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These fantastic low carb peanut butter cookies are made with gluten free coconut flour. With only 2 net carbs per cookie, they are an indulgent, yet perfectly acceptable way to satisfy your sweet tooth on keto.
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You’ve probably tried the ever popular 3-ingredient low carb cookies. Made with only your choice of nut butter, egg, and your favorite low carb sweetener, they are gluten free and low carb.
Unfortunately, the texture of flourless cookies just isn’t the same as those made with flour. And using almond butter or sun butter doesn’t give you that peanut butter taste in quite the same way.
That’s how these keto friendly coconut flour peanut butter cookies came to be…there needed to be a classic peanut butter cookie that worked on the keto diet.
Ingredients In Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
So what do you need to make these delightful low carb peanut butter cookies?
- Coconut flour
- Natural peanut butter (unsweetened)
- Stevia concentrated powder
- Low carb sugar substitute
- Butter
- Eggs
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
While there are more than 3 ingredients here, it’s still a very simple recipe to make.
And the result?
Not only do you have gluten free keto cookies you can eat without guilt, their taste and texture are like the ones you remember from childhood.
When I first made the cookies, I used all Swerve. However, the cooling taste was definitely present.
I recommend reducing the Swerve and adding in stevia concentrate. The sweetener blend makes the cooling effect of erythritol unnoticeable.
Depending on how sweet you want these low carb peanut butter cookies, you can add anywhere from ½ to ¾ cup sugar equivalent. The amount of sweetener I used in the recipe is closer to ½ cup of sugar.
Although I thought the coconut flour amount was just right, you may want to adjust it slightly to get the texture you prefer. I like the cookie crisp on the outside and a bit softer in the middle.
Coconut Flour
The inclusion of coconut flour is what makes these cookies have the texture they do. Coconut flour is incredibly absorbent and can’t be exchanged with other low carb fours equally, so if you don’t have it on hand you’ll need to pick some up on your next trip!
Coconut flour does vary by brand. So, you may need more or less of it.
These cookies will come out just a bit crisp on the outside and perfectly gooey in the middle. If you make your dough, however, and the texture seems off to you don’t be afraid to make a test batch and then add a sprinkle or two more flour to get the texture that’s pleasing to your palate.
If you’re worried about having an overwhelming coconut taste, don’t be. There’s more than enough peanut butter to make sure that doesn’t happen!
Butter
Butter is the traditional peanut butter cookie ingredient, so that’s what this recipe calls for (we want to keep the flavor as authentic as possible, after all).
However if you wanted gluten free, dairy free peanut butter cookies all you would need to do is substitute coconut oil.
You could use any kind you have on hand, but refined is better if you don’t want coconut undertones in your finished cookies.
The Best Sweetener For Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Low carb sweeteners are interesting.
The first batch of keto peanut butter cookies had all Swerve in them. They were good, but that notorious cooling taste was definitely present.
That’s why the final recipe actually calls for a mix of sweeteners. When you combine the Swerve or another erythritol blend with concentrated stevia powder, the cooler effect becomes unnoticeable.
Keto baking tip: Don’t cut the salt out of your low carb sweets recipes! It also helps reduce any aftertaste you might notice from sugar free sweeteners. If you’re peanut butter is salted, however, you can leave it out.
If you’ve got a real sweet tooth, you can absolutely increase the sweetener blend quantity. The amount of sweetener used in this is comparable ½ cup of sugar, but if you’d like more you can add another teaspoon or two.
If you need to switch out the granulated sweetener for a different option because of what you have on hand, you can refer to this low carb sweetener chart.
To modify this recipe into a flourless cookie, you’d need to omit the coconut flour, butter, and egg. And, the sweetener would likely need to be reduced to accommodate.
But, I was looking for low carb peanut butter cookies that had the texture of flour based ones. The coconut flour is needed to achieve that.
It’s best to tweak the sweetener and coconut flour until you get something that works best for your ingredients.
Baking Your Coconut Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
When you make up your cookie dough, you’ll roll it into a ball and place it on your baking sheet. Before you use a fork to make that nostalgic criss cross pattern, flatten the balls just a little bit.
Unlike regular peanut butter cookie dough, this batter doesn’t spread much in the oven. Because of this, you’ll need to flatten them very thin before baking if you like them that way.
Once they are all done cooking, gently remove them to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
If you’d like to make a peanut butter blossom cookie, take a peek at this recipe that tops a peanut butter flavored cookie with homemade chocolate kisses.
You can also make thumbprint cookies filled with sugar free chocolate chips to satisfy your sweet tooth. All of these cookie recipes would be perfect for holiday treats!
Making Ahead & Storing Your Peanut Butter Cookies
You can make the dough up ahead of time and freeze it to bake them fresh, if you’d like. The easiest way to do this is to roll the balls and flash freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting them in a freezer bag.
Before cooking, lay the balls on the baking sheet and let them come to room temperature so that they cook well.
Alternately, you can cook up a large batch and store them in an airtight container. They should keep well for 2-3 days at room temperature and longer in the fridge.
Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you think when you try them!
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Peanut Butter Cookies with Coconut Flour
Recipe Video (Click on Image to Play)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour add more if needed
- ¼ cup low carb sugar substitute or other sugar equivalent sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon stevia concentrated powder or ½ teaspoon monk fruit extract powder
- 1 cup unsweetened peanut butter
- ¼ cup butter softened
- 2 eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together until well combined and dough forms
- Drop scoops or balls of dough onto parchment paper lined baking pans.
- Flatten each dough ball by making criss-cross mark with fork. For flatter cookies, press down first with fingers before making the fork marks.
- Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes or until edges of cookies have browned.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
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Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Unauthorized use of this material without written permission from Lisa MarcAurele is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes.
Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
Tom
Can I use just stevia? If so, what amount? Stick with 1/4 cup or increase?
Lisa MarcAurele
It depends on the stevia that you are using. You can use the sweetener conversion calculator for some of the common choices.
Ginny
We had to substitute some ingredients, so I expected to have possibly strange results, but I wound up with pretty dry cookies and I’m wondering which part of what I could’ve caused it. I had to substitute salted butter spread instead of regular unsalted butter. I omitted the salt as a result of this. I also used Monkfruit/ Stevia blend granular Sweetener for both types of sweetener. I believe I got the amount right because the sweetness level is right, and there is no cooling sensation which is fabulous. But the cookies are very dry. When I make this recipe again I’ll try regular butter of course and see if that makes a difference. Any other issues that could cause dry cookies?
Lisa MarcAurele
There could have been a difference in fat content with the spread versus butter. However, the absorbency of coconut flour can vary so I’d recommend measuring slightly less coconut flour and only adding more if needed. You could have had too much coconut flour in the cookies.
Rooni
Thanks again. Forgot to rate the recipe!
Rooni
Thank you for this recipe! I decided to look up a traditional peanut butter cookie recipe and then work with both recipes to make a bigger batch of cookie dough that was still high fiber and low gluten. I used 1/2 cup coconut flour, 1/2 cup old fashioned oats, 1/4 cup cacao powder, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup Zing baking blend (so much for low carb!), 1 tsp. baking soda, and 2 tblsp. water in addition to the other ingredients in your recipe to make the desired cookie dough consistency. Almost 3 dozen cookies! I will work on adjusting the sweeteners to Swerve and stevia to make this recipe lower in carbs while still keeping the high fiber content and having less fat per cookie.
Pat
Did you adjust amounts of rest of ing. or as is?
James Cook
A very good snack.For sweetener I just used some powdered monk fruit.Turned out great.Wondering if some cocoa powder would give you a chocolate peanut butter cookie?Suppose you would have to up the moisture to absorb the chocolate powder.Have you ever tried anything like this?And would love your thoughts.Been following you and your advice for sometime now.You are the best!
Lisa MarcAurele
You could either melt chocolate into the peanut butter or add cocoa powder. Cocoa powder would likely be easier.
carlie
Hi Lisa
I’m looking forward to making this recipe. I have liquid Stevia already but no powdered. Will this work or do I need to buy the powdered version?
Thankyou
Lisa MarcAurele
This recipe should work with all stevia. It doesn’t need the powdered sweetener. Just adjust the stevia up to taste.
Oli
How would you flash freeze these? I clicked the attached link- do you still bake the dough prior to freezing or just roll the dough into balls & then freeze raw? How long does this dough keep if frozen? Thanks!
Lisa MarcAurele
I’ve frozen the peanut butter cookies baked and also as dough balls. Both work well. I just put them on a sheet pan in the freezer until frozen then store in sealed bags or containers.
Mary Jo
Could powdered peanut butter be used?
Lisa MarcAurele
I actually have another recipe where I use peanut flour (or powdered peanut butter). It’s the peanut butter blossoms recipe.
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Deliciousoso 🥶
Connie
We loved this easy cookie recipe! People are raving about banana bread being easy but they probably haven’t made this! This is seriously the easiest recipe I’ve found during quarantine. We finished all the cookies in 2 days between the two of us! Yum!
Richard
I tried making these last night. Came out horrible as all the oil melted out of the peanut better. I used Costco organic peanut butter. Dont know if that was the problem or what.
Lisa MarcAurele
I’ve never had oil separate out of peanut butter while baking. Was the peanut butter stirred well before using? Coconut flour is typically very absorbent so it should have absorbed the oil.
Amy
Is there a substitute for maple syrup? Can I just use all coconut sugar instead of maple syrup? Or will honey work?
Lisa MarcAurele
You can use all coconut sugar in place of the stevia if you’d like. There is a sweetener conversion chart linked in the notes that can help.
Susan
Very good!!
Krysta
Mine came out very crumbly and fell apart 😥 not sure what I did wrong. I did not have anything to sweeten them with …
Lisa MarcAurele
Did you allow them to cool completely? They can be crumbly at first, but after cooling completely (I keep mine in the refrigerator) they hold together much better.
Lauren
I don’t know how you get 24 cookies out of this. I got 12 relatively small cookies and they were not crunchy at all 🙁 I used ghee instead of butter and honey instead of stevia so maybe that caused the difference.
Lisa MarcAurele
I used a small cookie scoop. The cookies should be soft baked and not crunchy.
Lauren
My batter was runny and they turned out a strange rubbery texture. I think it must have been the ghee/honey substitution. There is no way I would get 24 cookies unless they were like quarter sized
Lisa MarcAurele
It was most likely the honey.
Darcy
Could I add unsweetened cocoa powder to these?
Lisa MarcAurele
You might need to add more liquid if you add cocoa powder or use less coconut flour.
Monika
Made these today. Turned out perfectly. I used smooth peanut butter. Next time will use crunchy peanut butter. Husband loved them also. Thanks for recipe.
Angela
Great recipe!