Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
These Keto Peanut Butter Cookies taste super peanut-buttery with a slightly chewy texture. They’re made with a homemade 3-ingredient keto sweetener and basic cookie ingredients. Only 2.04 net carbs per cookie!
Today’s recipe isn’t a particularly visually appealing or exciting-looking treat, but it is truly tasty!
Here we have the keto version of my Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies, which are the most peanut buttery cookies I’ve ever had.
Some commenters have said they’re the best peanut butter cookies ever. I won’t disagree. ;) Though I’d say they’re tied with my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies.
They’re an improved version of the famous 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies. I added vanilla, salt and baking soda to help with the taste and texture.
This keto version is less chewy and cakier than the gluten-free version (the keto cookies are also gluten-free), but when you refrigerate them, they get chewier. So I definitely recommend doing that!
Ingredients
Just basic stuff! You probably have what you need already, except possibly the sweetener.
- Natural peanut butter – you really have to use the kind with just peanuts and salt. No added fat or sugar. Check the label because a lot of brands say “natural” but contain fat and sugar.
- Keto sweetener – you can use Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet or the copycat recipe listed below. I go into much more detail on this in the post.
- Eggs – I’ve only tried these cookies with regular eggs and am not hopeful egg subs would work. I know for a fact that regular chia eggs don’t work, but a modified chia egg might.
- You’d use 2 1/2 tablespoons of water instead of 3 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon of ground chia seeds. But like I said, I’m not very sure that it’d work.
- Vanilla extract, baking soda and salt
What keto sweetener to use
Instead of using coconut sugar like I did in the other version, I used a blend of xylitol, erythritol and powdered stevia. It’s the same blend of sweeteners I’ve used in all my keto desserts.
It’s pretty much the only blend of sweeteners that I like. It’s basically a copy of Trim Healthy Mama’s Gentle Sweet, so if you have that, you can definitely use it in place of the blend of sweeteners in my recipe.
I have tried them with Lakanto Golden, but I don’t like the taste. But I think that’s a personal preference. I don’t like Lakante Golden in anything.
I love Powdered Lakanto in my Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake and Keto Cheesecake, and to be honest, I can’t really understand why.
Maybe the cream cheese does something magical to get rid of the Lakanto aftertaste. It’s a mystery!
Gentle Sweet copycat
Here’s what you need if you want to make a large batch.
- 1 pound (453 grams) xylitol = 2 1/4 cups
- 12 ounces (340 grams) erythritol = 1 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons pure stevia powder
Note that this blend isn’t a 1:1 sub for granulated sugar. When I use this blend, I use about 2/3 of the amount of granulated sugar called for in a recipe. Sometimes I use a bit more or less.
Once you have a large batch mixed up, you can make these other delicious keto desserts:
- Keto Macaroons
- Keto Peanut Butter Balls
- Keto Lemon Cookies
- Keto Peanut Butter Cups
- Keto Chocolate Pudding
If you don’t want to make a big batch just yet, this is what you need for just these cookies:
- 54 grams xylitol
- 42 grams erythritol
- 1/4 teaspoon powdered 100% stevia
How to make them
These peanut butter cookies are flourless, making it easy to mix them up in one bowl.
Simply toss all the ingredients into the bowl and mix.
About the egg – make sure it’s cold! It helps the dough thicken. If you use a room temperature one, the dough is too wet to roll into balls.
The dough looks pretty weird. The non-keto version doesn’t look like this, so if you’ve made that version, don’t be alarmed.
It may also be oily or not. It depends on your brand of peanut butter. I used homemade.
Here you can see that they spread a lot. Be sure to leave enough room so that they don’t overlap or spread into each other.
Peanut butter sub?
I’ve tried these cookies with sunflower seed butter and almond butter, and neither worked out.
I’ve tried them loads of times, and they were greasy, flat and spread way too much.
I might sound like a broken record to my regular readers, but nut butters aren’t always interchangeable! Especially in a flourless recipe like this with so few ingredients.
If you’d like to learn How to Make Peanut Butter, it’s super easy and takes only 5 minutes!
Other cookie recipes with a keto option
- These Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are perfectly chewy with crisp outer edges. They’re paleo with keto and vegan options.
- These Perfect Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies don’t taste like a gluten-free cookies. They’re thick and chewy with a great texture and one of my favorite cookies. With keto and vegan options.
- These Chocolate Coconut Flour Cookies taste just like traditional cookies! They’re paleo with vegan and keto options.
Nutritional info
The following information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. I’m not a nutritionist nor a dietitian. This information comes from online calculators. Although I strive to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are estimates only. Be aware that varying factors, such as product types or brands used, can change nutritional information in any recipe.
Net carbs = total carbs – fiber – sugar alcohols. So that’s only 2.04 net carbs per big cookie!
That’s it! Please leave a comment if you try them out. I’d love to hear what you think!
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (192 grams) natural peanut butter (the kind with just peanuts and salt – no added fat or sugar)
- 1/2 cup (96 grams) THM Gentle Sweet or the copycat listed below
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt add more if your peanut butter is unsalted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 large egg 50 grams, out of shell, cold
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (170 °C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Position the oven rack to the lower third of the oven.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add all the ingredients. Use an electric mixer on low to combine it. At first, it will be very thin but after about 30 seconds of mixing, it should be firm enough to roll into balls. The dough may or may not feel oily.
- Divide into twelve 28-gram balls and place about 4″ apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Press down slightly with the palm of your hand.
- Bake immediately (it seems as though letting them sit for a while affects how they bake up). Bake for 12-16 minutes or until they’ve crackled nicely. Let them cool completely on the baking sheet (where they’ll continue to bake). If you don’t let them cool on the baking sheet, the bottoms of the cookies likely won’t be baked enough.
- Refrigerate them for a better, chewier texture. They can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or kept at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- If you want to make a big batch of the THM Gentle Sweet copycat, see the post for the amounts. If you want to make enough for just this recipe, then you need:
- 54 grams xylitol
- 42 grams erythritol
- 1/4 teaspoon powdered stevia
- The nutrition information provided is calculated as a courtesy and is only an estimate. I am not a licensed nutritionist or dietitian. For the most accurate nutritional data, consult a professional or use your preferred calculator. The carbs displayed are net carbs. Look above the recipe card for more details on that.
Hey Erin!
Im making the keto peanut butter cookies using allulose…
WOW…super good.
Great work on this recipe.
I made my Hubs 4 batches of the coconut sugar recipe.
Tyvm
Hi Erin,
Well I made the cookies finally and they turned out great. So chewy. I did what you said and left them in the frig. I made one mistake. I bought the roasted salted peanuts in the jar and made peanut butter but I had put them in my strainer to get some of the extra salt out but then had to add some back. That was a big mistake my peanut butter was a little to salty. Lesson learned. Still they are really good and I intend to eat them. I’m going to make your cheese cake today. My favorite thing I have made are your chocolate chip cookies OMG. I have been making those for ever and everyone loves them. Thanks for putting up with me as I learn.
Hi! I’m really glad to hear that they worked out well. :) I always use roasted salted peanuts for peanut butter and love how salty it is. ???? I hope that you also enjoyed the cheesecake! It’s great to know that everyone loves the chocolate chip cookies. I still also make those all the time when I have people to bake for! I’m not putting up with you. ;) I’m happy to answer! We’re now on vacation, so I just won’t be very quick.
Hi I sent two comments but I don’t see them. One was where can I find pure stevia. Everything I looked at had something in it. What baking mix did you use?
Hello! Your comments came in at 12:24am my time (I live in Germany). I was already sleeping. My 4-year-old is on summer vacation, which means I only get to work in the evening. My kid just went to bed, and now I will start my work day. :) I’ll go and answer your comments now. You couldn’t see them because the first time someone leaves a comment, I have to approve it. This is to fight spam. Now that I’ve approved your comments, all your future comments will show up without approval (if you use the same email address).
Hi again Erin,
I think I may have messed up. I had granular Swerve and I thought this was erythritol. I was ready to bake until I saw it had prebiotic and oligosaccharides. Now I’m afraid to use it. I do not want to waste any of the expensive stevia powder. Do you think this will mess it up.
Thanks so much
I looked up Swerve Granular, and it says it’s meant to be used as a 1:1 sub for granulated sugar. Regular erythritol is about 70% as sweet as sugar. So I unfortunately don’t think that’d work. :( Your cookies would be much too sweet. And there’s no way for me to know how much Swerve to use without testing and probably reworking the whole recipe. Sorry about that. I would really recommend getting plain erythritol.
This recipe does not give any ingredients. How much vanilla how much baking soda this recipe does not give ingredients.
The full recipe with the ingredients and measurements and directions are at the bottom of the post in the recipe box.
Hi,
I’m making your cookies but it calls for pure stevia. I have sweet leaf stevia pks. Will that be ok or do I need to purchase pure stevia powder. Just in case I ordered a small amt for 12.99 from Amazon. Please let me know which one I need to use. I’m making your copy cat recipe for my cookies. I wanted to make them tomorrow. I have everything else except for this. Also which baking mix do you use. I was going to get Bobs Red Mill baking mix. Is this ok? P.s. I’m already subscribed to your site but it’s asking me again.
Thanks so much
Patti
I didn’t use a baking mix. There’s no flour in this recipe. Please check out the recipe at the bottom of the post (but before the comments). :) I looked up those stevia packets and am not sure how they’re used in comparison to 100% pure stevia powder. The packets seem to have some filler in them, which throws things off. I just looked on Amazon and the ones that say “100% stevia powder” are what you need.
Hi Erin,
I’m so sorry I forgot you lived in Germany. Also I realized I was on another site when I clicked on the other recipe from your site. This is all my fault. The link for something in the keto peanut butter recipe took me to another place which did not give the full recipe. By the time I realized what happened I knew you had already answered me. Also I finally did fine the pure stevia on line. I wasn’t sure so I only bought a small amt till I try this.
I love all your recipes and am so excited to try these when my stevia gets here today. Then I can make the copy cat recipe. I was looking at so many recipes on your site I mixed them up. Only me.
Thank you so much and again so sorry for the confusion.
Patti
Hi Patti! No worries. I hope that you will be able to make the cookies. :) I’m happy to hear that you love the recipes! Thanks for letting me know.
These cookies make for such a tasty treat and I really like how it requires only a few ingredients.
This was just the thing I needed for my sweet tooth! The peanut butter cookies were so easy to make and it had that perfect texture too. I highly recommend this!
These cookies reminded me of my childhood! Such a lovely treat. Loved the contrast between the crunchy edges and the chewy center.
I love recipes with only 5 ingredients! These cookies were delicious and one of my personal chef clients loved them.
This cookies were great! They had the perfect peanut butter flavor and were super simple to make. Loved them!
These peanut butter cookies are so sweet, chewy, and delicious! Love how simple to make the recipe is and it came together perfectly.
I recently started a Keto diet and of course my sweet tooth needed to be satisfied. These keto peanut butter cookies are amazing. Easy to make and so good
They sure look pretty. I have not cooked anything Keto in a long time.
I loved that you used natural peanut butter, I prefer this than the “regular” kind. The recipe sounds amazing, can’t wait to try it. Thank you!