? I’ve actually included directions on what to do if your cookie dough is too dry in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. It can be easy to miss! 😉 We’ll get your issues sorted out so your cookies turn out perfectly soft and chewy!
Cookies turned put amazing…took a while to make and figure out when to add stuff to what mixture..But a few more tries and it’ll be made and cooked in 20mins! I melted some chocolate and drizzled it on top as well it added a great touch! Love the recipe..they dont even taste healthy which us great!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies, Tam! That means the world to me that you’d say they don’t taste healthy. That’s the best kind of compliment! 😉 I love your idea of drizzling melted chocolate on top too. Yum!!
Can I use this recipe for the peanut butter blossoms or would it not turn out well?
You can use this recipe to make peanut butter blossoms, but it also requires regular creamy peanut butter, not powdered peanut butter mixed with water, in order to turn out correctly. 🙂 I’d love to hear how they turn out if you turn these into blossoms Kelly!
18 unique ad units on one page? not a good user experience.
I’ll keep your feedback in mind the next time I speak with my website developer! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these peanut butter cookies if you decide to try making them, Thomas!
These were a definite hit with my peanut butter loving three year old and my husband was impressed! This is my first time using coconut sugar and they’re much sweeter than I’m used to making, but that’s probably why my hubby loved them 😂 He’s already asked what other cookie recipes you have. Poor deprived guy. Thanks so much for putting these healthier recipes together for us!
I’m so honored that everyone enjoyed these cookies, Brandi! That’s the BEST kind of compliment coming from your hubby, if he’s already asked about other cookie recipes… Hearing that just made my entire week!! 🙂 Thank YOU for taking the time to share this with me. It truly means a lot!
The dry ingredients to moisture content was way off. I used an off the shelf natural peanut butter. I added some milk and another 2 table spoons of butter and was able to salvage the dough.
I made peanut butter cup cookies pressing a reeses peanut butter cup into the center using my mini-muffin pain. Turned out pretty well. They were a little denser but I was able to press it in.
I’m honored that you tried my recipe, Adam! That sounds frustrating and not at all like how this cookie dough should be, so I’d love to work with you to figure out why that was. 🙂
Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section of the recipe?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons to measure all of the ingredients, especially the flour? If the latter, can you describe how you used them to measure?
What brand of natural peanut butter did you use? Did you stir all of the oil that tends to collect on top into it before using it in this recipe?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit once I know your answers to all of them!
Hi Amy, could I use Peanut Butter powder for peanut butter for this recipe? Thanks!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Cynthia! I don’t recommend substituting powdered peanut butter for the creamy peanut butter. This is because the peanut butter is the main source of fat in the cookie dough (and therefore the source of their soft and chewy texture!). Since powdered peanut butter contains a lot less fat, it’ll make these cookies bready, cakey, and possibly dry — even when reconstituted with water. So for the best taste and texture, I recommend using regular creamy peanut butter.
However, I do have some recipes that explicitly call for peanut flour, if you’re mainly looking for a way to use powdered peanut butter (including these peanut butter cookies)! You can find those here (or by searching for “peanut flour” on my blog! The search bar is located at the top of my blog, if you’re viewing on a regular computer, or the bottom, if you’re viewing on a mobile device.)
I’d love to hear what you think of these cookies if you try making them! 🙂