Amazingly soft and made with a dark chocolate center, these Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies are a gluten-free take on a classic recipe perfect for every occasion! Vegan and nut-free options.
Allergy-Friendly Cookies
Who doesn’t love a good peanut butter recipe? Of course, not everyone can consume peanut butter, so I always do my best to provide allergy-friendly alternatives. However, no matter what form it’s in, I can never say no to a recipe with any kind of nut or seed butter. So, with the holiday season in full effect, I knew I had to try my hand at classic peanut butter blossom cookies!
However, in typical Cotter Crunch fashion, I made a few tweaks to the original recipe, making it not only gluten-free but vegan-friendly, too! Don’t worry, though. These blossom cookies are bite-sized, super soft, and super kid-friendly just like you remember. Keep reading to find everything you need to know so you can get baking!
Why Are They Called Peanut Butter Blossoms?
A hugely popular cookie, the creation of peanut butter blossom was actually an accident! As the story goes, they were created by an Ohio resident, Freda Smith. Ms. Smith intended to create a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies only to discover that she was out of chocolate chips.
Instead of tossing out her cookie dough, she utilized a bag of Hershey’s kisses she found in her pantry by placing them on top of the cookies instead, and, as you know, the rest is history!
Fun Fact: Ms. Smith’s cookies won 2nd place in the 1957 Pillsbury Bake-Off competition! (Source)
Tips and Tricks Before You Begin
For this recipe, we kept things super simple. Yep, an easy gluten-free and vegan cookie recipe for the holidays! Can you believe it? To help you out even more, I’m sharing a few of my favorite cookie-making tips to help you out!
- Refrigerate the Chocolate. To prevent the kisses from melting when pressed into hot cookies, store them in the fridge while your blossom cookies bake!
Pro-Tip: Feel free to use any flavored kisses, chocolate, or candy pieces you like best!
- Watch for Cracks. Unlike other cookie recipes, you want these peanut butter blossoms to crack. You’ll know they’re done baking when the edges turn golden brown and the tops begin to crack.
Note: If you pull your cookies out of the oven before they crack, they will be undercooked in the center!
- Chill the Dough. Chilling the dough before baking helps create thick cookies and prevents them from spreading out too far as they bake.
Ingredient Swaps
- Nuts: Swap out peanut butter for any nut or seed butter you prefer.
- Dairy: Use dairy-free chocolate kisses or make your own using a candy mold.
- Add More Wet Ingredients. If your blossom cookies are crumbly, it’s likely due to the presence of too much flour. Try adding another tablespoon or 2 of maple syrup or nut butter!
How to Make Blossom Cookies
The process to make this peanut butter blossom cookie recipe is super easy as long as you follow the directions!
- Make the Batter. Combine the ingredients (except the chocolate and sparkling cane sugar) to create the dough, and let it sit in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.
- Form the Blossoms. Once chilled, shape the cookies into 1-inch balls, and roll them in sparkling cane sugar until they are well-coated. Then, using your thumbs, press down the center of your cookies to form a space for the kisses to sit.
Baking Tip: To create evenly-sized cookies, use a cookie scoop to pull the dough, and create an indent with the backside of a teaspoon!
- Bake. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, and place a chocolate kiss in the center of each cookie immediately after removing them from the oven. Once all of the kisses have been added, place the cookies back in the oven for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate has set in the center.
Note: Don’t worry if your cookies crack while adding the chocolate kisses, they’re supposed to!
More of Our Favorite
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Recipes
Storage Tips
If kept in an airtight container at room temperature, these peanut blossom cookies will stay fresh for 5-7 days. Or, store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Store the uncooked dough from this peanut blossom recipe in the freezer, and pop the dough in the oven for warm cookies in minutes! Just add a few extra minutes to the cooking time.
Common Questions
If your cookies are falling apart, it’s most likely due to the dough being too dry. Try adding more maple syrup or peanut butter!
Yes! Chilling the dough is crucial to prevent your peanut butter blossoms from spreading too far.
Sure! Any nut or seed butter such as cashew butter or sunflower seed butter can be used to replace peanut butter. Just keep in mind that the flavor of your cookies will change slightly.
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie Recipe
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 12–16 cookies 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies are gluten-free and can be made vegan-friendly and nut-free for a holiday cookie everyone will love!
Ingredients
- 150 grams (1 ½ – 1 ⅔ cups gluten free oat flour ) or gluten free quick oats (See notes for making oat flour)
- 1 cup (112 grams) blanched fine almond flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup to ¾ cup maple syrup*
- ½ cup creamy nut butter
- Sparkling cane sugar
- 15 dark chocolate kisses or dairy free dark chocolate gems
Instructions
- Place the oat flour, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ½ cup maple syrup, and nut butter into a mixing bowl. (See notes on how to make oat flour)
- Beat the ingredients with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer for 1 minute. *If the batter is too thick, add ¼ cup to ½ c more maple syrup or agave nectar. Mix again.
- Roll the batter into a ball, and cover it with plastic wrap before letting it sit in the fridge for 10-20 minutes.
- While the batter chills, line or grease a cookie sheet, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once the batter has chilled, spoon the dough with a cookie scoop (or spoon), and shape it into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls of cookie dough in sparkling cane sugar, and place them on a cookie sheet about 1-2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 8 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and press chocolate kisses into the center of each cookie ball.*
- Place the baking sheet back in the oven, and bake the cookies 2-3 more minutes or until the chocolate has set in the center.
- Remove the cookies, and let them cool completely.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
Prep Tip– To make your own oat flour, place 2- 2 ½ cups gluten free quick oats or rolled oats in a food processor, and pulse them until a fine flour is formed. See this blog post for more detail.
Substitutes – If you can’t find dairy free chocolate kiss candy, you can make your own using a candy mold and melting dairy free chocolate morsels
Baking Tip– Don’t worry if the cookies don’t spread while baking! They should crack around the edges once the chocolate is pressed into the center.
- Prep Time: 22 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 175
- Sugar: 10.1 g
- Sodium: 3.3 mg
- Fat: 6.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.8 g
- Fiber: 2.2 g
- Protein: 4.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I am so excited to try this recipe! Where do you find your gf df chocolate kisses? What brand do you use? Thank you!
Hi Patricia! So sometimes dark chocolate kisses have a dairy free option. Depends on brand. But I have used hu gems before for vegan option or you can buy these molds https://amzn.to/3NEE7oO and pour dark chocolate inside to create your own DF kisses. They sell them at Micheal’s too! Hope that helps! I’ll email you to make sure you got this.
Love these cookies! You just can’t have Christmas at my house without peanut butter blossoms. They bake up wonderfully and I just love having a delicious cookie recipe that everyone on my list can enjoy!
Oh you and me both!
We love these cookies so much! J need to make them again soon.
I think that’s a great plan. 🙂