Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These healthy peanut butter cup cookies are vegan, simple, and without refined sugar. They taste delicious like the original peanut butter blossom but are healthier. Get in the holiday spirit with these melt-in-your-mouth and easy-to-make holiday cookies.

Prep Time10

Cook Time12

Total Time22

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Christmas cookies, healthy baking ideas, healthy baking recipe, healthy christmas cookies, healthy peanut butter blossoms, holiday cookies, peanut butter blossoms, peanut butter cookies, vegan cookies, vegan holiday cookies, vegan peanut butter cookies

Servings: cookies

Calories: 209kcal

Author: Michelle Kadera at The Happy and Wholesome Mommy

Equipment

1 lined cookie sheet
1 large mixing bowl
1 small bowl like a ramakin

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ground flax
3 tablespoons filtered water
½ cup natural, smooth peanut butter
¼ cup vegan butter, softened (but not melted) *You could leave this out for a few hours or use the microwave to defrost
½ cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour If gluten-free, use gluten-free flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
16 mini chocolate peanut butter cups (the smaller the better) *Replace with squares of dark chocolate, alternatively

Instructions

Make your flax egg. Grab a small bowl and mix the water and ground flax with a fork until well incorporated. Place the bowl into the fridge while you prepare everything else.
In a medium-sized bowl, add the dry ingredients including flour, baking soda, and salt, excluding the coconut sugar. Using a fork or whisk, stir the ingredients together. Set this bowl aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter, vegan butter, coconut sugar, vanilla, and the flax egg from the fridge until creamy and well incorporated. This usually takes about one minute with a hand mixer.
Combine the dry into the bowl of wet ingredients and hand mix until everything is incorporated. Do not over-mix. It is now recommended to cover the dough and chill it in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking. However, if you do not have time for this, skip this step and go right to baking.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Roll the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place the balls onto a lined cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake them for 12 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for three minutes, or so. Place the chocolate peanut butter cups into each cookie center. The idea is to slowly and gently press them in a bit. That will help flatten the cookies and keep them in place. Allow them to cool for another three minutes and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Place the completely cooled cookies in an air-tight container. They can stay out on the counter for up to five days or in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Notes

You can replace the peanut butter cups with a few chocolate chips or a square of your favorite dark chocolate.

Feel free to replace the mini peanut butter cups with squares of dark chocolate.

Nutrition