Flourless Peanut Butter Oat Cookies are so soft, tender, and delicious, it's hard to stop at one! Finally, peanut butter cookies with no flour and the goodness of oatmeal.

I can't believe the day I have dreaded for over a year now is only days away...the launch of my youngest child to college.  Ugh.  THE empty nest is so close.  Where on earth does the time go?  Wasn't it just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital?  

Last week, I asked him, "What can I bake for you before you leave for school?"  (It's my evil plan to make him miss me!)  Since he's recently decided to switch his diet to a more vegetarian/vegan focus, he scoured the internet for a recipe for me to make.  What he came up was this one: Gluten-free*, vegan, and really easy peanut butter cookies.  (*gluten-free when you use gluten free oats) While I would not call this recipe "healthy," (there is quite a bit of brown sugar in them), you get some protein from the peanut butter and fiber from the oats! It's dairy free, egg free, and the fat component comes strictly from the peanut butter.   

This recipe calls for "oat flour" but you can easily make your own in the food processor or blender by processing old fashion or quick oats until they are a fine "flour." 

Make sure you let these cookies cool  awhile on the baking sheet before attempting to remove them. They will crumble if you try to remove them too soon.  They have no egg to bind them, so they are pretty fragile until they are completely cool.

I'll be baking these cookies for my "Buckeye" again. (Yes, he is going to The Ohio State University!) I'll be missing him so much, I'll have to plan a visit in a few weeks and bring these cookie with me!

Flourless Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

By Renee P.

Delicious, flourless, vegan peanut butter cookies that are easy to make and come out soft and tender.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Natural Peanut Butter (the kind with no added sugar is best)
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water OR almond milk
• 1 cup "oat flour" (oats turned to flour in your food processor or blender) 
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, with and electric mixer, combine the peanut butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract and water (or almond milk) until combined and smooth.
3. Sprinkle in the baking soda and salt and mix with mixer until incorporated into the peanut butter mixture.
4. Add in the oats, and combine until just mixed.
5. With about a TBS of dough, form into balls and place about 2" apart on prepared baking sheet. Spray fork with cooking spray and make a criss-cross pattern on the cookies. (These cookies spread very little, if at all so you can press the pattern well into the cookie).
6. Bake for 8 -10 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet for at least 5-10 minutes so the don't crumble when you remove them. Remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
7. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: about 2 doz. cookies

Prep Time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.
Total time: 20 mins.
Tags: peanut butter, cookies, oatmeal, glutenfree, diaryfree, vegan, dessert 

Adapted from BlissfulBasil

Est. Nutritional Values per Serving: Serving- 1 cookie,  Calories - 68.6,   Total Fat - 2.9g,   Carb. - 11.3g,   Protein - 1.6g,   Fiber - 0.7g 

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