Easy Peanut Cookies with Raisins (Oil-Free)
Here is another simple recipe to save the day when you need something sweet almost right away. These vegan oil-free peanut butter cookies are beyond easy to make, and the whole process requires less than half an hour altogether. The recipe is almost impossible to mess up, and is also kids-friendly.
You will need only a couple of simple, natural ingredients to make these easy and delicious peanut butter cookies with raisins. They are oil-free, vegan, sweetened only with coconut sugar and dried fruits, and nutritious (in a good way!), so they can come in handy as a snack for a trip or a hike.
Ingredients for the vegan peanut butter cookies
To make these delicious and simple vegan peanut butter cookies, you will need:
- spelt flour
- pure, natural peanut butter
- chia seeds or flaxseeds
- coconut blossom sugar
- raisins or chopped dates
- Himalayan salt or sea salt
- bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- water.
Instead of adding oil to make these cookies crunchy and, well, cookie-like, I decided to use only home-made peanut butter, which is already packed with natural oil from peanuts.
You can make your own peanut butter the same way as I described in this post about home-made hazelnut butter. Or, you can purchase a good quality peanut butter that is made from 100% peanuts.
To enhance the flavour and add some more sweetness and nutrition to these super easy vegan peanut butter cookies, I like to add some dried fruits. My favourite options are raisins and chopped dates. They both go really well with the combination of peanut flavour and caramel notes of coconut sugar.
As for the choice of flour, spelt is really the one that works the best in this case. It will keep the dough together and prevent crumbling, while still making these peanut cookies relatively light in texture (as opposed to some other flours like rye that can make them a bit heavier). Some combination of rye, oat, rice or other flours can work, but spelt will give you the best results.
Chia seeds are used to help hold the dough together. If you don’t have chia, you can use flax seeds instead – just make sure to leave them in water for long enough to form a gel that will help bind the mixture.
Baking and storing the peanut cookies
I normally bake these vegan peanut butter cookies for fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on the size that I’m making. Just keep an eye on them and when they turn golden brown and start to smell nice – they are done.
After baking the peanut butter cookies, it is the best to leave them for a least 20 minutes to cool down at the room temperature. As they cool down, they will become more crunchy on the outside (inside will always stay softer). After they have cooled down completely, they can be kept in a glass jar at the room temperature.
Easy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies (Oil-Free)
Oil-free vegan peanut butter cookies made with spelt flour, coconut sugar and raisins (or other dried fruits), that are super easy to make and taste delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 3/4 cup peanut butter (home-made is the best, or try to get one that is 100% peanuts, without other ingredients)
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 2/3 cup raisins
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 6 tbsp water
- 1 pinch bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Mix the chia seeds with water and let them sit for about ten minutes to form a gel (to get the "chia egg"). You can mix several times to speed up the process.
- Put all the dry ingredients - spelt flour, coconut sugar, salt and baking soda - in a bowl, and mix.
- Add the peanut butter and "chia egg", and mix everything to combine. I like to do this with my hands, to get a homogeneous cookie dough. Try not to knead too much though, just mix it well enough to combine all the ingredients together.
- If the dough is too dry, add some cold water - tablespoon by tablespoon. The dough should still be quite dense, but compact enough to shape cookies.
- Take small handfuls of dough, shape them into cookies and place on a baking tray.
- Bake the cookies on 180 °C for 15-18 minutes, depending on their size - when they start smelling nice and turn golden on the bottom side, they are done.
- The cookies will still be a bit soft when you take them out of the oven, so let them cool down before eating - that way you will get a nice and crunchy feel.
Notes
* I always like to use home-made nut butters in my recipes. If you would like to make your own peanut butter, it is super easy - you can make it the same way as I described in this article about hazelnut butter.
* Instead of raisins, you can use dates, dried cranberries or some other dried fruit of your choice. I sometimes make them with chopped dates, which add a nice caramel note to the flavour. It goes really well with the combination of peanut butter and coconut sugar.
