– Gluten-free chocolate chip peanut butter cookies never had it so good. –
Some time back I was playing with a gluten-free peanut butter cookie recipe that I’d developed over the years. I was happy with it, but I can’t help but get annoyed by the mixing of flours and the occasionally interjecting flavors of the standard array of gluten-free flours. There are some very good mixes on the market – and I’ve got a good recipe here, on my own site – but still, I often ache for gluten-free recipes that don’t require a lot of fuss. 
Then a few months ago, someone passed along an almond butter cookie recipe from Food52. It contained no flour at all. Normally I may be skeptical, but every recipe I’ve ever tried from Food52 has been rock-solid. And this recipe took literally 5-minutes to put together, so I figured what the hell? I gave it a try, swapping out the almond butter for peanut butter, adjusting a few other measurements, and adding a pinch of sea salt to the top of the cookies just before baking. 
The results were, in a word, perfect. Baked just until the edges of the cookies turn a more golden color, these little beauties are crispy at the edge and tender in the middle. The peanut butter flavor is, like, KAPOW! While the chopped bittersweet chocolate lends a wink of darkness, with brown sugar providing a butterscotch-y smooch at the end. These gluten-free peanut butter cookies are insanely easy to put together. If you like, you can make the ahead of time and store the dough the fridge, rolled tightly into a log and sealed with plastic wrap – it should be good for up to three days, but beyond that the dough will likely dry out. The cookies are a little fragile when fresh out of the oven, so allow them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before gently lifting them off to a cooling rack. I love it when gluten-free recipes are entirely devoid of standard flour replacements. These babies are all natural, without a hint of annoying “analog-ness.” Yay for that!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter (or almond butter, if you prefer)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 packed tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped coarsely
- A few pinches flakey sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Set the oven rack to the middle of the oven.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Stir in the chopped chocolate.
- Portion cookies into tablespoon-sized balls and drop them onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with a small pinch of flakey sea salt using your fingers to break up the flakes as you sprinkle. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies turn gently brown. Allow to cool and firm up on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
This content was originally posted on FearlessFresh.com.