These chewy peanut butter cookies are filled with peanut butter, chewy, moist, and both gluten and dairy free!

Yes, you've read it right. Gluten and dairy-free!

You're probably like what?! Dairy-free, maybe. Gluten-free? You're kidding me. No way, can gluten-free ingredients make better cookies than regular flour.

No, really, trust me. I was also a gluten-free skeptic before, but these cookies, I don't know 🤷🏻‍♀️...might convert you to love gluten-free treats. 🤪 It certainly did for me!

My previous experience with gluten-free sweets were nothing to brag about and usually came down to three words: dry, crumbly, tasteless.

Well, not these gluten free chewy peanut butter cookies! I made a batch of both regular and gluten-free ones just to compare. The results? The gluten-free ones are chewier, moist, and really tasty, even on it's third day, while the regular ones are really good right out of the oven, but only good till day 2. Yeah, I know right. I was mind blown too.

Oh, and did I mention that these cookies are super easy to make? Well they are! And I want to thank Katie of Katie Bird Bakes blog for providing such an easy way to make peanut butter cookies. I love it! Only one bowl is needed and no more creaming butter and sugar! Yes to that any day!

For those are you who are still pro-flour cookies, visit Katie's blog for the original Peanut Butter Cookies recipe, made with flour and butter! They are sooo good right out of the oven!

Ingredients to make peanut butter cookies gluten free and dairy free:

Coconut oil: We are substituting butter for coconut oil to make it dairy-free.
- Neutral oil: If you don't have any coconut oil on hand, you can use any neutral flavored oil or melted butter (if your aim is not dairy-free).
Peanut butter: I recommend creamy peanut butter, but if you prefer some crunch, nothing is wrong with crunchy peanut butter.
Brown sugar: This will bring some extra color and flavor to the cookies.
Eggs: Eggs will bind everything together and keep the cookies moist.
Baking soda: To give our cookies some volume and to make the cookies chewier.
Vanilla and salt: These will give the cookies another layer of flavor!
Coconut flour: We are substituting regular flour with coconut flour to make the cookies gluten-free. The coconut flour also helps with making the cookies chewy, so win-win!
Optional: White, granulated sugar for sprinkling.

Roll the cookie doughs to give the cookies a smoother surface. Or plop them straight onto your lined baking tray for a rustic look!

Some gluten-free and cookie FAQs:

What's the difference between regular flour PB cookies and this gluten-free version?

Because of the difference in the ingredients used, these gluten-free cookies won't spread very much while baking. They will expand and puff up slightly from the eggs and baking soda, but that's about it.

Also, while most cookies are the best when they have just come out of the oven, these gluten free peanut butter cookies are actually better after cooling for a bit or even overnight; they get chewier and stays moist. Oh but don't get me wrong, you should absolutely eat a few (or maybe all 16? 😜) of these gluten-free PB cookies right out of the oven!

Gently flatten each ball of cookie doughs or you'll get a super tall, round cookie!

How to not over-mix this cookie batter?

Good news to you! This recipe will never make dry cookies due to over-mixing because it is gluten-free! Yup, that is the bonus to gluten-free baking.😉

How do I use coconut flour?

With most brands, 1 cup regular flour can be subbed by ¼ cup coconut flour. However, every brand is a little different, so I always use 1 Tablespoon less coconut flour than what a recipe calls for then if needed, I will add 1 Tablespoon more coconut flour at a time until the batter becomes the correct consistency.

What are some other alternatives to coconut flour?

Beside coconut flour, the next best gluten-free flour to use for this recipe is almond flour, if you're not allergic. The ratio for almond flour and coconut flour to regular flour is very similar so you can switch out the coconut flour as is and add 1 Tablespoon more almond flour at a time to get a semi-soft cookie dough consistency.

The other option, although I have not tried before but have heard very promising reviews of, is the pre-made 1 to 1 gluten-free flour, like from Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur.

Criss-cross apple sauce? Nah criss-cross chewy peanut butter cookies! Haha...I'm so bad at rhyming.😅

Bake with love!
Mei ❤️