If you’re on a keto diet but also can’t live without dessert, these keto peanut butter cookies will save your life.
These cookies are soft, chewy, and loaded with sweet, salty, and nutty flavors. And yes, they’re 100% keto-friendly.
They’re low-carb, flourless, and high-protein, to boot!
Just because you’ve switched to a keto lifestyle doesn’t mean you can’t have a delicious cookie or two.
With these peanut butter cookies, your keto plan will only get sweeter.
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
Traditional peanut butter cookies have been around since the early 1900s.
Beloved for their flavor and texture, these treats are hard to live without.
If you’re on a keto diet, you know very well that you can’t have carbs and sugar.
Fortunately, with this keto version, you won’t have to give up these classic cookies.
With basic keto-friendly ingredients, you’ll be one step closer to this healthy, guilt-free, and most importantly, delicious treat!
They’re soft, chewy, and bursting with peanut butter goodness.
Best of all, this recipe is easy. It only takes 20 minutes from start to finish. It couldn’t get any better than that.
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter – Opt for natural, sugar-free peanut butter for keto-friendly cookies. Be sure to check the nutrition label. It should only contain peanuts and salt.
- Low-Calorie Sweetener – Check out the section below for an in-depth guide.
- Egg – It binds the ingredients together. If you can’t eat eggs, though, you can use a flaxseed substitute.
- Sugar-free Vanilla Extract – It’s a flavor enhancer.
- Butter – It makes the cookies soft and moist.
Sugar Replacement Options
Regular sugar is a big no-no in keto. Fortunately, with these sugar alternatives, your life can stay sweet while still being on keto.
- Swerve – The most common option. For this recipe, I like the powdered kind best because it dissolves easily into the batter. If you like your cookies with a grainy texture, opt for granulated.
- Granulated Organic Monkfruit – It has zero calories and zero net carbs!
- Lakato White or Golden Monkfruit – There’s no aftertaste, and it’s affordable and available at most groceries.
- Xylitol – Just be careful not to feed the cookies to pets! Xylitol contains properties that are toxic to pets.
- Allulose – It’s not as sweet, so you’ll need to add more.
Tips for the Best Cookies
- Stick to natural peanut butter for this recipe. Aside from being keto-friendly, the natural oil also helps keep the cookies moist. You can pick either the creamy or crunchy kind depending on your desired consistency. I prefer creamy peanut butter because it makes the cookies nice and chewy.
- If you can’t eat peanuts, you can try other nut butters instead. Cashew and almond butters make great alternatives. The taste will be different, but amazing just the same.
- You can also try sunflower butter, although it’ll give the cookies a shade of green.
- Can’t have eggs? You can substitute it with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed and 5 tablespoons of water. When combined and left to sit for 10 minutes, they create a jelly-like mixture that will help bind the ingredients together.
- Expect the dough to be slightly crumbly. You can use a cookie scoop to form the balls, but you might still need to compact the balls in your hands.
- The criss-cross design isn’t only for presentation! The batter for peanut butter cookies is dense. Flattening the dough balls with a fork prevents them from over-spreading as they bake.
- Dip the fork in water or low-carb sugar every time you make an indentation. This prevents the fork from sticking to the dough.
- Don’t over-bake the cookies, as they’re prone to drying. Stop as soon as you see the edges starting to turn brown. The cookies will still be soft, and that’s okay because they’ll continue to cook on the baking sheet after baking.
- Variation suggestions:
- Roll them in granulated low-carb sugar.
- Add chopped nuts and sugar-free chocolate chips to the batter.
- Dip the cookies in sugar-free chocolate.
- Storage instructions:
- Store the cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for a week.
- For a longer shelf-life, freeze the cookies in a freezer-safe container, with a piece of parchment paper in between layers. Frozen cookies will keep well for up to 6 months.
- Let frozen cookies thaw at room temperature before serving.
Is Peanut Butter Keto?
While many keto dieters try to stay away from peanut butter, consuming it in moderation is actually okay.
Natural peanut butter contains peanuts, and in some cases, peanuts and salt. That said, it is technically keto-friendly.
The reason why some keto dieters avoid it is that peanuts are high in omega 6, and high levels of omega 6 can cause excess inflammation.
It is, though, a good source of fat and protein. It’s also low in carbs to boot.
That said, as long as you don’t eat too much, adding peanut butter to your diet can be a good thing. Just pick the natural, sugar-free variety and you’re golden.
You’ll also want to stay away from the “no-stir” kind of peanut butter.
They contain unhealthy oils, refined white sugar, and emulsifiers – all carbs that cause inflammation.
You can pick any brand, just be sure to check the nutrition label.
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
12
servings10
minutes15
minutes133
kcalIngredients
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup low-calorie sweetener (i.e. Swerve)
1 egg
1 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
- Combine the peanut butter, sweetener, egg, vanilla, and butter in a bowl. Keep mixing until you form a dough.
- Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Place them on the lined baking sheet. Make a criss-cross indentation by pressing a fork into the balls horizontally then vertically.
- Bake the balls for 12 minutes for chewy cookies, or 14 if you want them with a shortbread-like texture. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for 1 minute before transferring onto a wire rack to cool.
