These peanut butter cookies are gluten free, grain free and vegan to boot. I based them on Heidi’s Peanut Butter Cookie recipe over at 101 Cookbooks, one of my favorite websites. Though I did cut the amount of sweetener in half and make a couple of other changes.
I have been on a bit of a peanut butter kick lately. I didn’t eat peanut butter for a long time. I just didn’t feel great when I ate it, however, I’m feeling a lot stronger these days, so peanut butter is back. Last week I posted a recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies and next week I will be posting my Peanut Butter Protein Shake recipe.
- 1 cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter or sunbutter
- ¼ cup agave nectar or honey
- 2 tablespoons palm shortening
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a small bowl combine almond flour, salt and baking soda
- In a medium bowl mix together peanut butter, agave, shortening and vanilla with a hand blender
- Blend dry ingredients into wet with hand blender until well combined
- Scoop dough 1 tablespoon at a time onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Use a fork to flatten in a criss-cross pattern
- Bake at 350° for 6-12 minutes until golden around the edges
- Serve
Some people don’t ever eat peanut butter; my friend Kelly, over at The Spunky Coconut uses sunflower butter in its place. I find that peanut butter and sunflower butter taste quite alike, so I think it might be worth your while to try out this substitution. I haven’t though, so I’m not sure if it will work in this recipe –please let me know if it does.
Here are some more yummy vegan recipes for bars and cookies you might like:
–Chewy Magic “Peanut Butter Middle” Cookies from Alexa of Lexie’s Test Kitchen
–Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars from Kelly of The Spunky Coconut
–Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Alisa of Alisa Cooks
Brian Furman says
This is my go to recipe for PB cookies. I did swap in room temp butter instead of shortening, and added an egg to keep it together. Being type 2 diabetic, most cookies are not worth the trouble as you get MAYBE 2 cookies from all the sugar. I get about 12 cookies per recipe with my scoop and I did the math, they average 5 grams of carbs per cookie so I can have 3 or even 4 as a splurge. Thanks for sharing.
Elana says
Brian, thanks for your comment and so glad to hear that this is your go to recipe for PB cookies!
Katie says
I made these with sun butter and they turned out great! I could only find the crunchy sun butter so I threw it in my blendec twister jar to make it creamy. The dough was very oily, but after the cookies baked they were perfect!!! Thanks for another great recipe.
Elana says
Katie, you’re welcome! So glad to hear you enjoyed the cookies!
Rebecca says
I made these recently for my daughter who is on an elimination diet and craving some “dessert I can eat”. We agree that they are very tasty, though delicate as others have mentioned. I used crunchy peanut butter and the recipe worked out just fine. I also used solid coconut oil instead of the shortening indicated. Thanks for this!.
Mary says
Is it true that almond flour causes inflammation?
Elana says
Hi Mary, I am able to eat all nuts and am so thankful, because so many other foods are off limits for me since I’m on a strict grain-free diet! For more information on why I use almond flour read this:
https://elanaspantry.com/10-great-almond-flour-recipes/
I hope it is useful!
Elana
Jordan says
My boyfriend has Crohn’s disease and can’t eat any sort of flour other than nut flours. Coconut flour and almond flour are a lot healthier than corn flour or all-purpose. They also don’t cause inflammation.
Kasia says
Hi Elana
I’ve recently been on a peanut butter kick too after reintroducing it.
I made these cookies today and they were absolutely AMAZING.
Once cooled I topped with the tiniest smidge of crunchy peanut butter too and they were SO good.
I halved the recipe, however was wandering how is best to store these for a couple of days – should I refrigerate?
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Elana says
Hi Kasia, so glad you liked these cookies, they’re a favorite in our house too! I store them on the counter until they’re eaten which is usually just a day or two :-)
Kerstin says
Make that 11 min. A bit brown but was worried 12 min would burn. They r cooling now!
Kerstin says
These were fabulous! I followed the recipe and used local raw honey as I dont like other imitation sugars and they were so great. Halved the recipe and it made 6 perfect cookies, slightly more then 1 tbsp a piece. I cooked them for the full 12 min. Thank you elana for being in the world! :)
Colleen B says
Well, I made these (used 1/2 coconut oil / 1/2 palm shortening and honey as the sweetener) and the taste was very good. But the dough was so crumbly. I could scoop up a ball and smush it together, but the cookies just fell apart when I picked them up. I don’t think we will make these again. I think I prefer the flourless PB cookies that contain eggs. Thanks!
Elana Amsterdam says
Hi Colleen,
I was a little worried when I received your comment. I retested these and the dough was not dry.
Here’s a photo of what my dough looked like:
If you try them again please stop back by and let us know how it goes.
Thanks,
Elana
Kitty says
My batter looked like yours but my cookies crumbled?
Kitty
Elana says
Hi Kitty, thanks for your comment! I’m sorry to hear the cookies did not turn out correctly for you. The consistency can be different depending on the brands used when baking. Best results come from using the brands that are shown when clicking on the green text in the ingredient portion of the recipe. This is especially true when it comes to brands of almond flour! Hopefully you enjoy the cookies in the future! For more information on almond flour and how it affects the results of my recipes, please see this post:
https://elanaspantry.com/almond-flour/
Enjoy!
Elana
Kay says
I just made these and the same thing happened. All peanut butter is not created equal… mine did not have very much oil so I added a few tablespoons of coconut oil to the batter and that did the trick. I hope this helps.
April says
Hello – I am wondering why the use of Palm oil shortening – given that deforestation of the Palm is really really awful. Why not coconut oil or something else instead? Any help with a substitution for someone who doesn’t want to use palm for ethical reasons?
Dorie LaRue says
Palm oil is soooo wrong. I used apple sauce but they would probably be better with coconut oil or Earth Balance.
Katie says
My 4 year old son: Whoever made this recipe, these are awesome!
Me: Can I tell her that? It was made by a lady. Her name is Elana Amersterdam.
My 4 year old: Yes. Elana Amster Ham, these are awesome!
Just made these again. It had been a while. Thanks from both of us!
Elana says
You’re welcome Katie! That is ADORABLE :-)
karen justinn says
would it change the consistency if you sweetened it with another alternative sweetener and not use honey or, agave. trying to keep from blood sugar spikes. thanks.
Kat says
I used almond butter, coconut oil and sorgum lol I love to experiment ;) they turned out great!
Rae Dawn Hadinger says
I haven’t used your recipe yet, but from experience sunflower seed butter (though delicious in traditional peanut butter cookie recipes) will turn your cookies bright green. It is the combination of the sunflower seeds with the baking powder.
Natalie says
I tried making these today, but even after 15 minutes of baking, the cookies didn’t set. I made some substitutions, and I’m wondering if that’s maybe the cause of the trouble? My dad is diabetic so I swapped Splenda for the sweetener and I don’t have any shortening so I used olive oil.
When I say “didn’t set,” I mean the cookies look done but if you pick one up it basically just crumbles in your hand. The flavor is lovely, but it’s definitely not a cookie. Anyone have any suggestions that might help?
QueenJellyBean says
I made these last night – substituted:
1) Sweet: 1/4 cup measuring cup, filled halfway with xylitol crystals and water, then added the wet xylitol and a shake or two of stevia to the dough.
2) Nutiva Brand (from Costco) organic Coconut oil instead of shortening.
3) Time: needed to bake a good 15+ minutes to smell “done” and didn’t really brown too much
Review: The sweetness was perfect. The cookie texture was perfect, a little darker/wetter in the center but baked on the outside. I did not like the flavor of coconut in this cookie. It distracted me from the pleasure of peanut butter. Maybe ghee next time.
So Elana, as usual, had it right in the first place with shortening instead of coconut oil.
On a side note, I actually baked paleo peanut butter cookies from another blog immediately prior to making these. The other blog’s cookie are indeed “The Worst Cookies Ever”. Maybe I could salvage them by breaking them up and pouring coconut milk over them, Dog biscuits.
The other blog’s recipe used 1/2 cup coconut flour, but not enough wet ingredients, only 1 egg. It’s as if that blogger never made one of Elana’s coconut flour recipes with plenty of egg and experienced that “expansiveness” of a good coconut flour recipe.
Moral of the story:
a) 3 Cheers for you, fellow bakers, for sharing your experiences here. Your comments say so much to confirm if readers should invest time/ingredients in that recipe, or keep seeking.
b) All that test-baking that Elana does? 300 cheers for her!!!
Yield: 12 2-inch, 1/4-inch thick cookies.
1 cookie of 12 with the above substitutions = 153 calories, 12.8 gms fat, 5 gms carbs, 2 gms fiber, 5.3 gms protein.
Tami Toon says
Just made these cookies for my family and used coconut oil in place of shortening. These are amazing! This recipe is a keeper. Easy and very delicious.
Karen says
This was my first recipe using almond flour. I love peanut butter cookies and was skeptical. My first batch burnt as I wasn’t watching them closely enuf and I ate around area and discovered they were yummy. I made a second batch adding a spoon fool more of peanut butter and a capful more vanilla to boast the flavour a bit. Second batch is great! Thank you for the recipe, can’t wait to try more:)
Brandy says
Hi! FYI, Honey isn’t vegan! :)
SHIMRIT says
Hi Elena,
What is vegan shortening and do I have to use it? Im not sure we have it in Israel.
thanks!
Debra says
I used Barney Butter Blanched Almond Butter and substituted shortening with coconut oil. I had to make another batch because I ate so much of the batter. I did have to cook them 14 minutes. Delicious.
Toni says
D E L I C I O U S. I didn’t have quite enough honey so added a teensy bit of stevia to make up the difference, and I used butter for the shortening. Awesome cookies.
Milica says
Just made these for the dozenth time. We’re not a GF or SF family yet everyone LOVES these cookies anyway.
I used chunky peanut butter. This time. It worked really well. Watch your salt, though, I probably could’ve cut the recipe amount in half… or next time pick up a low sodium pb.
Thanks Elana! New readers… try this first!
Geneva says
Loved this recipe. Used Sunflower butter. About to make a batch soon with some bittersweet chocolate chips! Keep up the good work, your recipes are delicious! Thank you!
Geneva says
*Also, used maple syrup as the sweetener
*Used butter instead of shortening.
Made “paleoish” :)
Amanda says
I’ve got them in the oven and I’m pretty excited about biting into one. The batter was delicious. Thank you Elana!
Amanda says
Okay, I’ve just about inhaled 3 and they are delish!!!
Mia says
I just took my first batch out of the oven. I used brown rice syrup and xylitol as the sweeters. I added a homemade chocolate chip on top of each cookie.They tuned out great! I just got a thumbs up from my taste tester.
Amy says
Sunbutter works great! I also used 1/2 gluten free oats and 1/2 almond flour because I like that chewy/crunchy texture. These were delicious!
Regina says
Just made these and they were yummy! I used butter instead of shortening, and I flattened them with a fork for the classic PB cookie look. I used a small disher to portion them out and cooked them for 7 mins. Perfect!
Marianne says
Made these tonight and they are delicious! I used Earth Balance instead of shortening and they turned out great. The first batch was a little overdone on the bottom at 9 min, the second batch were perfect at 7.5 min. I was able to use a fork to flatten them before baking.
Alex says
I made this recipe however I rolled the ingredients into balls before I put them in the oven. They tasted great but they were still in a ball formation! Does anyone have any suggestions? I am new to baking so any suggestions would be great. They were also crumbly, is this due to the way I rolled them or did others have crumbly cookies?
Thanks!
Holly says
Just use a fork to smash down before baking next time. Usually peanut butter cookies need that. Mine fell apart too, so I think this is an extra delicate recipe.
Patti says
made these last night with trader joe’s almond meal, butter & maple syrup. they were fantastic! definitely had to wait for them to cool all the way or they’d fall apart. once cooled, they were perfect!
kristin says
Palm oil is destroying the rainforest. Please consider using alternatives. Check out Rainforest Action Network for more information.
Tor says
These look so good! I’ve only recently had to go gluten-free, so I’m building up my limited repertoire of gf-vegan recipes. This is going in!
lily says
Just made these today and they turned out delicious!
It was my first attempt at baking with the honeyville almond flour.
Substituted maple syrup for the agave and used butter in place of the shortening.
Very easy to make and a great healthy snack!
Thanks for the recipe!
AmandaonMaui says
I’m going grain free and dairy free for a little while, and these were a great treat tonight. I didn’t pat them down and they cooked into rounded shapes like those Enjoy Life cookies at the store. These were delicious. I loved the texture and flavor. They weren’t overly sweet either. Yum! They made my outlook on a grain free, dairy free bit of time not so gloomy.
Shelley says
Made these tonight as the reviews were so great. Only sub I did was coconut oil for the shortening, which other reviewers reported with good results. My hubby says never make them again! They would not get done, and once they were they did not look burned but tasted burnt. Bleh. Also, they fell apart the second we touched them. I had so much hope!!!
Holly says
I used coconut oil too and mine fell apart. (I was dumb and softened it first to help with measuring with honey, so maybe that was the problem.) I used regular table salt and would definitely only put in half next time. (My peanut butter probably had salt in it too. I’ll have to check.) I did like the dough better, so I froze some to eat instead of baking.
Heena says
I made these with coconut oil instead of shortening. Otherwise followed it exactly.
My cookie fell apart very easily. (ie when I tried to pick it up). Any suggestions?
Jeanie says
These are fabulous. I made a few substitutions. Replaced the agave syrup with 1/4 cup maple syrup and about 3 tbl of organic coconut palm sugar. Also replaced the palm shortening (didn’t have any) with 1 tbl of coconut oil. Used Trader Joe’s chunky unsalted organic peanut butter. I’m not a vegan, so I think I’ll try swapping the oil out for an egg. I eat grain/sugar/gluten free and am so happy to have this recipe. Will definately make again….and again.
Robyn Baldwin says
I loved these so much I took it a step further and turned them into PB&J cookies. Oh so yummy.
Michelle says
I made the following substitutions (using what I have on hand) and they turned out lovely after 6 minutes in the oven:
sunflower seed butter (Swanson brand)
coconut oil (Dr. Bronner’s, virgin, unrefined)
honey (Really Raw – of course, not vegan)
+ 1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips (Enjoy Life, certified gluten free)
Michelle says
oops – I forgot to mention that I used almond *meal* (Trader Joe’s)
Thx again.
Christine says
Can quinoa flour be substituted for almond?
QueenJellyBean says
This is a fabulous recipe. Calories per cookie-118, fat-7.3 grams, protein-3 grams. I made half a batch and yielded 7 perfect cookies. I will add stevia next time in addition to the agave to make it sweeter.
If you yield a different number of cookies and would like to calculate these nutritional values, here are are the values for the entire full recipe: calories-1650, fat-110, protein-42. Just divide by the number of cookies in your batch for per-serving values.
I run the numbers because I am into fitness. I need to know what’s going in me so I know what I need to burn. During my weight-loss years I would never have tried to work almond flour recipies into my regime, due to (baseless) fear of the fat almonds deliver. Now I run the numbers and welcome almond flour-based foods. So long as my total calorie count for the day is around or less than what I burn. So go ahead, have a cookie ;-)
Yael says
I made these cookies last night, substituting sun butter for the peanut butter. They were amazing! I’m using the past tense because the cookies are GONE already! My significant other loved them as did two of my co-workers. I love them and will make another batch tonight as I have guests visiting this weekend.
Thank you for sharing this! Great recipe! It’s a keeper!
Moe says
What can I use instead of the almond flour? I have the following on hand. Tapioca flour, flaxseed, potato flour, brown rice flour, super fine brown rice flour, and sweet sorgum flour.
I am new at GF baking and these are the only flours I have been able to buy in my area, and had to travel 50+ miles to get them.
Thanks,
Heather says
I see no one replied. Did you ever figure out what worked? I’m knew to GF flours but guessed a mix of brown rice flour & sweet sorghum flour. ?
Elana says
Hi Heather and Moe! Thanks for your comments. I’ve been grain-free since 2001, and I haven’t baked with typical GF flours in over 15 years so I’m probably not the best person to give you advice on how to make these using ingredients such as rice flour. If you do experiment I hope you’ll leave a comment to let us know how it turns out!
Donna Chernow says
These look really good…. And 101cookbooks have just become a new favorite of mine too:-)
Kate says
I looove peanut butter and have my own collection of pb recipes on my healthy vegan blog. I used to love making flourless peanut butter cookies but stopped making them due to the unhealthy and unvegan ingredients. But with your recipe, I want to try again!
Thanks again for your wonderful, inspiring recipes!
Yatee says
Yummm, I am a huge fan of peanut butter. I eat it more than the average normal person should .. And these cookies look amazing. I like the denseness that almond flour gives to baked goods, so I can only imagine how good these are.
Lauren says
These are delicious! I subbed coconut oil but mine didn’t turn out properly…they’re like earthquake cookies…turned into fractured pieces and a pile of crumbs. Tasty, but this didn’t work for me. I’m in Houston, so could it be an altitude difference??
Katie says
Mine did these too when I over baked them. They really only need the 6 or so minutes and then will cool to perfection. (Though I did really enjoy just pouring a bit of Almond Milk over the crumbs and eating them with a spoon–almost like a dessert cereal.)
elisabeth says
These are amazing! So simple and so deliciously rich. I used Earth Balance. I don’t think I’ll ever make another peanut butter cookie recipe again!
Dave Bel says
Thanks for sharing, the look delcious!
Athena says
I cant eat peanut butter at all. So I decided to give it a whirl with the sunbutter as a substitute. I also added some unsweetened carob chips and they were TERRIF!!!! Cookies dont normally hang around my house for long, but these cookies stay was much shorter than normal!
LM says
I used your recipe w/ a few modifications. I used almond butter instead of peanut butter and xylitol as a sweetener. But since your sweetener is liquid, I added a splash of unsweetened almond milk to the batter, until it got the consistency of cookie dough. Looooooved the result. Yay for a low carb, sugar free cookie. Thank you so much for your recipes! I loooooove your blog!
Sara B. says
I have a question about the sea salt. I’ve seen Celtic sea salt suggested quite often from many sources. Is there a reason for this specific kind rather than other sea salts?
Jennifer R. says
made these last night with my 13 year old son — they were wonderful. we used Barney butter (made with almonds) and earth balance. turned out great! thanks elana!!
Katie says
I made these subbing sunflower seed butter for the peanut and grapeseed oil for the shortning (just ‘cuz the shortning is so darn expensive and the grapeseen oil was on sale at my local co-op), and they just turned out lovely. I didn’t quite trust the short cooking time on the first batch and overcooked them a bit, but the second batch…oh boy! Thank you Elana–these were lovely!
Katie says
Oh! And I forgot to add, that I also subbed Trader Joes Maple Agave blend (yes, I know, it has some Cane Sugar in there too) for the Agave Syrup. That hint of maple was very complimentary.
claudia says
Has anyone tried this with almond butter? I’m still off peanuts, but good to know that that can change. Just tried chocolate banana cake from he Gluten-free Almond Flour cookbook. It was very satisfying on so many levels–tasted great and actually felt like I was doing something good for my body.
Claire Clark says
yep, very yummy with almond nut butter too!
Alta says
Your peanut butter kick is SO tempting. These look delicious.
Herbalchef says
Made a batch of these this afternoon with a little twist. Used almond butter rather and peanut butter, substituted coconut oil for the shortening and topped each one with one chocolate chip! They are no long Vegan because we use Dagoba which contains milk. They are a really good quick snack. Not too sweet with a bit of chocolate surprise. Very nice! Thanks Elana for the inspiration.
Becca says
That’s funny because I was just thinking since I didn’t have enough peanut butter if I could use almond butter. I just made half the batch with the peanut butter I had. I may try the almond butter next time. Thanks for sharing the twist. I’m not good at twisting and experimenting in the kitchen. :)
Jessica says
I also used almond butter and regular butter vs. the shortening. They were amazing! And fairly guilt free!!
Jennifer L. says
Yippee! Treats without eggs! Hooray! I love Elana’s cookie creations. I can make these right now–Yay!
Bonnie says
Thank you Elana. I’m a in-bed-by-nine-pm kind of girl, but when I saw your post I had to make these. I did substitute Crunchy Sunbutter for the peanut butter and used coconut oil for the Spectrum and they were wonderful. Your recipes are so yummy!
Maria says
These sound wonderful! I will, however, be subbing with Sunbutter since my son is allergic to peanuts. And I haven’t been able to find the Spectrum shortening lately, so I think I’ll try Earth Balance.
Thanks for the recipe.
Becca says
Did you try with the Earth Balance yet? I know where I live I will not be able to find Spectrum vegan shortening. Let me kn0ow! :) Thanks!
Natalie says
I used Earth Balance, worked great! These are delicious cookies!
Sara Jean says
I used Earth Balance as well and it worked great. I also used apple sauce instead of the agave and added a little stevia. They were amazing!!!!! These are almost too good.
Rebecca says
Is your son allergic to tree nuts as well? I am allergic to peanuts and I am going to try this recipe with Barney Butter- my new peanut butter substitute of choice. It is sweet and creamy, and the closest thing to “Jif” creamy peanut butter as I can remember. http://www.barneybutter.com/ It is a gluten free and peanut free facility.
Natalie says
Just put them in the oven! I love that I can read one of Elanas recipes, jump up, have all the ingredient and just make something new! BTW, I didn’t have any shortening so I used vegan butter. Pretty sure they will be delish!
Becca says
I absolutely agree! Her recipes are so simple, easy, and delicious! Just a few ingredients and DONE! :)
Diana says
These look YUMMY!
However I am wondering if the vanilla is vegan. It is organic alcohol but they don’t mention whether or not the alcohol is filtered with fish bladders (like many grain or fruit based alcohols are). I’ve contacted them for clarification but since it’s the weekend…
Maybe you’ve already got the heads up on how they filter their alcohol for the vanilla?
Jay says
Oh my goodness. Instead of fretting about the vanilla in the recipe being filtered through fish bladders (geez almighty) Just buy yourself some organic vanilla, or pick up some organic vanilla beans, a jar, some good brandy, or vodka, or everclear, and make your own organic vanilla extract.
Charmaine says
*stifling my laughter* :-)
Diana says
With all due respect (which you clearly aren’t affording me), I wasn’t fretting about it being organic.
Simple lesson: Organic does not equal vegan.
I myself am not vegan but I have friends who are. They will not eat anything that contains an ingredient that isn’t vegan. If the alcohol used in the vanilla isn’t vegan (fish bladders) then then vanilla isn’t either. If the vanilla isn’t then the cookies aren’t. It is wrong to label cookies as being vegan if they contain an ingredient that isn’t.
And yes, I do actually make my own vanilla. The alcohol I use isn’t vegan so my vanilla isn’t either. I’d hoped the link to the vanilla she used would not only be gluten free but vegan certified as well since I was hoping to find a vegan vanilla for friends.
I fail to see how my comment seeking clarification should merit such a derogatory and dismissive remark.
Jay says
I know the difference between organic and vegan thank you. No lesson needed.
You are making a mountain out of a mole hill here. This was a simple cookie recipe post, courtesy of Elana, that readers could choose to make or not choose to make.
Your question about the vanilla used in the recipe was unnecessary. If a person reading this recipe happens to be a vegan, they will use the vanilla they always use for baked goods, or a vanilla bean or their own homemade vanilla.
Why you felt the need to overemphasize isinglass used in some filtering, (that incidently is becoming rarer and rarer) is beyond me, and probably a good many others.
Good lord, check out the dozens & dozens of vegan cookbooks, or website that offer vegan recipes that call for vanilla. You’d be hard pressed to find one that says, be sure you use vegan vanilla. You won’t find it as 99% of vegans know what vanilla to use.
I too have quite a few vegan friends. and believe it or not, they know what baking supplies are vegan or not vegan, without me having to tell them. They also know where to buy thier vegan baking supplies, how to make their own vanilla, and, what beer, wine, or spirits, are vegan or not vegan also. Isn’t that amazing?
As for your homemade vanilla being non vegan when you have vegan friends. How odd..
Diana says
Mr/s Jay,
I’ll admit my first response was not my best, I was a tad shell shocked by the extent of your response to a simple question. And as to pointing out that vegan does not equal organic, well the amount of time spent informing me how to just go get organic vanilla when that wasn’t the point of my question at all suggested that it might not be a fact you were fully aware of.
At this stage I’m firmly of the belief that you are the one turning this into a contentious issue. All I asked was if Mrs Elana knew how the vanilla alcohol was filtered. I’ve been looking for a commercial source of vegan vanilla, it was an innocent question.
Your response, when it wasn’t a question aimed at you, was dismissive and had no point other than to ridicule. How is that helpful?
Furthermore your comment that I have vegan friends but I’m not in possession of vegan vanilla (and that is ‘odd..’) is insinuating at best and at worst insulting. Your experience with your vegan friends does not equal how it is for everyone else, nor does everyone else have the same amount of experience as you in different topics of diet. Please be considerate.
So if you don’t have anything further that is helpful on this subject I will consider it closed with you.
Katie says
I apologize if I found this back-and-forth entertaining. I just wanted to add that I made these without vanilla (as I was out) and they were delightfull–you would never have noticed. I think if you were unable to find an appropriate vanilla you could just leave it out or sub Orange Flower water or Rose water as the flavor profiles matched.
Michelle says
Thank you for the rosewater information. I was on the hunt for a recipe in which I could use the flavor of rose, and chocolate chips, and am so glad that you posted this!
judie says
I was wondering if I can use my kitchen aid mixer instead of a hand mixer.
Jessica says
what about earth balance or dairy butter?
Natalie says
Earth Balanced worked great!!
Jessica says
so did butter!
Bonnie says
so did coconut oil
Susan Shaver says
Has anyone tried substituting coconut oil for the Spectum shortening? How did it work?
Naomi says
Fine, I think – see my comment above.
Pat says
These look perfect! and thanks for mentioning the sunflower butter, as I have a friend who can’t eat peanuts that will love these.
Naomi says
Batter ready, will bake them for dessert tonight. Thank you! I subbed xylitol for agave and coconut oil for shortning as we have none of the latter.
Naomi says
I used natural peanut butter and I am thinking that was the culprit. The bake time was quite a bit longer than the recipe called for but they did finally brown after I reset the timer many times. It was 15-20 minutes. My oven is a tad wonky so perhaps that’s part of it. They did not hold together at all. The next day, they were a bit more solid but still, not something you could pick up and eat like a cookie. I ate mine with a fork. The dough tasted so yummy and my youngest would not touch the cookies at all but she was sure at that dough! LOL! I think I will try a small batch of these and not bake. It’s so hot here anyway.
Jenn says
These sound delish!!!
What can you use instead of shortening?
Coconut oil? Butter? (for non vegans)
Any substitution suggestions? And amounts?
Jessica says
I substituted butter and they turned out great!
Amanda Werts says
I generally use coconut oil anytime it calls for shortening and it always works great.
Caoimhe says
Love your recipes Elana! I always look forward to them arriving in my in box;)
One question for you in relation to almond flour I was hoping you could answer- are you an advocate of soaking nuts to remove the phytic acid, among other things? Have you ever tried soaking pre ground almonds for your recipes, and if so what kind if results did you find?
Have any of your readers tried soaking almond flour for the health benefits them dehyrating to make it easier to use in recipes?
Would love to know your thoughts! A big thanks from Dublin, Ireland!
Judy says
I soak my almonds before I make almond milk. Then I sometimes dehydrated the pulp and grind it in my grain mill or blender for almond flour and it works great. I also use the pulp damp in pancakes and in Elana’s recipes she has for crackers using the damp pulp. I still haven’t perfected using the damp pulp in bread recipes. The damp pulp also freezes well.
Harmony says
We like soaking our almonds. We use 1 Tbsp. salt to 4 cups water, then let the almonds soak 12 hours. We drain them and spread them a layer thick on cookie sheets and place them in the oven. We bake them all day at a very low temperature, till they are dry and snap easily. They taste SO good- way better then the roasted nuts at the store.
RH says
I wonder if you could grind some roasted peanuts into a flour to use in place of some/all of the almond flour, to further intensify the goodness. Have you ever tried that?
jackie says
Have you ever tried peanut flour? They sell it at trader joes. That may intensify the peanut taste!
Rin says
They do sell peanut flour at Trader Joe’s…but watch out, I’ve only seen it as the reduced fat kind and the things I made with it turned out rather crumbly!
Rachel Raymond says
Yummers! Can’t wait to try these….love how easy your recipes are!
Brandon says
Have you been seeing my posts on peanut butter lately over on Twitter? I feel like you have read my mind. I’m back on peanut butter, as well, because just like you I didn’t feel that great when I ate it regularly. I’m spacing out my servings, which is helping, while opting for other nut and seed spreads like almond butter and sunflower seed butter.
Anna says
Brandon and Elana…can you specify what you mean by ‘not feeling great’ with a lot of peanut butter? I’m wondering whether any if my symptons correlate…I’ve kinda noticed it but didn’t want to acknowledge it because I LOVE peanut butter…any advice/clarity would be much appreciated!
Hanna says
I am not Elana but I know what you are experiencing. You probably get a stomach ache because peanuts can get moldy and sometimes a moldy peanut can get mixed in with the regular peanuts which can cause you to experience a stomach ache.
Christin says
I don’t know what she is referring to…..but Peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts, which are grown underground as part of a root system.
It is primarily due to the peanuts’ direct contact with the soil that they have become harmful, and even dangerous, to your health.
Peanuts have a soft and porous skin and they grown in the ground. When the environment surrounding the peanut becomes warm, humid and wet — as it does in most regions of the U.S. where peanuts are commonly grown — a fungal growth/mold occurs.
The fungus itself is not dangerous, but the poison it releases, known as “aflatoxin,” is. This cancer-causing toxin damages the liver, is one of the more deadly food-borne toxins in existence, it feeds candida and more
Choose ORGANIC varieties grown in a dry regions where aflatoxin have not been reported as a problem, such as New Mexico.