Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies 🥜✨

Why Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies?

Peanut butter cookies are a timeless classic. 🥜 They are the perfect mix of salty and sweet. They are incredibly comforting. Many people think vegan baking is hard. They worry about replacing eggs and butter. This is simply not true. 🚫 Vegan peanut butter cookies are easy. In fact, they are often easier to make. This recipe proves it. It is simple. It uses common pantry staples. You get a soft, chewy, perfect cookie. ✨ This recipe is 100% plant-based. 🌱 It is perfect for vegans. It is great for allergy sufferers. It is also delicious for everyone else. Let's bake the best vegan cookies ever.

The 3 Key Vegan Substitutions

Traditional cookies are not vegan. They use two main animal products. These are dairy butter and chicken eggs. 🧈🥚 We must replace both for a vegan cookie. This is surprisingly easy to do. Our substitutes will create a rich, chewy texture. The results are just as delicious.

Hack 1: The Egg Replacement (The "Flax Egg")

Eggs have one main job in cookies. That job is binding. Eggs hold the flour, sugar, and fat together. We need a vegan binder. The best vegan binder is a "flax egg." This is a simple, healthy ingredient. It is made from ground flax seeds. 🌱 Flax seeds are high in omega-3 fats. When you mix ground flax with water, it gels. This gel mimics the sticky texture of an egg. It binds the cookie dough perfectly. It also adds fiber and healthy fats. You will not taste the flax at all. It is a secret baking weapon. 🤫

How to Make One Flax Egg:

You need two simple ingredients. 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal. 3 tablespoons of water (room temp). Simply whisk them together in a small bowl. Let the mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes. It will become thick and gelatinous. This is your perfect egg replacement.

Hack 2: The Butter Replacement (Vegan Butter)

Butter has two jobs in cookies. It provides flavor and fat. The fat creates a tender, moist texture. We need a plant-based fat source. The best choice is vegan butter sticks. 🧈 Brands like Miyoko's, Melt, or Earth Balance are great. Use the stick version, not the tub. The sticks are firmer, just like dairy butter. This is important for the "creaming" process. Keep your vegan butter cold until you use it.

What About Coconut Oil?

You can also use solid coconut oil. 🥥 Use refined coconut oil. It has no coconut flavor. It must be solid, not melted. The texture will be slightly different. The cookies may spread a bit more. We recommend vegan butter for the best result.

Hack 3: The Peanut Butter (The Star) 🥜

This is the most important ingredient! The peanut butter provides the main flavor. It also adds a lot of fat and protein. It even acts as a secondary binder. This is why peanut butter cookies are easy to make vegan. The peanut butter is already doing half the work.

Which Peanut Butter is Best?

You have two choices here. 1. Conventional Creamy (Jif, Skippy): These are processed peanut butters. They contain peanut butter, sugar, and emulsifiers. The emulsifiers stop the oil from separating. This makes them excellent for baking. 🏆 They create a very stable, soft, and chewy cookie. This is our top recommendation for a classic cookie. 2. Natural Peanut Butter: This is the kind you have to stir. The only ingredients are peanuts and salt.