Peanut Butter Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Why I love these thumbprint cookies

This thumbprint cookie recipe is the blueprint for all of my nut butter based cookies!

The recipe has only 3 tablespoons of flour, which means it’s keto-friendly, vegan and gluten free! I’m not trying to suggest that all cookies need to be healthy, but if I can make them better for you without compromising flavor or texture, I’m going to do it.

Traditional recipes are written to yield 2 dozen cookies, which is far more than I typically need. The recipe makes anywhere from 8 – 12 cookies, depending on the size you go with.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Thumbprint Heart Cookies

Instead of using the classic chocolate kiss, we're making a little heart design in the centres. Just press your thumb in twice after pulling them out of the oven. Be quick – they'll be hot!

Print Recipe

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Cook Time:9 minutes mins

Chill Time:30 minutes mins

Total Time:49 minutes mins

Ingredients

Cookie Dough

• ½ cup peanut butter
• ⅓ cup white or brown sugar
• 3 tbsp all purpose flour gluten-free: bob's red mill 1:1 gf baking flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp plant milk
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp salt

Coating

• ⅓ cup granulated sugar optional

Topping

• ¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat
• Using a hand mixer, blend the peanut butter and sugar on high for 1-2 minutes, until homogenous
• Add vanilla and plant milk and blend a bit more, ~10 seconds
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda
• Using a spatula, gently incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet to form a dough. It will be quite "wet," but worry not, my friend.
• Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum! DO NOT SKIP.
• Working with cold dough, scoop out 12 cookies and shape into balls. The baking time is set for cookies that are about 1.5 TBSP each.
• Roll the balls in granulated sugar to coat.
• Bake for 9 minutes. You're looking for a very light tint to the bottom edges, nothing crazy dark. They're going back in the oven soon.
• If you're crazy like me, use your thumb or pointer finger to press into the top of the cookies, creating two divets (the rounded tops of the hearts) that are connected at the base. But you have to do it while they're hot! You could also use the back of a teaspoon assuming it's "deep" and oblong as opposed to shallow / circular. Use your best judgement here.
• Add the chocolate chips to the divets
• Throw the cookies back in the oven for about a minute, enough to get the chocolate melt-y
• Pull out the oven pan and give it a few bangs on the counter so that the melt-y chocolate pools fill up the edges of their heart-shaped divets.
• Cool for as long as you can stand to wait. I usually only last 5 minutes. But you do you.

Did you try this recipe? Chat about it in the comments!