My first attempts at gluten free, sugar free peanut butter cookies were too sticky and fragile to press them with a fork. They tasted good but I discovered that fork-free peanut butter cookies just aren’t as good. They need the official criss-cross fork press to give you the authentic peanut butter cookie experience!
The other crucial thing about peanut butter cookies is that they need to taste very peanut buttery, not just sweet.
I’m very happy to say that these gluten free, sugar free peanut butter cookies totally fit the bill. We all love them and I hope you will too. These cookies are a little more fragile than wheat flour cookies but luckily they taste fantastic frozen (which also firms them up).
I got curious about the whole fork thing. It’s funny to me that someone thought up an arbitrary little design 80 years ago and it stuck (pun intended). For those of you who are interested, here’s what I learned (from Wikipedia):
“The first reference to the famous criss-cross marks created with fork tines was published in the Schenectady Gazette on July 1, 1932. The Peanut Butter Cookies recipe said ‘Shape into balls and after placing them on the cookie sheet, press each one down with a fork, first one way and then the other, so they look like squares on waffles.’ Pillsbury, one of the large flour producers, popularized the use of the fork in the 1930s. The Peanut Butter Balls recipe in the 1933 edition of Pillsbury‘s Balanced Recipes instructed the cook to press the cookies using fork tines. No reason was given for the use of the fork.”
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- 1 1/4 cups xylitol
- 2 cups peanut butter, use your favorite - chunky or smooth, I use the freshly ground kind from the health food store
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour (also called almond meal)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Cream butter, xylitol, peanut butter, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Add eggs and vanilla and continue beating until mixed. Add almond meal, baking powder and baking soda and beat on medium speed until well mixed.
- Adjust oven rack to middle of oven and preheat oven to 350°.
- Cover cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment paper. Roll ball of dough in your hands using 2 level tablespoons (1/8 cup) of dough. Place balls on baking sheet 1 inch apart.
- Get a small bowl of water to dip fork into when pressing cookies. Flatten cookie lightly with a fork. Press fork into cookie again perpendicular to first fork press. Press all the cookie balls with a fork. Dip fork into water, every 2nd or 3rd press, to prevent dough from sticking to fork.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes until lightly brown. Bake cookies in batches. Do not stack cookie sheets one above the other in the oven.
- Remove from oven and let cool. Cookies taste great frozen!
