Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms (gluten-free)

These Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms are one of the easiest and most delicious peanut buttery cookies made with gluten-free ingredients and topped with homemade chocolate ganache chip!

I *love* peanut butter blossoms. They are hands down my favorite cookie recipe ever. When I was younger I’d go to my friend’s house whose mom would make them all the time and straight up devour their stash. Anything peanut butter, soft-baked cookie and chocolate is for me.

So if you are a fan of anything peanut butter and chocolate too – you will love these so much. And this version is also vegan and gluten-free and has no refined sugars. It’s definitely a healthier version of the cookie. And we are making our own chocolate ganache “chips” to put on top too. And I also love that there is no chilling time required for the dough. Making these cookies really easy to prep!

Traditionally peanut butter blossoms have a Hershey Kiss in the center. I wanted to lighten these up a bit and make my own chocolate ganache, but you can of course use a Hershey Kiss instead too! But for anyone with food allergies, making your own is the way to go and to be honest – it’s really really easy.

Tip: use extra creamy peanut butter to make these! If your peanut butter isn’t drippy enough, the dough will be stiff.

• Creamy peanut butter – the creamier the better
• Flax egg – or regular egg you can use as well
• Coconut sugar – I don’t recommend another sugar here as the coconut sugar works really well consistency wise and taste wise
• Gluten-free all purpose flour – or use all purpose flour if not gluten-free
• Dark chocolate chips – I like to use dark chocolate but any works!
• Coconut cream – keep a can of coconut milk in fridge for at least 2 hours so when you mix with melted chocolate chips it turns into a ganache of sorts

How to make peanut butter blossoms with homemade chocolate center:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease
2. Mix together the peanut butter, flax egg, coconut sugar and vanilla extract until combined
3. Mix in flour and baking powder until fully combined and dough is formed
4. Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of batter into your hand and roll into a ball then slightly flatten (just a little!) and add to baking sheet
5. Repeat for remaining dough (if desired you can roll each cookie into coconut sugar too before baking)
6. Bake in oven for 10-13 minutes or until edges are just about golden
7. Gently press down the center with a teaspoon or tablespoon to make an indentation
8. Make the ganache by melting chocolate chips then stir in the coconut cream
9. Once cookies have cooled, spoon a dollop of ganache on top of each cookie
10. Allow the ganache to set at room temperature (about 1 hour), or chill to speed up the process!

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Tips for success:

• The temperature and consistency of the homemade chocolate ganache we add to the cookie is pretty critical. I wait for the peanut butter cookies to cool to add it in and make sure the ganache is on the thicker side so it doesn’t just melt and turn into a puddle of chocolate
• I recommend using an extra creamy drippy peanut butter. Not one that is a bit thicker because it will impact the consistency of the dough. Think: one that is more on the oily side than not
• I love to roll these into extra coconut sugar for the class peanut butter blossom effect. But of course this step is optional and they will taste delicious regardless!
• If you don’t need to make these gluten-free, you can use a regular all-purpose flour instead! I like to use the gluten-free one so my husband can eat them too

A few other vegan cookie recipes to try:

Copycat Crumbl Churro Cookies (paleo + vegan)

The Most Epic Vegan Sugar Cookie Bars (gluten-free)

The BEST Soft-Baked Paleo Ginger Cookies (vegan)

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (paleo + vegan)