Chewy Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookies

Yes, this is a blog. But I do not have the words to adequately describe how good these cookies are. Of course, I’ll try. They’re soft, chewy, rich and highly addictive. These are the cookies that had me to turn to my partner with total confusion and say, “why can’t gluten free bakeries ever sell cookies with this texture?” There is no dry crumb, no hint taste of leavening agents, they don’t fall apart when you pick them up off the plate or bite into them. I don’t want to say they’re the perfect cookie, but if you believe that peanut butter and chocolate are the perfect combination (and you would be right) then these are pretty close to perfection.

Before we get into the details, I should give credit where it due: I didn’t create this recipe. It’s modified only the slightest bit to adapt gluten-full ingredients to gluten, dairy free excellence. Source to the original recipe linked in the recipe card below.

Before you get started, here are the need-to-knows:

• Flour: I recommend using a 1:1 gluten-free flour mix with xanthan gum for these cookies. You want chewy cookies that hold together and for that, you need them to bind. I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1:1 baking mix but feel free to use your favourite.
• Eggs: These cookies are not vegan. I haven’t tried using an egg replacer or flax egg and I’m not convinced you’d get the same texture if you did. But it’s worth trying. If you do, let me know how they turn out in the comments.
• Nut Butter: I used peanut butter (and full disclosure, it was your standard Kraft creamy peanut butter). You could easily use any nut or allergy friendly butters for these cookies but you might find that natural peanut or nut butters add a little too much liquid to your dough – if that’s the case I would increase the flour ever so slightly.
• Chilling the dough: one of my personal pet peeves is when food bloggers don’t warn me in advance that the dough has to go in the fridge and my cookie gratification isn’t as instant as I hoped for. So, here’s your warning: these need to be refrigerated. And not just for 30 minutes but for 3 hours. Do it, it’s worth it but it is also totally annoying.
• Making the cookies: you can go BIG or small with the size of these cookies. I find the baking time remains the same regardless, just make sure to use equal amounts of both doughs and don’t worry about what they look like (puffy and underdone) when they come out of the oven, they’ll set-up and deflate as they cool.

Chewy Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookies

Recipe by ErinCourse: Dessert, treatsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

36

cookies (or 18 large cookies)

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

11

minutes

Ingredients

• Chocolate Cookie Dough

• 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I used Earth Balance)

• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk (or soy, coconut, cashew etc)

• 1/2 cup semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips (I used Camino)

• Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

• 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I used Earth Balance)

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 1/4 cup 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips

Directions

• Make the Chocolate Cookie Dough
• Using the paddle attachment in a stand mixer (you could also use a hand mixer for this) cream your vegan butter and both sugars until light and fluffy (approx. 2 mins). Scrape the sides of your bowl and beat in egg and vanilla until combined.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly mix it into your wet ingredients on low speed. This will make a very thick dough – that’s ok. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, mix in the almond milk. Then mix in your chocolate chips.
• Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.
• Make the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
• Cream together your vegan butter and both sugars using your stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl. One at a time mix in your peanut butter, then your egg and finally vanilla. Continue to scrape down the bowl as needed.
• In a separate bowl, combine your gluten-free flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add your flour mixture to your wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Then, using a spoon or spatula, add in your chocolate chips.
• Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-3 hours.
• Making the Swirl Cookies
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Using the directions that follow, you’ll want 1 tbsp of each dough to make 36 cookies or 2 tbsp of each dough to make 18 large cookies.
• Take 1 or 2 tbsp (depending on desired size) of peanut butter cookie dough and use your hands to shape into a ball. Take the same amount of chocolate cookie dough and form that into a ball as well. Now take the two balls, mash them together and reshape them into a ball and place on your prepared baking sheet. Repeat this, placing your cookies at lease 2 inches apart. If the chocolate cookie dough starts to stick to your hands just be sure to wash them between cookies or the swirls won’t come out as clean. You may also want to through the dough back into the fridge if it becomes too sticky as your working.
• Bake for 11-13 minutes. Be warned, they will not look done when you pull them out of the oven – they will have puffed. Bang your cookie sheet a few times on the counter to flatten them out and let the cookies cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack.

Notes

• Source: this recipe is a very slightly adapted version of the incredible one found at Sally’s Baking Addiction.