Peanut Butter Cookies (gluten-free)

My Nanny used to make peanut butter cookies every year that we visited my Dad's snowy hometown in northern Minnesota. To this day, I can't eat a peanut butter cookie without being transplanted back in time to the bitter cold holidays that I spent bundled up in a million layers playing in the endlessly deep piles of snow. 

This peanut butter cookie recipe comes from the Blissful Basil cookbook. I only modified it slightly because I accidentally purchased peanut butter already made with honey! I didn't want the cookies to be overly sweet. I've written the recipe as I made these but have also indicated Ashley's suggestion. These  pillowy cookies are absolutely everything you could want in a peanut butter cookie recipe. They aren't difficult to make and best of all they are gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free. You'd never know it though! These soft, tender cookies epitomize the essence of No FOMO Food!

Peanut Butter Cookies

You need:

• 1 cup natural honey peanut butter (I used Justin's)
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar (Blissful Basil suggests 1 cup)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup oat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup filtered water

Get cooking:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add peanut butter and coconut sugar. Beat for 1 minute. 
4. Add the vanilla extract and beat another 1 minute.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: oat flour, baking soda, sea salt.
6. Turn on the stand mixer and slowly add the dry ingredients. A very crumbly mixture should form. 
7. Add water and beat until just incorporated. 
8. Scoop out about 2 tablespoons worth of dough per cookie and roll into a ball.  Place on the baking sheet and repeat, leaving about 2 inches of space in between each cookie. 
9. Use a fork to press the cookies down, I did two fork presses per cookie. 
10. Bake 8-12 minutes, you should be able to smell the cookies and the edges will turn golden. 
11. Cool on the baking sheet and store in an airtight container to keep fresh!

I only baked half of the cookies and froze the remaining dough for future cookie cravings.