These Keto Peanut Butter Cookies have all the taste and texture of the classic, without the sugar. Thanks to a secret ingredient, they are tender, chewy, and packed with peanut butter goodness. And ready in under 30 minutes!
The wonderful thing about keto peanut butter cookies is that there are about a million different ways to make them. You can turn them into thumbprints and fill them with chocolate, like my Keto Peanut Butter Blossoms, or turn them into sandwich cookies like Keto Do-si-dos. You can even bake them in an air fryer!
There really is no wrong answer here. Each of these recipes is delicious in its own special way. But if you’re looking for a classic cookie that rivals the ones your mom used to make, then this right here is your recipe!
★★★★★
Oreta says: “This recipe is the best peanut butter cookie I have ever tasted! My husband and I prefer this cookie over a regular non-keto cookie. He’s a baker and said the texture is prefect!“
Why You Need My Keto Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
Secret ingredient: This recipe calls for cream cheese rather than butter, and it does wonders for the taste and texture. These cookies are softer, puffier, and slightly chewier than their butter-based counterparts. They also have just a hint of tanginess that other cookies lack.
Quick and easy: With a handful of basic ingredients, you can whip them up in less than half an hour. Perfect for any time you need an easy keto dessert.
Customizable: Add chocolate chips or chopped peanuts, or dip the finished cookies in chocolate. You can make these cookies to suit your tastes!
Low carb and gluten-free: With no sugars or grains, and only 2.2 grams net carbs per cookie, they are the ideal treat for low carb and keto diets.
Ingredient Notes
- Creamy natural peanut butter: I recommend a brand that is thick and rich, without too much oil at the top. I am a huge fan of Santa Cruz organic peanut butter.
- Softened cream cheese: For dairy-free, you can try a cream cheese alternative. I can’t guarantee how well they will work.
- Sweetener: I like to use my homemade brown sugar replacement for deeper flavor. Other granular sweeteners will work but allulose may affect your results. See the Sweetener Options for more information.
- Almond flour: Finely ground almond flour will give you the best results. You can try replacing it with sunflower seed flour, for a nut-free version. You will need to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to offset the green reaction.
- Kitchen staples: Vanilla extract, egg, baking soda, and salt.
How to Make Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
- Combine the wet ingredients: Beat the peanut butter and cream cheese together until smooth, then beat in the sweetener, then add the egg and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients: Add the almond flour, baking soda, and salt and beat until the dough comes together.
- Form the cookies: Roll into balls and place on a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Flatten with the palm of your hand and use a fork to make a cross hatch pattern.
- Bake: Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Let cool completely.
- Melt the chocolate (optional): Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter together until smooth.
- Dip (optional): Dip one end of each cookie in the chocolate. prinkle with flaked sea salt, if desired. Refrigerate until set.
Carolyn’s Tips for Success
Make sure to soften the cream cheese properly so that it creams well into the peanut butter. You should be able to gently stick a finger into it and leave an indent.
Always let cookies cool fully before trying to lift them from the pan, as they can be fragile when warm. These keto peanut butter cookies will be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, but will firm up as they cool.
Dipping the cookies in 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.
If you can’t find cocoa butter for the chocolate dip, try using a teaspoon of coconut oil. They will be slightly more melty at room temperature.
Sweetener Options
You can use any sweetener you like best, including pure stevia or monk fruit. How much you need of these concentrated sweeteners depends on the brand, so check the label or the website.
However, allulose will likely cause the cookies to darken quite a bit more during baking, so keep your eye on them in the oven. They will also be a lot softer and more fragile after cooling.
More Keto Cookie Recipes to Love
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (193.5 g) peanut butter
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup (150 g) brown sugar replacement
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (112 g) almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Optional Chocolate Dip
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) sugar-free dark chocolate, chopped
- 1/4 ounce (7.09 g) 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 1/2 inch balls, and press down with the palm of your hand to about 1/2 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
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Try to choose an all-natural peanut butter without any added sugars. As long as it’s made with just peanuts and salt, and possibly oil, it’s a decent choice. My favorites include Santa Cruz Peanut Butter and Wild Friends Peanut Butter.
This keto peanut butter cookie recipe has 6.1g of carbs and 1.8g of fiber per serving. That comes to 4.3g net carbs for 2 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 like this. In the refrigerator, 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.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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In your recipes you often call for sugar free chocolate. Like this recipe you are referring to a block to chop up.
To me that is like Baker’s type sugar free chocolate. Which is what I used today with disastrous results. I ended up sprinkling granulated sugar over the chocolate dipped ends to make them edible.
How do we know which recipe calls for a sugar free Bakers type chocolate and a cane sugar free like Lilly’s bar/candy bar? Thank you
Hi Cheri… you are mixing up sugar-free chocolate with UNSWEETENED chocolate. Sugar-Free means made with sweeteners other than sugar. Unsweetened means it contains NO sweetener at all.
While that is a common mistake, there should be no confusion about which I am calling for in my recipes, since I link to the product right in the recipe itself. That is specifically designed to show people with questions what I am referring to.
That helps a lot.
When I see a recipe I like I print it out just black ink so don’t notice the highlights on ingredients. I’ll look closer for those in the future. Thank you for all your amazing recipes.
I would love to use your recipe for double peanut butter cookies using peanut flour or powdered peanut butter instead of the almond flour
Delicious even without the choclate dip!
Love being able to have a peanut butter cookie!
Could coconut oil be substituted for the cocoa butter in the chocolate dip?
Yes, it works! A little more melty at room temperatures.
The cream cheese is the key!
I was looking for a recipe for peanut butter cookies to go with Breyers Carb Smart Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice
Cream. They hit the spot!!
Great to hear!
The cookies great bite, chew and flavor. Easy to make and enjoy!!
I made these today! They took a bit longer to cook in my kitchen but they are beautiful!! I’m giving them away but of course made a couple to taste too.
Easy recipe to make.
These were fantastic. Believe it or not I added about 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I had an older recipe for cayenne peanut butter cookies. It adds just a touch of heat with out over powering. Its really good.
Have to update my review but can’t find it. Anyway, as the cookies cooled completely they became much more like cookies. We couldn’t wait so we were eating them warm and they were cake like. The cake like texture is the ONLY reason I gave it less than 5 stars. That’s fixed with patience enough to wait til they’re cool. 😂 Definitely will be on our regular rotation.
Best taste by FAR… I did use Erythritol and molasses to make the brown sugar sub and rolled the balls in Allulose before forking and baking. The one thing I would like is for them to be crisper. they are almost cake like in texture. I’m going to make some adjustments and see what I can do. Love them though! Do you know what I might do to make them more cookie like in texture?
oi made these exactly as recipe was wrote. I must say I am not impressed. I thought they were not sweet or salty enough for me. peanuts should be salty but not overwhelming I thought they were kind of bland. I think butter would be a better choice over cream cheese.
This is the best keto cookie recipe I’ve tried so far and the ones I’ve tried from this website have been very good—for keto cookies. This one, though, is excellent. I cut back on the brown Swerve by about 25% and it’s sweet enough. But I think the cream cheese makes a big difference. Somehow that cool feeling on the tongue after eating something w/ erithrytol is lessened. And the cookie is a bit fragile coming out of the oven, but nice and soft yet substantial once it’s cooled. Carolyn, thank you again for all the effort and research you do to create these recipes. I’ve told all of my friends who are also T2D about your website.
Thinking about making these with PB2, in your opinion do you think I should ad a little oil to the reconstituted peanut butter? I have a big jar of this stuff.
I am honestly not sure, since I’ve never tried to make peanut butter out of it. It might help the consistency of the cookie.
This recipe is the best peanut butter cookie I have ever tasted! My husband and I prefer this cookie over a regular non-keto cookie. He’s a baker and said the texture is prefect! I’m making my second batch of your turtles tonight. They are perfect as well. I took some to our Christmas party and they were gone within 10 minutes!
Thank you!