Homemade Nutter Butters with a sweet peanut butter filling and crisp peanut butter cookies! Vegan and can be made gluten-free.
Who else here vividly remembers their favorite childhood snacks? Mine were always Swiss Cake Rolls (recipe hopefully coming one day!), Goldfish crackers, and Nutter Butters, hands down. I obviously had a sweet tooth from the start, with most of my favorites being sweets and only going for the salty when necessary to balance it all out. Now that I’m eating way less processed foods, I really hadn’t thought about making a version of vegan homemade Nutter Butters at all. There are a lot of childhood favorites I want to recreate, but those peanut butter-filled cookies just weren’t on my list until fairly recently.
Creating this homemade Nutter Butters recipe
I blame it all on Food 52, who posted a recipe for homemade Nutter Butters quite some time ago (like over a year maybe?), and after I saved it I couldn’t stop thinking about it. If I recreated vegan Nutter Butters, it started opening up a whole world of things to vegan-ize! Swiss Cake Rolls? Tried it and still working on that one. Those Christmas tree-shaped cake things?
This year, I swear I’ll have that recipe ready for you by Christmas! But for now, vegan homemade Nutter Butters needed to be conquered. There are a few recipes out there for a vegan version of the peanut butter cookie, but I wasn’t sure if they were quite what I was looking for. I didn’t really want to pipe on the lines or cut it out to actually make it look like a peanut shape (lazy baker), so I wanted it to be a simple crispy peanut butter cookie with a sweet peanut filling. I tried a couple versions of the cookies over the last couple weeks and they ranged from too cakey to too thin to finally, just right.
I discovered that one of the secrets to making a crispy, but chewy vegan Nutter Butter, was replacing half of the all-purpose flour in the cookie recipe with a gluten-free baking flour blend. Crazy, right? I’m not sure of the exact science behind it, but it seems like replacing some of the flour gives more of that cookie crunch, rather than weighing them down and making them denser. The result is a slightly chewy, crispy on the outside, and super peanut butter-y cookie that is perfection when sandwiched with a sweet peanut butter filling.
The filling was something else that I wanted to change a bit too. While the original Nutter Butters have a creamy filling, I opted for chunky peanut butter to give it a little extra peanut taste ( I <3 peanut butter, can you tell?). It comes together pretty quickly and in total, you make make this Nutter Butter recipe in an afternoon to have ready by dinnertime dessert. I’m also halfway tempted to dip a few of my leftover cookies into chocolate and see how that goes. It can’t really go wrong, right?
I hope you have a lovely Thursday! This weekend is pretty laid back for me; I’ll be testing a few recipes (including pancakes!) and grabbing dinner with a group of girls from work. I tend to enjoy the weekends when we have some plans, but aren’t planned out every minute of the day. It prevents me from getting into hermit mode but also still feels like a real, relaxing weekend. xo
More vegan cookies on Heart of a Baker:
- Vegan Matcha Shortbread with Vanilla Bean Glaze
- Crispy Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
- The BEST Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Russian Tea Cakes
- Vegan Sugar CookiesÂ
- Caramel-Stuffed Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Homemade Nutter Butters
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Homemade Nutter Butters with a sweet peanut butter filling and crisp peanut butter cookies! Vegan and can be made gluten-free.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoon solid coconut oil
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 c gluten free baking flour blend
For the filling:
- 2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup solid coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon almond milk
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat together the peanut butter, social coconut oil, and cane sugar on medium speed until smooth. Most of the chunks of coconut oil should be gone and mixture should be combined.
- Add the baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, cornstarch, water and almond milk. Mix on low until combined.
- Add the flours and mix until just combined, until no flour streaks remain.
- Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes, to allow the dough to firm up.
- After the dough has been refrigerated, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Scoop out the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets by the tablespoon, spacing each cookie about an inch apart. Press each cookie down with the tines of a fork, smooshing them down just enough to start to spread out.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until cookies have spread and the edges are darker brown. Don’t overbake or the cookies could become crumbly! Allow cookies to cool before filling.
- To make the filling, beat together the peanut butter and coconut oil until combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined. Use about a __ of filling between each cookie, pressing two together when filled.
- Store in the covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Keywords: homemade nutter butters, nutter butter recipe
Jan Thompson says
Your dad will have some baking to do! These look like the cookie we’ve been looking for!
Heart of a Baker says
He needs to put these on his list!
Sarah | Well and Full says
Okay, don’t get mad, but I actually had to google nutter butters to read this post *gasp*!! But after doing a little research, I can confidently say that yours look way better 😉
Heart of a Baker says
ahhh really?! That’s crazy!
whiskandshout says
PB on PB on PB is what I’m all about! I actually hate Nutter Butters because they were so fake compared to real deal PB cookies like these. Your cookies look so delicious and way better for you 🙂
Heart of a Baker says
You are so right, they weren’t that real, so these are so much better!
amanda says
Gah, you mention all my childhood favorites too! And if you nail the swiss cake rolls…. i mean…
So interesting about adding the all purpose gf flour. I’m guessing it has something to do with a little more absorption and some of the starch. They look so perfect! xo
Heart of a Baker says
I’m guessing that too! I’m thinking about trying them with all GF flour, I think they would be so good! Man, I’m really hoping to nail those swiss cake rolls soon! xo
Julia Mueller says
Ohhhh yeeeeeah, Nutter Butters were definitely one of my crave-worthy foods when I was younger…and my adoration for them only got stronger as I got older, ha! Loving this vegan version…I’m itching for some peanut butter bliss now!
Heart of a Baker says
Alllll PB all the time!
Tessa | Salted Plains says
I have been thinking about these this last week! Nut Butters used to be one of my ultimate favorites until going gf. I’m ready for those Christmas tree cakes too! xoxo
Heart of a Baker says
Ahh I bet you can make these totally GF and enjoy them again! xoxo