Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

I have a thing with peanut butter. It’s my favorite food group and  I really love it best in cookies.  There’s really nothing more nostalgic than pure peanut butter cookies. The taste is just addicting. I justify eating them around the clock. Add fresh spinach on the side of peanut butter cookies and you have your protein and greens. Sounds like a meal to me!

Luckily, peanut butter cookies can actually be good for you – refined sugar free, gluten free and vegan. All these healthier adaptions make these cookies so enticing without having to worry about unhealthy ingredients. I can have cookie eating sprees with this recipe and I don’t have to feel bad in the slightest!

They are so peanut buttery, soft and delicious you won’t miss any of the traditional ingredients. You could probably add in protein powder or agave inulin for an added boost of nutrition… but the already natural ingredient list proves to be beneficial to health. These cookies are high in protein, fiber and vitamins. Those are the kind of cookies that should be eaten guilt free, even if you try to eat them for dinner!

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies (vegan and gluten free)
(adapted from this)

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 cup Gluten-Free Flour Mix (or I like Trader Joe’s)
3/4 cup Coconut Sugar
1 cup Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Molasses
1/4 cup Applesauce
Dash of Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the baking soda, flour and coconut sugar until well combined. Add the peanut butter, molasses, applesauce, salt and vanilla and mix all the ingredients together until smooth. If you’re peanut butter is fresh out of the fridge and is very hard, heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds or let it sit out at room temperature so it’s easier to incorporate into the mixture. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 7-8  minutes.

Makes 10-12 cookies