Vegan Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
There are two types of people in the world: team flat cookies and team fluffy cookies. These vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies fall under the latter category. They have a wonderfully dense texture, almost like a granola bar, while still staying fluffy. I love knocking back one of these cookies with a cold glass of almond milk. Imagine cookies that are:
- Thick, moist, and chewy thanks to the oats
- Toasty and nutty thanks to the peanut butter
- Chocolatey with just the right amount of sweetness
Key Ingredients In These Vegan Cookies
These cookies are slightly different from your standard fare in that they have oats — they go so well with the nutty peanut butter flavor and flake salt on top!
A mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour: I like to incorporate a little whole wheat flour in these cookies for added earthy flavor, but you can feel free to use 100% all-purpose if that’s what you have. You can also use your favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour blend for a GF option.
Baking powder and baking soda: These give the cookies their rise. These are thick, almost cakey cookies, not at all flat or crispy like a gingersnap.
Cinnamon: For an extra layer of flavor, cinnamon goes really well with the oats and peanut butter. Feel free to leave it out if you prefer.
Salt in the cookies and on the cookies: This is key. We add regular sea salt to the dough batter, and then sprinkle the cookie dough balls with flake salt at the end before baking. The salt compliments the chocolate and peanut butter so well — don’t skip it!
Rolled oats: The oats add body to the cookies and give them a thick, chewy texture.
A neutral oil, such as avocado: You could also use canola oil or grapeseed oil. Avoid oils with strong flavors such as coconut oil or olive oil.
Creamy natural peanut butter: Opt for unsalted so that you can control the salt level of the cookie dough. You can use almond butter to make this peanut-free or sunflower seed butter to make this nut-free entirely. Customize it how you like!
Half pure cane sugar and half brown sugar: The brown sugar adds a deep molasses flavor, and when combined with the pure-cane sugar, add just the right amount of sweetness to the cookies.
Unsweetened plant-based milk of your choice: I prefer unsweetened almond milk for baking, but you can use oat milk or soy milk if you’re nut-free.
Ground flax seeds: Since plant-based baking omits eggs, ground flax seeds act as the binder in many recipes.
Vanilla: Because what sweet baked good isn’t improved with a high-quality vanilla extract?
Dairy-free chocolate chips: I like semi-sweet for this recipe because it has so much going on, but feel free to use dark chocolate or even vegan white chocolate if it’s available.
How to Make These Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
The method for these cookies is similar to many others — combine the dry ingredients, combine the wet ingredients, and then combine the two.
First, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. These are your oil, peanut butter, ground flax seeds, plant milk, sugars, and vanilla.
Add the dry to the wet, one half at a time. First you want to moisten the mixture, so add one half of the dry mix and stir until it’s combined. Then add the second half. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Since this dough contains oats and flax seeds, it needs a few minutes for these ingredients to soak up the wet ingredients and really bind the dough together. Don’t skip this step! If you do, your cookies will be hard to form into balls and they’ll spread too much in the oven.
Bake until the edges are lightly golden brown. Depending on your oven, this should take 18–20 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Cool before enjoying — if your patience allows! This will allow the cookies to firm up so they won’t fall apart when you dig in.
Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup avocado oil (see note)
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (see note)
- 1/2 cup pure cane sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened nondairy milk of choice
- 4 tsp ground flax seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips
- Flake salt, for topping (optional, but recommended)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and oats.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the oil, peanut butter, sugars, milk, ground flax seeds, and vanilla extract.
- Add half of the dry mixture to the wet, stirring to incorporate fully. Then add the other half. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the dough to the refrigerator and let it chill for 30 minutes.
- Using a large scoop or clean hands, roll 10-12 large dough balls and transfer to the parchment lined baking sheets, with 5-6 cookies per sheet. Flatten slightly with your hands and sprinkle with the flake salt.
- Bake for 18 minutes, or until the edges turn lightly golden brown and the tops begin to crack.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes. This will help the cookies firm up.
This sounds so easy to make. It’s on my to do list for this week.
I hope you love them as much as I did, Alpa!
These vegan chocolate chip peanut butter cookies are so good! This recipe is a keeper.