I’ve got a pretty magical recipe for you today – oatmeal peanut butter cookies that are made without any flour at all! Nope, none of that gluten-free flour either. I’m talking naturally GF cookies that are also one of the easiest recipes on my blog, and don’t even need any chilling. Plus, lots of nutritious peanut butter too.
What with last week’s cherry bakewell smoothie bowl, and now these cookies, is What Charlotte Baked turning into a health food blog?
Oh I think I forgot to mention the half a cup of sugar in there too. And the chocolate chips.
The origin story of these cookies begins with some spare time on my hands, and a half-eaten jar of peanut butter that I wanted to use up. Neither of us really eats peanut butter straight out of the jar – it’s usually in the house for baking purposes only. And this jar had been hanging around for a while, and I felt that its time had come to move on to a better place.
I’m also trying to eat less gluten at the moment (health problems, yay!) so this recipe on the Food Network caught my eye. Can cookies really be made with just peanut butter, sugar, and an egg? Well, yeah actually they can. And they are surprisingly good too!
Obviously, me being me, I decided to jazz things up a little bit. Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven, so of course I was going to throw in some chocolate chips. Dark chocolate works especially well here, but if you’ve only got milk chocolate to hand then go ahead.
We also have a heap of oats lying around from various different granola-making sprees. Surely I’m not the only one who occasionally forgets to check the cupboard before going to the supermarket, and then returns with a jumbo bag of rolled oats when there were already two in the kitchen? I needed to use some of them up, and fast, so in they went.
A few more adjustments later (less sugar, and some bicarbonate of soda for a bit of lift) my experimental cookie dough was ready to go into the oven. Would they work out? Or would I be left with inedible mounds of peanut flavoured goo?
I’m sure you know the answer by now, or you wouldn’t be reading this post.
Another great thing about these oatmeal peanut butter cookies is that you don’t even need to chill them. The dough holds its shape pretty much perfectly in the oven, so make sure to flatten out the dough balls to a cookie-shape before baking.
It’s a magical dough, it really is. I’m a bit obsessed.
Next time I’m going to try using some of the hazelnut butter that’s in the cupboards from my many hazelnut chocolate chip cookie baking marathons and see if this dough can be switched up to a different nut. It goes without saying that if successful, I will report back.
Until then, here’s the recipe for today’s wonder cookie:
- 265g (1 cup) peanut butter (see notes)
- 100g (½ cup) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 75g (¾ cup) rolled oats (make sure they are gluten free if necessary)
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 100g (½ cup) dark chocolate chips (semi-sweet or bittersweet)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan) and line two baking sheets with baking parchment or silicone baking mats - there's no need to grease.
- Place the peanut butter and the sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl) and beat well until all the sugar has been incorporated and mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again until well mixed together.
- Add the oats, bicarbonate of soda, and chocolate chips to the bowl and mix until incorporated. I like to keep a few chocolate chips back to press into the top of the cookies when they come out of the oven, but this isn't mandatory at all - it's just for looks!
- Roll the mixture into balls (about 2 tablespoons of dough in each) and place on the lined baking trays. Use your hand (or the base of a glass or mug) to press down the cookies so they are flat - the cookies won't really change shape in the oven, so make sure they are cookie-shaped now!
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until ever-so-slightly golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheet - this is when I press a few of the extra chocolate chips into the top of each cookie. The cookies will seem very soft, but they will continue to cook and harden up on the baking sheet.
- I find these cookies work best if you use the cheaper peanut butter (like Sun-Pat or Skippy), rather than the fancier, more expensive stuff.
- Make sure to use gluten free rolled oats if you are making these for a celiac, as normal oats are not usually GF.
- These cookies will stay good for up to 5 or 6 days if stored in an airtight container somewhere cool. They can be frozen for up to 3 months too - just defrost at room temperature when needed.
Magical indeed! I bake regularly and never would have thought you could get a cookie like that with absolutely no flour of any kind. They look amazing 🙂
It’s a miracle! 🙂
I’m so sorry that I just ate all these cookies because I didn’t even know that they were special gluten free cookies and they were just delicious cookies and I ate them and I thought I was being helpful and I wanted to eat the tasty cookies WAHHHHHH