These Peanut Butter Cookies are chock full of healthy ingredients like peanut butter, Gluten Free flour, and Teff Flour.  What they’re not chock full is sugar, because these deliciously thick and crumbly cookies are completely Sugar Free.

A lot of tweaking has gone into this recipe, and if you love thick, crumbly Peanut Butter Cookies, then this is the recipe for you.  And even better, it’s Gluten Free, Dairy Free, and completely Sugar Free.  You can feel good about eating these!

The twist (aside from being Gluten Free and Dairy Free and Sugar Free) here is the addition of teff flour.  Teff flour is originally from Ethiopia and Eritrea and is used to make the spongy fermented injera bread that accompanies Ethiopian stews and dishes.  It used to be much harder to find (I’m showing my age), but nowadays, it’s fairly easy. 

I love using teff flour, because it’s a powerhouse ingredient.  Not only is it naturally Gluten Free, but it’s packed with all kinds of good nutrition.  It’s high in protein, and it’s super high in fiber.  It also contains a fair chunk of iron and calcium.  

Teff flour also has this delicious nuttiness that I find to also have a natural sweetness, so it’s perfect for sugar free baking. 

In this recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies, teff complements the earthiness of the peanut butter and gives these cookies a more complex flavor profile. 

These Peanut Butter Cookies are super easy to make, and they’re a great recipe to get the kids involved with.  The kids can help rolling the cookie dough balls and then pressing in the indentations on top with a fork.

These Peanut Butter Cookies are fun to make, and best of all, you can feel great about eating them. 

Why You’ll LOVE this Recipe:

• Gluten Free
• Completely Sugar Free
• Low-FODMAP
• Dairy Free
• Quick to Make
• Easy to Make

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Cookies:

• Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks
• peanut butter
• vanilla extract
• liquid stevia
• eggs + egg yolk
• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
• Bob’s Red Mill Teff Flour
• baking powder
• kosher salt

Notes on Ingredients:

Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks – Low in cholesterol and vegan, this is my shortening of choice.  It is less greasy than other baking fats also, and it creams very similarly to regular butter.

Peanut butter – Use creamy peanut butter, and check the label to make sure that no sugar has been added.  It’s astonishing how many peanut butters out there have sugar added in.  You want just plain creamy peanut butter, nothing else. 

Vanilla extract – It’s here for its own heady flavor and also to enhance the other flavors in the recipe.

Liquid stevia – I always use liquid stevia and not powdered stevia.  It’s easier to control the amount, and the liquid form is way less bitter than the powdered form.

Eggs + egg yolk – The eggs provide binding and structure to the cookies.  Adding one extra egg yolk allows me to leave out sweeteners entirely aside from stevia.

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour – My favorite Gluten Free Flour blend.

Bob’s Red Mill Teff Flour – I have tried teff flour from all different brands, but Bob’s Red Mill is the easiest to find and the most reliable.  If you’re not using Bob’s and you find yourself faced with the choice of dark teff or ivory teff, choose the dark teff for this recipe.  It’s nuttier and has a deeper flavor.

Baking powder – Some peanut butter cookies don’t use baking powder, but it’s almost always helpful when baking sugar free to get a little extra lift and structure.

Kosher salt – Flavor, flavor, flavor.  Peanuts without salt are just….well, not as good. 

How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies From Scratch

First, preheat your oven to 350 F.  Get two baking sheets ready by lining them with either parchment paper or Silpat mats.

In a stand mixer, cream the Earth Balance first.  Then, add the peanut butter.  Mix until they are combined.

Next, add the rest of the wet ingredients – the vanilla, stevia, eggs, and egg yolk.  Mix until completely combined.

Now, add the dry ingredients – the Baking Flour, the Teff Flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix until the dough holds together.  At first, it will be very crumbly.  Just keep the mixer on until the dough comes together and you can roll it into balls without it falling apart.

Shape the dough using your hands into 2-inch diameter balls, and place the cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheets. 

Use the tines of a fork to gently flatten the balls.  Don’t actually “flatten” them, because the cookies will fall apart. Just gently press down in two different directions to create the grid design that is typical of Peanut Butter Cookies.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes.  Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely before eating.  They will be a little crumbly when warm, so please allow them to cool first so that they are not too crumbly.  Eat and enjoy!