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These Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms are just like the traditional peanut butter blossoms, but without any animal products! Soft, thick peanut butter cookies rolled in granulated sugar, then lightly pressed with a vegan chocolate “kiss”! All you need is 1 bowl, 10 ingredients, and 20 minutes of hands-on time.
Table of Contents
Nothing celebrates the holiday season better than a thick and chewy peanut butter blossom! They’re easily one of our favorite Christmas recipes of all time, so it only made sense we bring our favorite homemade version to the blog for you to share with your friends and family.
If you love the crisp edges on our Vegan Eggnog Snickerdoodles or our Coconut Sugar Cookies, you will absolutely love these sugar-coated peanut butter cookies!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Vegan butter: The base of the cookie dough batter is made using a softened vegan butter stick. To soften, set the butter on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 hours, or until the butter is still solid, but can be easily indented with the tip of your finger. For best results, we always recommend baking with vegan butter sticks (not buttery spreads!).
- Peanut butter: Unlike our No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies, these classic peanut butter blossoms are best made with processed peanut butter varieties, such as Skippy. You can use natural peanut butter in a pinch, but the baked cookies will be more crumbly.
- Sugar: For the best texture and flavor, we recommend using an equal mix of granulated white sugar and brown sugar. Coconut sugar will work as a substitute for brown sugar, but avoid using liquid sweeteners such as pure maple syrup – this will make the cookie dough too moist.
- Non-dairy milk: Any unsweetened plant-based milk of choice will work in this cookie recipe. We typically opt for our Homemade Almond Milk, but don’t be afraid to use what you have on hand.
- Flour: We developed these classic cookies using all-purpose flour. We have not tested a gluten-free version, but based on our recipe testing experience, a gluten-free flour blend may work. If you experiment with it and have success, please let us know in the comments below!
- Leavening agents: Baking soda helps this classic holiday cookie rise and become light and airy in texture. Baking powder, on the other hand, helps puff up the cookies and make them extra tall and thick.
- Vegan chocolate kisses: The classic Hershey kisses are unfortunately not vegan (even their Dark Chocolate version contains milk! 🙁), but don’t worry! There are several vegan-friendly options to choose from! Simply top your peanut butter blossoms with any chopped chocolate bar or square of chocolate, make your own Vegan Hershey Kisses from scratch, or melt your favorite vegan chocolate chips in a piping bag, and pipe a homemade chocolate kiss right on top of the baked cookies!
Equipment Needed
- Mixing bowls
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
- Spatula
- Plastic wrap or reusable wrap
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Food scale (optional but recommended for dry ingredients)
- 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop
- Baking sheet
- Cooling rack
How to Make Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Cream together the vegan butter and peanut butter. In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegan butter and peanut butter. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the two together until smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and beat for another 1-2 minutes, or until well incorporated and creamy.
- Add remaining wet ingredients. Add in the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and beat again until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. In the same bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on a low speed until a smooth dough forms.
- Chill for 1 hour. Cover the mixing bowl using plastic wrap, reusable wrap, or a lid, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to overnight.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls. When ready to bake, roll the chilled cookie dough into 1-inch-sized cookie dough balls. The full batter should make about 20 vegan peanut butter blossoms.
- Coat in sugar. Coat each peanut butter cookie dough ball in granulated sugar and place the cookie dough balls about 2 inches apart on a baking tray.
- Bake. Bake the vegan peanut butter blossoms for 10-12 minutes, then immediately press a piece of chocolate into the center of each cookie.
- Serve. Let the cookies cool completely to room temperature, then enjoy as desired!
Recipe FAQs
We have not personally tested this substitution, but it may work. If you’d like to experiment, we’d recommend using softened coconut oil (not melted!) and creaming it with the peanut butter as usual.
Yes! Replace the creamy peanut butter with creamy sunflower butter and make sure to use a non-dairy milk that is free of nuts. Soy milk or oat milk would be great options.
In many of our cookie recipes, we opt for flax eggs as a replacement for chicken eggs. However, these classic vegan peanut butter cookies don’t require an egg replacer at all! The creamy peanut butter helps bind the cookie dough batter together perfectly!
Storage Instructions
These classic peanut butter blossom cookies will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer for up to 3 months. To prevent sticking, we recommend flash-freezing the cookies before storing them in a freezer-safe container of choice.
Quick baking Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. Softened butter and room-temperature peanut butter will be significantly easier to cream together when warmed to room temperature. Like the butter, if your peanut butter has been refrigerated, set it at room temperature for 1-2 hours, until warm and creamy!
- Correctly measure the flour. The biggest culprit of dry cookies is incorrectly measuring flour. If you own a baking scale, we highly recommend using our weighted grams measurements when possible. Otherwise, make sure to use the Spoon and Level Method!
- Pop the cookies in the freezer for a few minutes after baking! If your kitchen is really warm, it can be helpful to pop the cookies in the freezer for 5 minutes after you’ve pressed the chocolate kisses into the top. This will help prevent the chocolate from melting on the freshly baked cookie and keep them looking perfect for holiday parties and gift-giving!
More Vegan Cookies Perfect for the Holidays:
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you make this recipe. We love to see your photos!
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Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
- Yield: ~20 cookies
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms are just like the traditional peanut butter blossoms, but without any animal products! Soft, thick peanut butter cookies rolled in granulated sugar, then lightly pressed with a vegan chocolate “kiss”! All you need is 1 bowl, 10 ingredients, and 20 minutes of hands on time.
Ingredients
Cookie dough:
- ½ cup (1 stick) vegan butter, softened
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp (160g) creamy peanut butter, room temperature* (see notes)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (105g) brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ (180g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Assembly:
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 20 pieces of vegan chocolate
Equipment Needed
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Food scale (optional but recommended)
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment
- Spatula
- Plastic wrap or reusable wrap
- 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop
- Baking sheet
- Cooling rack
Instructions
- Cream together the vegan butter and peanut butter. In a large mixing bowl, combine the vegan butter and peanut butter. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the two together until smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and beat for another 1-2 minutes, or until well incorporated and creamy.
- Add remaining wet ingredients. Add in the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract and beat again until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. In the same bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on a low speed until a smooth dough forms.
- Chill for 1 hour. Cover the mixing bowl using plastic wrap, reusable wrap, or a lid, and refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls. When ready to bake, roll the chilled cookie dough into 1-inch-sized cookie dough balls. The full batter should make about 20 vegan peanut butter blossoms.
- Coat in sugar. Coat each peanut butter cookie dough ball in granulated sugar and place the cookie dough balls about 2 inches apart on a baking tray.
- Bake. Bake the vegan peanut butter blossoms for 10-12 minutes, then immediately press a piece of chocolate into the center of each cookie.
- Serve. Let the cookies cool completely to room temperature, then enjoy as desired!
Notes
- Storage: These cookies will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer for up to 3 months. To prevent sticking, we recommend flash-freezing the cookies before storing them in a freezer-safe container of choice.
- Peanut butter: These are best made with processed peanut butter varieties, such as Skippy. You can use natural peanut butter in a pinch, but the baked cookies will be more crumbly.
- Gluten-free: We have not tested a gluten-free version, but based on our recipe testing experience, a gluten-free flour blend may work. If you experiment with it and have success, please let us know in the comments below!
- Vegan chocolate kisses: The classic Hershey kisses are unfortunately not vegan (even their Dark Chocolate version contains milk), there are several vegan-friendly options to choose from– simply top your peanut butter blossoms with any chopped chocolate bar or square of chocolate, make your own Vegan Hershey Kisses from scratch, or melt your favorite vegan chocolate chips in a piping bag, and pipe a homemade chocolate kiss right on top of the baked cookies!
- Vegan Butter: For best results, we always recommend baking with vegan butter sticks and not buttery spreads!
- Use room temperature ingredients. Softened butter and room-temperature peanut butter will be significantly easier to cream together when warmed to room temperature. Like the butter, if your peanut butter has been refrigerated, set it at room temperature for 1-2 hours, until warm and creamy!
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
These cookies are delicious! I only had natural peanut butter but it worked great! And I used half of a Justin miniature peanut butter cup for the chocolate kiss.