Grain-Free Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies – Gluten-free + Vegan

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Grain-Free Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies - Gluten-free + Vegan

I am writing up this post and recipe from somewhere in the sky over the middle of America while we fly from New York to California. We’ll be in Long Beach for 8 days checking out homes and hopefully securing something for our March 1st arrival. So exciting!

I am trying to keep my mind busy during this long flight by writing this up, watching episodes of Gossip Girl and dreaming of these cookies. I only wish I would have grabbed the last few and stuck them in my bag.

By the time this post goes live, we’ll already be in California for a day and starting to look at houses. I am so excited to find up next place and to start this new chapter. It’s all so exciting!

Grain-Free Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies - Gluten-free + Vegan

OK back to the cookies. I came up with the idea to make these on earlier last week after having a crazy hankering for peanut butter cookies, that I don’t even normally care too much about. I like them just fine, they just aren’t my first pick. Rather than a standard peanut butter cookie, I thought a cookie inspired by the popular sandwich would be fun and super delicious. Plus, one of my least favorite things about a lot of peanut butter cookies is how dry they can be. I thought the jam would be the perfect compliment.

These cookies came out so great, if I can say so myself. I brought them to my friend Carrie’s house for a little get together along with another sweet treat that I can’t wait to share with you guys. Everyone loved the cookies, hubby even proclaimed “these are the best cookies you’ve ever made”.

They are moist and chewy with the perfect amount of slight golden brown crisp to the outside and the jelly center is such a treat. You could use whatever your favorite jelly, jam or preserves is. I used a strawberry jam that I grabbed at the co-op and I was so pleasantly surprised at how well it held up, it didn’t melt or get watery at all. I am sure you could use these same recipe and replace the jam with a hunk of chocolate, too. Something I was certainly dreaming of while these were baking.

By the way, in case you were wondering, these cookies are AMAZING for breakfast with a nice cold glass of almond milk.

Grain-Free Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies - Gluten-free + Vegan

[print_this]Grain-Free Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies – Gluten-free + Vegan
makes approximately 24 cookies

  • 1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (I use this brand)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cup organic creamy peanut butter, almond butter or sun butter (I used this brand)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)
  • 3 tablespoons organic palm shortening (I used this brand)*
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened organic non-dairy milk, such as almond or coconut
  • approx 1/4 cup of your favorite local jelly or jam, I went with strawberry

*I am sure grass-fed butter would also be great here.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, cream peanut butter, shortening, maple syrup, vanilla and non-dairy milk together with mixer. Mix until smooth and creamy.

In a small bowl mix almond flour, salt and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to the wet. Mix with hand mixer until well combined, it may start out looking crumbly and dry. Just keep mixing it and it will come together into a thick cookie dough. (which by the way is SUPER delicious on it’s own).

Scoop the  dough 1 tablespoon at a time onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. I found it easiest to form uniform sized balls, by rolling the tablespoon worth of dough in my hands. Gently press down and make a large thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Scoop the jam, approximately 1/2 teaspoon’s worth, into the center of each cookie.

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned and slightly crisp. Allow to cool on the baking pan for 5-10 minutes, they will be quite delicate while they are warm, so make sure you let them cool and set for those few minutes. Then, transfer them off the cookie tray to a cooling rack to finish cooling fully. Store in an air-tight container, in the fridge for a few days. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

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14 Responses

  1. Ashlae says:

    Yay for Cali – happy house hunting 🙂 And yay for delicious PBJ cookies. I just made a big batch of peanut flour so I’m going to give them a go with that.

    • tastyyummies says:

      Thanks so much Ashlae. We are just one day in and it is going great so far, thanks. Ooo I hope you like these, I am sure they will be even more heavenly with your peanut flour. Please do let me know how it comes out.

  2. Amanda says:

    Hi Beth,

    Do you have any suggestions on storing these? For instance if you had a big batch to bring to a party – I’m assuming the jam would fall off/get all over the place if you tried to stack them or store them in a bag.

    Good luck with your search! 🙂

  3. Alissa N says:

    I can’t wait to try these, I am in love with your recipes. It’s so fun to follow someone else’s recipes and know they are going to turn out delicious! Good luck house hunting!!

  4. They were amazing dear I made the other day for my little ones they just loved them you know what they were telling after they gobbled them “Mommy mommy I need more pleases please..” couldn’t let her down so had to make them all over again but this time made a lot. Thanks for sharing this darling much appreciated.

  5. Hi Beth, going to have a go at the weekend coming,my daughter is just starting to get interested in cooking and this looks nice and straight forward.

  6. Audry P says:

    Do you know if Ghee could be used in place of the shortening? Thanks

    • tastyyummies says:

      That should work no problem Audry, but I haven’t tried it yet myself. Please do share how it turns out if you try it! Thanks and good luck.

  7. Lisa O. says:

    My husband loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so for his birthday this year, I made these instead of cake (since I knew he’d like them better). They were great! All my kids loved them and my husband was a very happy guy! Thanks for the great recipe! 🙂

  8. These are amazing!!! I love pb&j… totally making these asap.

  9. Ana says:

    Is there anything else that could be used instead of almond flour? My son is allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. Thank you!

  10. Kim says:

    Can you use coconut oil for the shortening? Thx!

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