These easy peanut butter protein cookies are flourless, only require 4 ingredients, and take less than 25 minutes to make! Each cookie contains 9 grams of protein and tastes just like a soft peanut butter cookie!
So I'm kinda in love with peanut butter cookies.
Well, I guess cookies - in general.
But peanut butter IN a cookie? Yes, please!
Problem with cookies is they're not the best things for a healthy diet.
Not that I can't enjoy one or two on a cheat day here and there. But, it got me thinking...wouldn't it be awesome if peanut butter cookies were actually healthy?
After fantasizing about this question for probably way too long, I decided to make healthy peanut butter cookies.
Because, sometimes, you just gotta get creative!
Hello, Peanut Butter Protein Cookies!
After some trials, I came up with these tasty peanut butter protein cookies right here. They use only 4 ingredients, have no refined flours (no flour at all, actually!) and use unrefined coconut sugar. Plus, each cookie has about 9 grams of protein and is absolutely delicious.
So, if you're like me and you drool over the idea of healthy, high-protein treats, try these healthy peanut butter protein cookies and your day will totally be made.
Maybe even your LIFE!
How To Make The Best Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
While these peanut butter protein cookies only require 4 ingredients and are a super easy peanut butter cookie recipe, I wanted to make sure I mention a few things on how to make them the best they can be.
The texture really does matter so you want to make sure they are moist enough when you're making the dough so they don't become crumbly. If they start to feel a little crumbly and not moist enough when you're making the dough, you can add a little more peanut butter or reduce some of the protein powder. You want the dough to be pliable and not breaking apart as you form the cookies.
Keep in mind that you want the best quality ingredients for the best tasting and soft peanut butter protein cookies.
How To Freeze Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
Good news: these peanut butter cookies freeze well. You can either choose to freeze the cookie dough to be baked later or to freeze the baked cookies, to be thawed and then eaten. Either works great, but there are some tips I'd recommend, which I've listed below:
Tips for Freezing Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
- Form the dough into the cookie form and place onto a baking sheet as close together as you can without touching.
- Freeze first and then transfer to freezer bags.
- Can be baked straight from the freezer, but will up to 5 additional minutes of bake time.
Tips for Freezing Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
- Allow to cool completely before freezing.
- Freeze individually first by laying the baked cookies out on a baking sheet, not touching, and freezing until solid.
- Then, transfer to a freezer bag.
- When thawing baked cookies, let sit at room temperature so that condensation doesn't form and make them soggy.
- Gently reheat frozen or thawed cookies to mimic that fresh-baked taste and texture by placing them in a 275 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes to reheat.
How To Choose Healthy Peanut Butter
A quick word on peanut butters. Sadly, not all peanut butters are created equal. Some are very refined, contain tons of sugar (including high fructose corn syrup) and hydrogenated oils. Ugh. If you're looking for the best (cleanest) peanut butter you can find, you can either make your own or find ones that contain only peanuts (or as few ingredients as possible).
It may take some searching, but I think you'll be shocked at your current peanut butter once you take a look at the ingredients. Warning: it's gonna be a sad day. So make it better with tasty peanut butter protein cookies. 🙂
Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
Equipment
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- ⅔ cup coconut sugar
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder (preferred brand here) (approx. ¼ cup)
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine the peanut butter, coconut sugar, eggs, and vanilla protein powder in a large bowl and mix together until the consistency resembles cookie dough. (Some peanut butters can be creamier than others - so if your mixture looks a little too liquidy, you can add a little more protein powder or, if it looks too dry and crumbly, you can add a little more peanut butter.)
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of the batter and roll it into a ball using your hands. You may need to wet your hands with a few drops of water to keep the batter from sticking.
- Flatten the ball between your palms and then place on the prepared cookie sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining dough, leaving space in between the cookies on the baking sheet.
- Using a fork, press down gently on each cookie to create criss-cross marks. If the fork sticks, you can dip it in water as necessary.
- Transfer the cookie sheet into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies just slightly start to turn brown.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for a couple minutes to set before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.
Robert Bartle
These cookies are so simple, protein rich and they Rock!! I coach fencing and shared them with students. They asked where can I buy these? Now a few are actually baking them( not their parents because they’re easy) for snacks at school/ before/after fencing!
I appreciate your overall to cooking!!
Thank You
Dustin
Robert - Glad you liked them so much 🙂
Cheryl
If I were to sub maple/agave as a sugar substitute- what would u recommend? Thanks!
Laurie
I used powdered sugar instead of coconut sugar, otherwise followed the recipe exactly. The cookies released liquid (grease?) while baking, so they turned out pretty dry.
Jeca Austria
Made it perfectly, this is my version :
160g organic hazelnut spread (50% hazelnuts, contains sugar already)
2 eggs
50g chocolate protein powder
180 degrees, 12 minutes exactly, turned out PERFECT!
Sonali
I made these today and they have turned out ok, i think i put a bit too much protein powder, but glad to say they are not too sweet. One question though, are they meant to be a bit soft when you eat them? I feel mine are soft (Not gooey soft) and im not sure if its because of the peanut butter being a bit oily.
Angelina estrada
What other sugars can I use to replace the coconut sugar? Or where can I buy coconut sugat?
Chris
What the?!? I tried. This recipe twice and all it did was make a bunch of melted goo, barely cookies. Took a pic but don't know how to post on here.
Marina
Hello,
With what can I replace the protein powder?
BRODIE
Flour i guess
Janet B.
I've made these at least 7 times and have learned that the recipe gets 1000x easier if you use a cookie dough scooper and leave the hand rolling out of it. Without those steps, you end up with some ugly yet delicious little cookie balls that come together in a snap and way less mess to clean up. Parchment paper also changed my world when I started using it. Anyway, these cookies are great and easy and part of my normal cooking rotation. Thanks for putting the recipe out there!
Tina
Is it possible to make cookies with NO sugar or sugar substitute? I don't care for overly sweet stuff anyway and would prefer to avoid it altogether. Is that possible?
Tina
I do tend to add carob chips from time to time if that helps any.
Grapo
I Use Truvia, tastes great with this recipe as well. But if I'm really trying to be clean, I'll just remove the sweetener altogether and the sweetness from the protein powder is sweet enough for me (I use either Vanilla or Chocolate).
Shari
These are still quite high in calories. I'm wondering if I replace the peanut butter with peanut flour, what I could use for the liquid.
Lacey Baier
You could try using unsweetened almond milk if you'd like. The calories are in line with a high protein snack, like a protein bar, which is how I use this coolie, if that makes sense.
Emma
Thank you for this amazing looking recipe!
May I ask how much your 'scoop' is equivalent to? All our protein powders have different sized scoops or none at all
Also unable to buy coconut sugar but have Stevia, raw or palm sugar. Can I substitue any of these sugars for the coconut sugar like a previous viewer asked?
Many thanks
Emma
Lacey Baier
Thanks, Emma! The scoop size and weight can vary widely among protein powder brands. They usually contain about 3 tbsp. or 1/4 cup. Use the palm sugar! 🙂
Dustin
We should make these again soon love peanut butter cookies.
Lacey Baier
I know, right? They're sooo good!
Lisa Wiley
Wish someone would figure the nutritional numbers
Lacey Baier
The nutritional info is listed at the bottom of the recipe for ya 🙂
helen
Is it whey protein powder?
Lacey Baier
Yep, but you can use whatever favorite protein you prefer.
Pearly Cheng
My cookie turn out soft and dry. How do I make it crunchy?
Gerry
How much is a scoop? My powder didn't come with one.
Lacey Baier
Really? That's so strange. My scoop is 3 tbsp., though it varies with protein powders.
Andrea
hi! can you replace coconut sugar with stevia?
thanks!
Lacey Baier
Yes, you can but I'm not quite sure how much stevia -- it will be a lot less 😉
Lin
You could use stevia baking powder that's meant to be substituted for sugar 1 to 1.