The Best Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

If you are a peanut butter fanatic...I mean eat peanut butter right out of the jar type of fanatic, you are going to LOVE my new homemade gluten free peanut butter cookies recipe. These cookies seem to melt in your mouth and they are full of peanut butter flavor.

My husband and son are die-hard peanut butter fanatics. They eat it by the spoonful and jarful. If I know I am going to need peanut butter for a recipe, I literally have to put a don't eat sign on the lid.

Neither of my guys is fond of crunchy peanut butter, so to get the crunch in this easy gluten free peanut butter cookie recipe, I add chopped peanuts to the cookie dough. My recipe makes soft peanut butter cookies so the peanuts are a fun way to add texture.

If you are a cookie lover like me, you will want to check out ALL of my Gluten Free Cookie Recipes :-). I also have a really helpful Gluten Free Cookie Troubleshooting Guide to read.

Why these gluten free peanut butter cookies are great:

Not only is my gluten free peanut butter cookie recipe easy to make, but these cookies freeze really well so you can have delicious cookies on hand any time. This cookie dough takes 5 minutes to make, and then just 10 minutes to bake.

While you are baking, try these Gluten Free Chocolate Espresso Cookies and these Gluten Free Russian Tea Cookies as well!

Top Pick

King Arthur, Measure for Measure Flour 3 lbs

This is one of my favorite gluten-free flour blends for cookies, cakes, pie crust, biscuits, and muffins! (Do not use this flour blend for yeast recipes.)

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Ingredient notes:

• Gluten free flour blend - I tested this recipe using Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend and King Arthur's Measure for Measure Gluten Free Blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
• Xanthan gum - If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon. One of these ingredients is important because they hold the baked treat together.
• Butter - To make these yummy cookies recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
• Peanut butter - I used creamy unsalted peanut butter. Check to be sure your peanut butter is gluten free.
• Peanuts - To add crunch I added chopped peanuts to the cookies. You can use crunchy peanut butter to do the same thing adding crunch.

Fun mix-ins:

• Chopped nuts
• Chocolate chips
• Reeses Peanut Butter Chips
• Heath Bits

Recipe step-by-step directions:

Making these peanut butter cookies recipe is simple. Gather up your ingredients!

Step 1: In a large bowl, add your dry ingredients and whisk to blend. Don't forget to add Xanthan Gum if your gluten free blend doesn't contain it.

To measure your gluten free flour, I recommend using the spoon method or leveling method. In a perfect world, people weigh their flour, but most do not own a kitchen scale.

Put the measuring scoop into the flour and fill. Do not pack the flour. Use a knife to scrape along the top to remove the extra flour.

Use a spoon to fill the measuring cup. Use a knife to level along the top to remove the extra flour.

Step 2: Add your wet ingredients to a microwave-safe dish. Melt the butter, but not too hot. Remove it from the microwave and add the peanut butter. This will help soften the peanut butter so that it is easier to mix in.

We refrigerate our peanut butter so it wouldn't mix in without softening! Add the eggs and vanilla next. The peanut butter will also cool the mixture down before adding the eggs.

NOTE: If your butter/peanut butter mixture is really hot, you will need to temper your eggs so they don't cook in the hot liquid. To temper the eggs, mix your eggs in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the hot mixture, whisking constantly. Repeat this twice then pour the mixture into your butter mixture.

Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, Add in the chopped peanuts or any other mix-in you want. (A lot of people like to add chocolate chips too!)

Step 4: Mix your ingredients to make a soft peanut butter cookie dough.

Step 5: Use a cookie scoop to drop even balls of cookie dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Use a fork to press down the cookie balls as shown in the photo. Two presses of the fork are enough, one in each direction to make tic tac toe-looking indents.

Step 6: Bake at 350º F for 10 minutes. Remove and slide the parchment paper onto a cooling rack.

Cookie baking tips:

• Use room-temperature butter and eggs. I know that it sounds crazy to use butter and eggs at room temperature, but it dramatically helps how your cookies will turn out. You'll thank yourself later if you try it.
• Take special care to measure correctly. If you add in too much gluten free flour or other ingredients, it can mess with the cookies as they bake. If they don't have the proper ratios of ingredients, you may end up with a disaster.
• Chill the dough when possible. I know you are probably ready to eat your cookies right now, but taking a few minutes to chill the batter makes them less likely to spread.
• Your oven temperature may be off. Periodically, check your oven temperature to make sure it's right. Otherwise, the cookies will, for sure, spread if it's not accurate.
• Use a cooled cookie sheet when baking. Don't take a hot cookie sheet and put the batter on it, or I promise the cookies won't turn out. They start baking immediately, and it messes with the shape of them. Use a couple of sheets and rotate them out when making large batches of cookies.
• Don't let the cookies sit on the pan too long. After they have baked, only let them sit up to 5 minutes on the baking sheet. The pan will still be hot and continue baking them otherwise.

Recipe FAQ:

Check out my gluten free peanut butter cookies web story too!

More yummy gluten free cookies:

• Gluten Free Butter Cookies
• Delicious Gluten Free Pecan Cookies
• Gluten Free Brookies
• Gluten Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

📖 Recipe

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Sandi Gaertner

These soft gluten free peanut butter cookies are full of delicious peanut butter flavor. There is a nut free and dairy free version as well.

5 from 12 votes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 20 mins

Course Gluten Free Cookies and Bar Recipes

Cuisine American

Servings 24 cookies

Calories 214 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  Cookie sheet
• ▢
  Cookie scoop

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ¾ cups gluten free flour blend * see note
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¾ cup brown sugar
• ▢ ⅓ cup sugar
• ▢ 13 tablespoons butter
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup peanut butter
• ▢ 2 eggs large
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped peanuts optional see note

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350º F.
• In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk to blend.
• In a microwave-safe dish, melt the butter. Add the peanut butter and the hot butter will soften the peanut butter. Add the eggs and vanilla. *If your melted butter mixture is too hot, you will need to temper the eggs so they don't cook in the hot butter. To do this, whisk your eggs in a dish. Add 1 tablespoon of the hot mixture and whisk constantly. Repeat 2-3 times. Pour into the rest of the wet ingredients and mix.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the mix-ins, and mix well.
• Use a cookie scoop to drop peanut butter cookie dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
• Take a fork and press each cookie dough ball down with the fork. I do this in a plus shape in two directions as shown in the photos.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack.

Notes

1. I have tested this recipe with King Arthur Measure for Measure GF and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF blend. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours. If the brand you use is high starch, you may need to use less flour.
2. If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
3. To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
4. To make this recipe nut-free, use SunButter spread instead of peanut butter.
5. I recommend using no salt added peanut butter.
6. These cookies will keep up to 4 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.

Fun Mix-Ins:

1. Chocolate chips
2. Pecans
3. White chocolate chips
4. Heath Bar Crunch Bits
5. Chocolate chunks

SPECIAL NOTE

Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn't test, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 214kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 5gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 136mgPotassium: 132mgFiber: 2gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 209IUCalcium: 30mgIron: 1mg

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Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.

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