Name: Date-Sweetened Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 13 min
Total time: 23 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Medjool dates (, pitted (8 ounces)); 1 cup peanut butter ((or other nut butter)); 1 tablespoon flax seeds (, ground); 3 tablespoons water; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar; Coarse sea salt ((optional; for topping))

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These Peanut Butter Date Cookies have all the flavor you love, without using any flour or refined sugar. They are naturally sweetened with dates, and taste like the perfect peanut butter cookie.

This recipe is inspired by my 4-ingredient peanut butter cookies, only this time we’re using dates instead of coconut sugar as the sweetener. And I’ve kept this recipe vegan by using a flax egg!

The result is a perfectly sweet peanut butter cookie, with a chewy, tender middle.

Why You’ll Love Them

These date cookies are some of the easiest and healthiest cookies I’ve ever made. This recipe calls for slightly more than 3 ingredients because I wanted to add a splash of vanilla for flavor, and a touch of baking soda and vinegar to help them rise, but they still have a short ingredient list and quick preparation.

These cookies are also:

Flourless!
Gluten-free and grain-free
Date-sweetened with no added sugar
Dairy-free
Egg-free
Vegan
Paleo-friendly, if you use a different nut butter
Moist and delicious

They’ve passed my picky 3-year-old’s taste test with flying colors, so I hope you’ll love them, too.

peanut butter date cookies on pan with salt

Date-Sweetened Peanut Butter Cookies

4.78 from 62 votes

These vegan Peanut Butter Cookies are naturally sweetened with only dates. Just a handful of ingredients required!

prep10 mins cook13 mins total23 mins

Servings:20 cookies

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Ingredients

1 cup Medjool dates , pitted (8 ounces)
1 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 tablespoon flax seeds , ground
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Coarse sea salt (optional; for topping)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
In a large food processor fitted with an "S" blade, process the dates until crumbly. (It's okay if a ball forms, too.)
Add in the peanut butter, ground flax, water, vanilla, baking soda, and vinegar. Process until a sticky, uniform batter is created. Be careful not to over-process the mixture, as the peanut butter will release excess oil when over-mixed, and that will make the batter feel very oily to work with. (Don't worry if this happens, though-- the cookies still turn out totally fine!)
Use a heaping tablespoon to scoop the dough into your hands, then roll the dough into a ball between the palms of your hands. Repeat with the remaining batter, making about 20 balls. Place each ball onto the baking sheet about an inch apart, then use your hands to gently flatten each ball into a cookie shape. Sprinkle a bit of coarse sea salt over each cookie, if desired, then bake until the edges of the cookies start to feel dry, about 13 to 15 minutes. (The cookies will still feel fragile at this point, but that's okay.) The longer you bake the cookies the more firm they will be, so at 13 minutes of baking you'll have a soft, almost under-baked middle (which is how I love them!) and at 15 minutes they will be a little more firm and brown around the edges. I imagine you could bake them up to 20 minutes without burning them, if you want a cookie that is even more firm, but my family likes our cookies to be soft and tender in the middles.
Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet and serving. Leftover cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. (The cookies will soften if you leave them out on the counter overnight, so chilling them is best for texture and shelf life.)

Nutrition

Author: Megan Gilmore

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cookies, dates, peanut butter

Substitution Notes:

I imagine these cookies could be made using any nut butter you love, so if you want to use almond butter or sunflower seed butter (for a nut-free cookie!) go for it. Beware the sunflower seed butter + baking soda can produce a green-colored cookie due to a chemical reaction, so don’t be startled by that if you make the substitution. (It’s still totally safe to eat!)
I haven’t tested this recipe using date paste yet, but I would guess you could replace the dates with 1 cup of date paste with similar results. (Maybe omit the extra water in the recipe?)
If you don’t need this recipe to be vegan, I think you could swap a real egg for the “flax egg.” Simply omit the flax seeds and water and use a real egg instead.
As always, please leave a comment below if you try making any modifications to this recipe so we can all benefit from your experience.

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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite type of cookie? My dad’s favorite is Oatmeal Raisin, so I’m thinking of tackling a date-sweetened version for Father’s Day!