This gluten-free peanut butter cookie recipe is one of my favorite recipes ever!

Due to customer requests and increasing awareness, I’ve been working on adding some gluten-free recipes to my cooking class menus. This allows for a lot of experimentation and teaches me new things about methods, ingredients, and textures. And gluten-free recipes are, like, so popular right now! This is due in part to the increasing awareness of celiac and gluten-sensitivity and the super trendy Paleo diet, but also because marketers are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon and creating an astonishing variety of gluten-free options.

But it’s important to note that you don’t have to be sensitive to gluten to appreciate gluten-free goodies! Here are five reasons to try alternative grains, with help from our friend Dr. Allison Bachlet, a Naturopath and Acupuncturist practicing in Honolulu.

1. Dr. Bachlet says that she commonly sees patients who eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, cookies for a snack, and pasta for dinner, which overloads our body with refined wheat products, and we need to break this cycle.
2. Gluten-free grains (like quinoa, millet, teff, amaranth, and other whole grains) add flavor, nutrition, and fun into your diet.
3. Gluten-free grains and flours make baking more interesting: it’s certainly easier to use all-purpose white flour, but it’s fun to break our dependance on this flour and experiment with sorghum, teff flour, coconut flour, brown rice, and almond flour.
4. Whole grains are less refined than most wheat products, which means they have more fiber, healthier fats, more protein, and lots of other good stuff for our bodies.
5. Like their whole counterparts, whole grain gluten-free flours can contain higher amounts of fiber, protein, and healthy fats to add nutrition and unique flavors to your baked goods.

So here’s a great recipe to get started and take advantage of a few different GF grains. This gluten-free and vegan Peanut Butter cookie recipe features a variety of flours, natural fats from coconut and peanut butter, overripe bananas and just a wee bit of sugar to sweeten the whole thing and ensure that they still taste like dessert. I hope you enjoy them! These also free well, for quick treats on the go!

Before you begin, here are some tips to make the best gluten-free cookies. This recipe works best with a rounded cookie scoop, but if you don’t have one, use a rounded tablespoon measure to create rounded little balls for the best texture (and cuteness!). Like all gluten-free baking, this recipe requires a strict adherence to the recipe, as flours and starches work differently in various combinations. Please be sure to read the recipe all the way through, ensure that you have all the right ingredients and equipment, and follow the directions exactly for the best results. Finally, this recipe is adapted from Manifest Vegan, though it doesn’t seem to exist in the archives any longer.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

1½ cups roughly chopped very ripe bananas (About 2-3 medium-sized bananas)
½ cup natural peanut butter
¼ cup melted coconut oil
¼ cup coconut sugar, sucanat or brown sugar
⅔ cup brown rice flour
⅔ cup almond meal/flour
⅓ cup sorghum flour
2 Tablespoons potato starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350º. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together bananas, peanut butter and oil until smooth. Add in sugar and beat until smooth.
3. In a smaller bowl, sift together remaining ingredients. Gradually add the flour mixture into the banana mixture until a dry, thick dough forms.
4. Using a rounded Tablespoon or a small cookie scoop, measure out dough and lay gently onto prepared baking sheet. Do not flatten.
5. Bake 15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before enjoying.

Yields: Approximately 2 Dozen Cookies

Want more whole-grainy, gluten-free cookies? Of course you do! What about Banana Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles, Teff & Ginger Cookies, and Cinnamon Almond Cookies?