Cream cheese adds an incredible tenderness to these Keto Peanut Butter Cookies. They’re chewy and sweet, and packed full of amazing peanut butter flavor!
Have you ever made keto peanut butter cookies with cream cheese? Let me just cut to the chase. Run to your kitchen right now and make these. You won’t regret it!
I’ve come to the conclusion that there are about a bajillion different ways to make peanut butter cookies. And every recipe you see claims that it’s THE BEST EVER. Well I am not going to make that claim here.
That doesn’t mean these keto peanut butter cookies aren’t spectacular. They are, they truly are. But I already have a number of other recipes that I also think are truly spectacular. They’re all a little different and which one I think is THE BEST depends on so many factors. Like what I am craving at the moment and how much work I want to put in.
Today, we celebrate the deliciousness that is Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cookies.
So many awesome keto cookie recipes
What other peanut butter cookie recipes have I already made? Let’s take a little trip down keto cookie memory lane. I’ve got…
- Copycat Do-si-dos (or Pirate Cookies, if you’re Canadian!)
- Keto Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Peanut Butter Cookies for Two
- Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles
- Chocolate Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Wow, that’s a lot of keto peanut butter cookies! And that’s not even including recipes that are in my cookbooks and on other sites I write for. What can I say? Peanut butter and cookies together make me extremely happy.
Cream cheese in cookies?
Adding cream cheese to cookie dough is nothing new. Most cookie recipes call for butter, but cream cheese makes an excellent replacement.
And it can really take your cookies over the top. It adds so much in terms of both taste and texture. Cream cheese cookies are softer, puffier, and slightly chewier. They also have a little tanginess that’s lacking in butter-based cookies.
In some cases, it can even replace the eggs. I have some gorgeous Keto Chocolate Peppermint Cookies that are completely egg-free.
How to make Keto Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cookies
You will need:
- Creamy natural peanut butter: Preferably the kind without a lot of oil on top, and that’s already thick and rich. I like Justin’s or the Thrive Market Brand. O Organics at Safeway carries a good one as well. If you do have a thinner kind, you may find you need to use a little more flour to get a proper cookie dough.
- Softened cream cheese: It’s vital that it’s properly softened so that it creams well into the peanut butter. You should be able to gently stick a finger into it and leave an indent.
- Keto brown sugar replacement: I recommend Swerve Brown because it is hands down the most like real brown sugar. You could use the granular instead. You can use any granulated sweetener here but do be forewarned that allulose and BochaSweet will make your cookies VERY soft.
- Large egg: Despite the cream cheese, this is not an egg-free cookie this time! The egg helps hold everything together.
- Vanilla extract
- Almond flour: If you need to be nut-free, try replacing it with sunflower seed flour. You will need to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to offset the green reaction that sometimes occurs between sunflower seed flour and baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Salt
The method:
This is a standard method for making peanut butter cookies. You first beat the wet ingredients together, and then beat in the dry ingredients.
Then you simply roll it into balls and press them down. If you want the classic peanut butter cookie look, use a fork to make a cross hatch on the top of each cookie.
To dip or not to dip?
You may be aware that I have an obsession with peanut butter and chocolate together. So I couldn’t help myself but dip some of the cookies into dark chocolate and sprinkle a little sea salt on top. You could use any good keto friendly chocolate, like ChocZero.
Do be aware that the chocolate adds to the carb and calorie count. So while the serving size for the plain version is 2 cookies, the chocolate dipped version is 1 cookie.
Either way you do it, these are delicious!
How to store keto peanut butter cookies
I typically store cookies on the counter in a covered container, as I prefer them room temperature. They will last up to 5 days, if you can keep your kids or significant others from devouring them all!
Refrigerated, they should last at least a week. They can also be frozen for for two to three months. I recommend freezing them before you dip them in chocolate, if you plan to go that route.
More delicious keto peanut butter recipes
- Keto Peanut Butter Fudge
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Pizza
- Easy Keto Peanut Butter Mousse
- Peanut Butter Popsicles
- Low Carb Peanut Butter Sheet Cake
- Keto Peanut Butter Pie
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup peanut butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup Swerve Brown
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Optional Chocolate Dip
- 4 ounces sugar-free dark chocolate chopped
- ¼ ounce cocoa butter
- Flaked sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Beat in the sweetener, then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
- All at once, add the almond flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until the dough is cohesive.
- Roll the dough into 1 ½ inch balls, and press down with the palm of your hand to about ½ inch thick. Use a fork to make a cross hatch pattern across the top.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove and let cool completely on the pan. They will still be very soft when they come out of the oven.
Optional Chocolate Dip
- In a heatproof bowl set over a bowl of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and cocoa butter together until smooth.
- Dip one end of each cookie in the chocolate. Make sure the cookies have cooled completely before you do this or they may crumble!
- Set the dipped cookies on a waxed paper lined tray. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt, if desired. Refrigerate until set.
Notes
Total fat: 9.82g
Carbohydrate: 4.92g
Total dietary fiber: 1.85g Protein: 3.57g
Susan says
Hi…I have Splenda brown sugar which says you use 1/2 of regular brown sugar called for. So for this recipe would I use 3/4 of a cup of the Splenda or half of this. Sorry I’m new to this…thanks…
Carolyn says
Okay so for one thing, I can’t say how good they will be with that sweetener, as it bakes differently than Swerve. But it’s worth a shot! But as Swerve measures cup for cup like sugar, it sounds to me like you’d use half of that with yours? I think that’s what your saying?
Cynthia says
Great texture and will make again.
Wendi says
Oh my word! I haven’t even put them in the oven yet, and the dough already tastes amazing!!!
Joan says
Could I use coconut sugar in place of Swerve Brown? How did you get the pretty pattern on top of the peanut butter cookies in the picture? Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Carolyn says
I don’t bake with coconut sugar so I can’t really advise. I used a meat tenderizer to get some patterns, and a fork to get the others.
Sarah says
So so good
Peggy Tackett says
I love all of your recipes and I am very thankful for your blog. I was wondering if you have used sesame flour in any? I would like to try the flour but I am unsure how things will turn out.
Carolyn says
Yup! use the search box and look up my sesame crackers!
JP says
Flavor is ok, but texture is more cake-like than cookie.
Annie Kearsley-Pratt says
I didn’t find that but I did add extra almond flour in my mixture to firm it up a little more. That might help with the ‘cakey’ texture 🙂
Linda says
Can you use natural peanut butter?
Carolyn says
That’s what mine are made with…
Katie says
Made these today and got the family’s approval! They’re not dense like peanut butter cookies can be. Definitely a keeper recipe!
Cindy says
Oh my, unbelievably yummy. I added sugar free white choc chips and chopped peanuts (and used almond butter/peanut butter mix because I was low on peanut butter). So, so, so delicious ????
Michelle says
Even my family who don’t know they’re eating low-carb/keto loved these!
Allyson Zea says
These cookies were super delicious and easy to make!
sommer says
Even though on paper these cookies look really healthy, they are super delicious and I will never go back to the original recipe!
Gretchen says
When using Swerve brown, are we supposed to pack it like traditional brown sugar or do we do more of a dip and sweep move? I don’t want to mess these up ????. Thanks!
Carolyn says
You can’t sweep and scoop with Swerve Brown because of the way it holds together. So I “lightly pack” because there really isn’t any other way to do it.
Patricia says
These are the best keto peanut butter cookies I have made. The taste and texture are what I expect in a peanut butter cookie. I made them with chunky peanut butter, because I just don’t get creamy-style. The few remaining have been in my counter-top cookie jar for three days, and seem to get better each day. Thanks, Carolyn, for another excellent recipe.
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Velia Ranlett says
Can the dough be frozen before baking?
Carolyn says
Almost all cookie dough can be frozen. Personally, I would roll this into individual balls and set them out on a cookie sheet in the freezer until they were hard. Then I’d pop them in a bag so I could just bake one or two cookies whenever I felt like it.
Sabrina says
thank you, a wonderful cookie, love the cream cheese pairing with peanut butter – another fun way to do keto!
Deb says
You are singing my song……can’t wait to make these. Now the big decision…..2 plain wonderful cookies, or 1 with chocolate. Tough choice.
Vicky James says
Hi. I’ve tried making chocolate oatmeal no bake cookies for my neighbor kids. Tasting them, I can taste the “cool” they have. I’ve made two batches!!! What sugars can I use to not have that? I used Monkfruit classic.
Ty Vicky James aka heclagirl54@yahoo.com
carol walter says
I used pure erythritol in these cookies and I could not tell it was not regular sugar. There was not aftertaste and no cooling effect. I wondered what would happen if I did not use a sweetener blend, but it was great in these cookies.
Valerie H says
I enjoy your recipes so much. Going to try these on cookies soon. Do you have or know of a good Copycat recipe for Quest cookies?
Carolyn says
Which flavor of quest cookies?