Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

[willwolf]

Very tasty cookies!!  I used natural unsalted chunky pb for this.  If you use salted pb, you could probably delete the salt.  I did use Ener-G for the egg.  Instead of using only all-purpose unbleached flour, I used 3/4 c all-purpose and 1/2 c whole wheat.  I just used regular plain soymilk, not particularly thick, but it worked fine.  I wound up using about 1/4 t cinnamon and 1/8 t pumpkin pie spice.  I rolled the dough into balls, criss-crossed the tops with a fork and flattened them a little, and then baked these at 375 F for 10 minutes.  This recipe made 31 cookies for me.  I definitely recommend these!

[baypuppy]

hi! to willwolf and others.... i've never seen pb cookies with cinnamon/pie spice before....does it really compliment the pb well?

[willwolf]

Hi, baypuppy!  I don't usually add cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to my pb cookies either, but the flavor of these cookies with the spices is very good.  Mine weren't overly spicy, but you could add as much as you like.  On a side note, a vegan restaurant that I frequent makes a chocolate cake with pb cinnamon frosting that is awesome.  You may just want to give the pb/cinnamon combo a whirl!

[baypuppy]

i might have to...i do like chocolate/cinnamon and never made the link! i bet all three would be pretty good too. will try next time i make cookies (which will be a while cause i just made some)

[uhblondie]

These cookies are awesome! Definitely use the cinnamon (I have it about 4 good shakes, so not too spicy, but adds a special something). I used applesauce for the egg (a big spoonful, ~ 3 Tbsp.) but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. I formed balls with about 1/2 Tbsp. of dough, which made the perfect size. If you like think cookies, press firmly when doing the fork thing, but if you like rounder cookies like me, just BARELY press it. Make sure to keep the cookies at least 1 inch apart on the pan because the will spread a little. Yummmm...I just ate two and and having trouble not eating more! :-)

[uhblondie]

Well, I made these again -- they really are the best. I had some overly salty peanut butter that I wanted to use (btw, I do NOT recommend Smart Balance peanut butter, eww!), and I thought covering it up in a dessert would work well! So I made the cookies again, omitted the salt due to the saltiness of the p.b., used whole wheat pastry flour, applesauce for "egg", reduced the Earth Balance to 6 Tbsp. out of convenience, and added about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips. Then, because I didn't have time to form into balls (I shoulda been studying!! LOL), I pressed them into a lightly greased 13x9-inch pan to make cookie bars! I baked them for about 13 minutes, until golden brown but still soft on top. YUM!!!! They are very soft and tasty, and you can't tell I used gross p.b. or wheat flour. Good stuff!

[escottster]

This recipe is so full-proof.  I ended up making substitutions galore, and never thought they would turn out, but they are just great!  After measuring out the peanut butter, I realized that I was out of margarine, so I substituted half of it with oil and the other half with banana.  I also used more banana for the eggs.  Then I found out I only had baking soda instead of powder, so I used some of it with a bit of red-wine vinegar.

But they STILL are great.  The cinnamon is a wonderful touch, and since I used a whole banana, that flavor is there too, but it works!

[lunalavalamp]

These were such a crowd pleaser and so simple to make!  This recipe will definitely have a permanent spot in my recipe box.

[DamianMarley]

I made these cookies last night and they turned out pretty good! I didn't have margarine on hand so I sub'd vegetable oil. After putting in the first batch to bake, I found that they turn out a little better the smaller the cookies. Also the recipe yields A LOT of cookies! My only question is does anyone (who bakes a lot) know what ingredient(s) I could add to make the cookies more 'chewy' and less fall-aparty with more "bite", with the texture of non-vegan cookies? They taste GREAT don't get me wrong, just not exactly like their non-vegan counterparts, and wondering if it's possible to get that chewiness in there??? Know what I mean?!

[weelittlebuddy]

Really good! Quite easy to make as well. I used 6 tbsp of earth balance margarine, but will probably use only 4-5 tbsp next time, and replaced the egg with 3-4 tbsp of applesauce, and used cinnamon. I'll probably put more pb in next time though.

I'm bringing these for my meat eating grandparents, and i hope they like them, cause I sure do!

[Opal630]

I took a batch of these to work and everyone loved them, the trick is to not tell everyone they're vegan until after they've eaten them. Very yummy indeed.

[Anna1111]

In response to DamianMarley, to make cookies chewier, use less water based liquid - I would omit the soymilk in this recipe. Things like applesauce, soymilk, mashed banana, tofu, and water give cookies a cakey texture. Unfortunately for our waistlines -  Oils, margarine, peanut butter, etc contribute to a rich, chewy, crunchy texture. To add cohesiveness (non-crumbliness) I have had good luck with arrowroot powder from the healthfood store. One tablespoon is a nice substitute for one egg when baking - that way you don't need to add any watery liquid, and it requires no additional oil.

[ungreen]

I'm not sure whether I did something wrong, but these turned out just ok, for me.  I used the all natural, just peanuts pb, so maybe that was the problem?  I also ran out of all purpose flour and had to sub about 1/2 cup of bread flour, so maybe that was the problem?  I'm not sure, but the dough was greasy and kind of yucky, which I hoped would go away after I baked them, but the bottoms of the finished cookies are greasy, too.  I was hoping for a lighter cookie, and these are sort of heavy and greasy.  Again, maybe it was my peanut butter or flour situation, though...  All the other recipes are so good, that I have to believe that something just went wrong with my batch!

[ungreen]

Oops, clearly I meant to write, "all the other reviews are so good," rather than all the other recipes.