If you are on a keto diet and love peanut butter cookies, this recipe is for you! These keto peanut butter cream cheese cookies with chocolate chips are a sweet snack that is gluten-free and sugar-free. This recipe uses only a few ingredients and is easy to make.
Why Keto Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cookies?
These cookies are a great option for those following a ketogenic or low-carb diet because they use alternative sweeteners and have a high fat content. Cream cheese adds moisture and a subtle tangy flavor that complements the cookie’s sweetness.
Ingredients
- Cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- Peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, no sugar added)
- Swerve confectioners and brown sugar (or other sweetener)
- Egg
- Peanut butter powder
- Baking powder
- Lily’s chocolate chips (or chopped sugar-free chocolate bar)
Ingredient Substitutions
- Peanut butter: You can substitute cashew, sunflower seed, or almond butter. If using sunflower seed butter, check the ingredient list for added sugars.
- Swerve: You can use monk fruit sweetener, stevia, or allulose. Be aware that using mostly allulose may cause the cookies to darken more during baking. You can use granulated sugar substitute instead of powdered if you want. If you don’t have both Swerve powdered and brown sugar sweetener you can use ½ cup of what ever sweetener you have on hand. (As long as it’s a 1:1 substitute for sugar - not stevia).
- Lily’s chocolate chips: You can use a chopped-up low-carb chocolate bar instead of Lily’s chocolate chips. You can also use sugar-free mini chocolate chips or cacao nibs.
- Almond flour: If you need to be nut-free, try replacing it with sunflower seed flour.
Additional Ingredients
You can add more flavor and texture to this classic peanut butter cookie recipe with the following optional ingredients:
- Spices: Cinnamon, nutmeg, chai, or 5-spice seasoning are all wonderful spices that can impart delicious aromas to cookies.
- Coconut: Peanut butter and coconut are a match made in heaven. Mix some shaved coconut with erythritol and sprinkle on top of the cookies. The taste is out of this world.
- Nuts: Finely chopped peanuts, walnuts, pecans, or almonds are all fine substitutes for cacao nibs. Be careful with the nut portions; more than 2 tablespoons will make it difficult to form the cookie balls.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until smooth.
- Add the sweetener, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (peanut butter powder and baking powder) then add that to the cream cheese mixture.
- Next add the egg and peanut butter and lastly fold in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop or spoon, drop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet. This batch made 15 for me. Leave enough space between each for slight spreading.
- Spray a piece of wax paper with cooking spray and use that to flatten the cookies out. The cookies will not spread so you might want to press them down a bit to flatten them. You can also gently flatten each ball with the back of a fork to create a criss-cross pattern.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes until the edges are golden brown and they are firm to the touch but not too firm.
- Let them cool completely on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before eating. They will get firmer as they cool.
Tips for the Perfect Keto Cookies
- Make sure the cream cheese is properly softened so that it creams well into the peanut butter. The cream cheese can be cold instead of room temperature. Just make sure you really cream it with the sweetener. This will also make the dough easier to scoop out when it’s colder.
- Don’t over bake the cookies or they will be dry.
- These cookies will not spread so that is why you want to flatten them down on the cookie sheet.
- Chill the dough.
- Use an electric mixer. While optional, I find using a hand mixer on low speed makes mixing the cream cheese easier.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 2 inch balls of dough.
- A cookie scoop is an indispensable tool for anyone who loves perfectly shaped cookie balls. I love interesting cookie shapes; I find them unique. For this reason, I use a tablespoon to portion the cookie dough and simply roll it in my hands to form a cookie ball.
- Make sure the cacao nibs are evenly distributed for easier cookie ball formation. When creating criss-cross shape on the cookie balls with a fork, there may be slight splitting on the sides. Gently reshape the cookies with your finger.
Optional Chocolate Dip
- In a heatproof bowl set over a bowl of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and cocoa butter together until smooth.
- Dip one end of each cookie in the chocolate. Make sure the cookies have cooled completely before you do this or they may crumble!
- Set the dipped cookies on a waxed paper lined tray. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt, if desired.
- Refrigerate until set. Do be aware that dipping the cookies in chocolate adds to the carb and calorie count. So while the serving size for the plain version is 2 cookies, the chocolate dipped version is 1 cookie.
Storage Instructions
- Store the cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to 5 days.
- In the refrigerator, they should last at least a week.
- Peanut butter cookies freeze wonderfully. I like to arrange my leftover cookies in layers on a baking sheet, lay parchment paper in between, and then put them in the freezer. Once frozen, I transfer the cookies to a freezer-safe bag and store them for up to 3 months. I recommend freezing them before you dip them in chocolate, if you plan to go that route.
What to Serve with Keto Peanut Butter Cookies?
These classic peanut butter cookies are enjoyed on their own, but you can enjoy them with the following food pairing options:
- Greek yogurt: You can never go wrong with this perfect classic pairing. They combine beautifully to give you perfect low-carb peanut butter cookies.
- Fruit: Fresh fruits like strawberries and blueberries add a refreshing contrast to the amazing peanut butter flavor.
- Cream: I love these cookies dunked in a small cup of heavy whipping cream.
- Want a delicious coffee recipe to drink while enjoying these cookies?
- This recipe will make you crave a glass of cold milk!! Find out why you might want to incorporate raw milk into your diet and where to source it! 13 Health Benefits of Raw Dairy Milk Consumption.
Nutritional Information
This keto peanut butter cookie recipe has 6.1g of carbs and 1.8g of fiber per serving. That comes to 4.3g net carbs for 2 cookies. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them.
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