I could bake cookies every day of the week and never get bored with it. I swear every time I go to the grocery, I inevitable walk through the candy aisle and think to myself, “Hmm, those would be delicious mixed into some protein cookies.” So, with this one I went full on peanut butter with these Peanut Butter Protein Cookies!
Peanut Butter Protein Cookies
These cookies are less than 100 calories each (including the M&M’s in there!) and 7 grams of protein, only 6 carbs, and just 1 gram of sugar each. What? Yep, these just might be the best macros you have ever seen on a batch of cookies!
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Protein Powder
For these, I used a vegan protein from Bare Performance Nutrition. I like using vegan protein or casein protein when making cookies because it gives them a really good texture. Whey protein on its own tends to dry out really easily when making cookies.
Substitutes to make these cookies VEGAN!
Since I used a vegan protein, and I know some of you guys out there are vegan, I figured I’d give a few easy substitutions to make these vegan friendly! As they sit, they are dairy free, but not vegan due to the eggs!
Easy vegan swaps
- Eggs: Instead of using regular eggs, you can make chia or flax eggs. These will help be the binder for the cookies instead of a regular egg. You can find all sorts of info on vegan egg substitutes, but chia and flax are my favorites. For a chia egg, just mix 1 tbsp. chia seeds with 2.5 tbsp. of water and let it sit to thicken before using in the recipe. It is the same with a flax egg! Mix 1 tbsp. ground flax with 2.5 tbsp. of water and let sit to thicken!
- M&M’s: Ok, obviously M&M’s are not vegan. But, you could toss in some vegan chocolate chips! Or, even some crushed up Oreo cookies. Did you know that Oreo’s are actually vegan?!? If that’s not even more reason to eat them I don’t know what is!
Other important ingredients!
So you know that I used a vegan peanut butter cookie flavored protein, and some vegan substitutes. Now, let’s mention the other super important ingredients for the perfect chewy, moist, peanut butter protein cookies!
- All purpose flour: I used a small bit of regular all-purpose flour (just 1/4 cup). I find that if you use all coconut flour or all of some other flour, the cookies turn out a bit more dry and not as satisfying of a texture.
- Coconut flour: Coconut flour is key to help keep these cookies lower carb, and packed with protein and fiber. Do NOT substitute the coconut flour for more all-purpose flour and almond flour or any other flour. It must be coconut flour! Check out this one here which I order from Amazon!
- Creamy peanut butter: The creamy peanut butter helps give a good base to these cookies. You don’t need a lot of it, but it makes all the difference in giving these cookies a dense, chewy texture and amazing peanut butter flavor! Of course, any peanut butter works, but this is one of my favorites from Fokken Nuts!
- Swerve sweetener: A good sugar free sweetener is key for these. It measures, tastes, and bakes just like regular granular sugar. But guess what? It has none of the calories or insulin spike you get from sugar! They have all sorts of sugar substitutes including confectioners/powdered sugar substitute and brown sugar as well! This is key to have since I use it in many of my recipes! Check it out here on Amazon for the variety pack!
- All purpose flour: I used a small bit of regular all-purpose flour (just 1/4 cup). I find that if you use all coconut flour or all of some other flour, the cookies turn out a bit more dry and not as satisfying of a texture.
- Coconut flour: Coconut flour is key to help keep these cookies lower carb, and packed with protein and fiber. Do NOT substitute the coconut flour for more all-purpose flour and almond flour or any other flour. It must be coconut flour! Check out this one here which I order from Amazon!
- Creamy peanut butter: The creamy peanut butter helps give a good base to these cookies. You don’t need a lot of it, but it makes all the difference in giving these cookies a dense, chewy texture and amazing peanut butter flavor! Of course, any peanut butter works, but this is one of my favorites from Fokken Nuts!
- Swerve sweetener: A good sugar free sweetener is key for these. It measures, tastes, and bakes just like regular granular sugar. But guess what? It has none of the calories or insulin spike you get from sugar! They have all sorts of sugar substitutes including confectioners/powdered sugar substitute and brown sugar as well! This is key to have since I use it in many of my recipes! Check it out here on Amazon for the variety pack!
Last little note! Don’t over bake!
I am serious about this one. These cookies will without a doubt be some of the best protein cookies you have had, but do NOT over bake them. If anything, take them out early. They are much better slight underdone than overdone and dry. It only takes 7-8 minutes to bake, so don’t forget about them!
