Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies – Kalyn's Kitchen

These Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies are also flourless and gluten-free and they’re perfect for everyone who loves peanut butter. I’m updating this recipe with some changes after a few people had trouble with the cookies crumbling, and Kara and I tested these over and over to perfect this new and improved version!

PIN Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies to try them later!

Many years ago I spotted a recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies on Cookie Madness, and you can imagine how the world *flourless* caught my eye in that recipe title. And these Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies that I adapted from Anna’s recipe became one of my favorite cookies.

The cookies were popular on the site for years, but recently a couple of people who tried them told me they were too crumbly. And when Kara and I tried them again, it set off a round of experiments where we made the cookies over and over. In our cookie-baking tests we changed one thing each time we tested them, until we came up with this new and improved recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies that are still sugar-free, gluten-free, and flourless.

Even though I only heard from a few people who didn’t have good results with the previous version, I do wish I hadn’t tried to be quite so flexible in discussing ingredient choices and had been more emphatic about the cooling time. But both Kara and I thought this new version was very tasty, so in the updated version I’m going to be very specific about just which ingredients we thought were best! And with the method and ingredients we used the cookies weren’t crumbly!

I stashed the leftovers in my freezer and each time I grab one from the freezer I’m so happy we spent all that time improving the recipe. If you like peanut butter cookies, I hope you’ll try this sugar-free version.

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

How did we improve this recipe for Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies?

For the improved recipe we used less sweetener and and preferred Lakanto Monkfruit Golden Sweetener (affiliate link) for a touch of brown sugar flavor.
We greatly preferred the cookies with Skippy No-Sugar Added Creamy Peanut Butter (affiliate link) which we thought had the best peanut butter flavor. (Most grocery stores in the U.S. will probably have this, and at my usual store it seems to go on sale regularly.)
We added just a tiny bit of sea salt, which we thought really enhanced the sweet flavor in the cookies.
We kept the addition of a few chopped peanuts stirred into the batter, but you can still make them without those extra peanuts if you like.

An important tip for success with the Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies:

After Kara and I were into our recipe-testing spree I wished I had been more specific about the cooling time in the original recipe. You need to let the cookies cool at least 30 MINUTES to get a firm cookie that holds together well. When we did that we thought these cookies were the perfect texture and not at all crumbly.

Can you use other sweetener for the Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies?

I know that no-calorie sweeteners taste different to some people than they do to others, which is one reason I find no-sugar baking to be such a challenge! But Kara and I both felt Lakanto brand Golden Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) tasted best in these cookies, and in this recipe we didn’t have the issue we’ve sometimes had with the golden monkfruit not mixing in as well as classic monkfruit. Of course we didn’t test every possible sweetener, so if you have a preferred brand you could try it, but definitely I will always use golden monkfruit when I make them myself.

Can you use other peanut butter for the Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies?

It’s no secret that I have a favorite brand of natural no-sugar added peanut butter that I recommend for most of my recipes that use peanut butter. And I’ll keep using that recipe for other things, but for these cookies we absolutely thought that Skippy No-Sugar Added Creamy Peanut Butter (affiliate link) gave the best peanut butter flavor in the finished cookie. Of course we didn’t test every possible brand of no-sugar added peanut butter so if you have a favorite brand it will probably work, but I wouldn’t recommend natural peanut butter where the oil separates for this recipe,

How to make the new and improved Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

Even though I have a favorite natural peanut butter that I’ve loved for years, we thought Skippy No-Sugar Added Creamy Peanut Butter (affiliate link) had the best flavor in these cookies.
Use a hand mixer to beat together the egg, golden monkfruit sweetener, baking powder, and vanilla.
Then beat in the peanut butter, water, and sea salt.
Chop peanuts if using, add to bowl, and mix cookies again, just until peanuts are mixed in.
We had best results baking them on a silicone baking mat (affiliate link) or parchment paper (affiliate link)
Scoop out one tablespoon of batter for each cookie and roll into balls.
Then smash down with a fork. These are small cookies; don’t try to make them too thin.
Bake at 350F/180C for 14-15 minutes.
Let cookies cool at least 30 minutes before handling.
I keep my leftover cookies in the freezer, and I have to use will power not to grab one from there too often.

More Tasty Sugar-Free Desserts:

Ingredients

1 large egg

1/2 cup Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener Golden

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup Skippy Creamy No-Sugar Added Peanut Butter

1 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/3 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
In mixing bowl, use electric beater to beat together the egg, golden Monkfruit Sweetener, baking powder, and vanilla for about a minute.
Add peanut butter, water, and sea salt and beat together until it’s well combined. (The mixture was fairly dry; just be sure the peanut butter is mixed well with the other ingredients.)
Chop peanuts if using, and beat a few times to blend peanuts into dough.
Use a large cookie sheet and cover with silicone baking mat or parchment paper for best results. (When we cooked them directly on a baking sheet without one of those, sometimes the bottom of the cookies got too brown.)
Measure out about a tablespoon of batter for each cookie, roll into a ball, and then smash down with a fork. (We got 20 small cookies.)
Bake 14-15 minutes, or until cookies are starting to feel firm and are slightly browned. (They will still feel quite soft to the touch when they’re done.)
Let cookies cool 30 minutes or longer before handling.
I’ve been storing my extra cookies in the freezer, and I try not to grab one from there too often!

Notes

We preferred Golden Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener for the sweetener, which gave a nice brown-sugar flavor in the cookies.

We definitely preferred the flavor of Skippy Creamy No-Sugar Added Peanut Butter in these cookies.

This recipe was originally adapted from Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies from Cookie Madness. As no-calorie sweeteners have changed through the years the recipe has been adapted a few times. The final version you see here is the one Kara and I preferred after testing the recipe quite a few times with various combinations of ingredients.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 100Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1.3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5.9gCholesterol: 9.3mgSodium: 143mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1.3gSugar: 1.3gProtein: 4.2g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Of course since there’s no flour or sugar in the recipe these peanut butter cookies are a low-carb, Keto, and gluten-free cookie. They’re also much more South Beach Diet friendly than than a normal cookie, but if you’re strictly following the original South Beach Diet, they’re definitely high in fat for South Beach. No matter what diet plan you’re following, you may need to use portion control on these cookies if you’re actively trying to lose weight.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Dessert Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
The Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies were first posted in 2007! This recipe has been adapted a few times since then as the world of no-calorie sweeteners has evolved, but the version you see here was thoroughly tested by Kara and I in 2023 and we loved these cookies with the ingredients listed as preferred.

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