Chewy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

*I know. Two peanut butter themed recipes in a row. It’s so worth it you guys. I promise.*

We tried something new last weekend so that I fit in better at work. It resulted in 1 bruised tail bone and hyper-extended thumb. Any guesses?

Yes, that is the magic carpet behind me shredding the gnar on the bunny hill. Jesse crushed it during our lesson and afterwards convinced me that going down a green run was a superb idea (re: bruised tailbone and hyper-extended thumb). I only slightly fell off the lift… but I rolled exactly 80% of the way down the hill. At this rate I’ll be ready for the Olympics this weekend for sure. Watch out Chloe Kim, Burton has a new rider.

KIDDING. But if the Winter Olympics had a Cookie Curling event, I might stand a chance at that. I’d bring these CHEWY vegan peanut butter cookies for sure. They’re the kind of cookie I’d want if I could only bring one type of cookie to a cookie curling contest. My PBC for the CCC, if you will. My single quiver cookie, so to say. What I’m trying to convey is they are the richest, chewiest peanut butter cookies in all the land. That is, if you don’t eat all the raw cookie dough…which I won’t judge you if you just grab a spoon and go to town.

-loody

Chewy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

what you’ll need:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup almond milk or water

for topping:
3 ounces dark chocolate
1/2 cup peanuts

maker’s notes:

While these cookies are delicious same day, they are 100x more chewy and rich flavored after sitting in the fridge overnight. I highly recommend waiting to eat a few the next day.

I used creamy, natural peanut butter. If you use something like Jif or Skippy, I suggest using only 3/4 cup brown sugar.

how to whip it up:

Preheat oven to 350°

In a stand mixer, cream the living day lights out of the peanut butter and brown sugar until you have the fluffiest peanut butter sugar clouds (3 minutes should do the trick). Add the vanilla and cream some more. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder. Then mix in almond milk until you have a thick, smooth consistency.

Scoop cookies using a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Roll smooth with hands, and then flatten using a fork to make those classic criss crosses. Stick tray in freezer for 8 minutes.

Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes or until edges have firmed up and there is a slight golden brown hue developing. Cookies will be quite soft in the middle still, this is okay, just give them a solid 30 minutes to cool before dipping in chocolate.

Once cookies have cooled enough that they are firmed up in the middle, continue to the dipping phase.

Crush peanuts up using whatever crushing method brings you the most joy (blender, plastic bag and rolling pin…). Chop chocolate into small chunks,  then melt 2 ounces of dark chocolate in a small dish in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir in remaining 1 ounce vigorously until you have a gorgeous smooth chocolate sauce.

Dip half of the cookie into the chocolate, sprinkle with crushed peanuts (sprinkling a little flakey sea salt is also lovely). You may also like the chocolate drizzle method as shown in some of my pictures. Allow cookies to chill in the fridge until chocolate has hardened. Yields 20-22 cookies, depending on how much of the dough you eat raw. Enjoy!