(Peanut) Butter Me Up (Low-Carb Peanut Butter Cookies)

I confess; up until I met my hubby RP, I was unsure that I could generate the same feelings for a man as I held for peanut butter. Smooth and satisfying, with a flavor you just can’t tire of, PB may just be the perfect man – aside from the fact that it’s 100% legume and 0% human.

Trivial detail, but one that hasn’t prevented me from taking an entire jar with me to bed (a factoid I’m not particularly proud of).

But what could be better than smooth, creamy peanut butter? Sweet, chewy peanut butter cookies, of course.

You’ve likely seen this super-simple peanut butter cookie recipe before. What could be easier (to make and to remember) than a simple 1 cup pb/1 cup sugar/1 egg combination? It was my go-to “bake for men to appear domestic” recipe in college due to the fact that I never had actual baking ingredients, and a sugar-free version made with Splenda basically supplemented my Costco frozen meatballs diet for a good three years during those university days (when I could afford Splenda, that is).

I have revisited this recipe in years, mostly due to the fact that the Splenda version creates a crumbly mess of a cookie, and I was rarely very good at not eating the entire batch.

But now that I’ve discovered the modern marvel that is erythritol, I decided to give this one more go. I thought the graininess of the E (not to be confused with a totally different substance) might lend to a chewier texture, and I was so right. These are fantastic in the freezer, as they don’t get super hard (thanks to that PB fat), so you can keep them fresh for way longer than it’ll take you to eat the entire batch.

Guilt-Free PB

1 cup peanut butter (I used Skippy natural, which has palm oil instead of peanut, but better for baking than 100% au natural.)
1 cup erythritol
¼ tsp stevia extract
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt (if there’s no salt in your PB)

Blend the peanut butter and erythritol until creamy. Add the eggs, vanilla, stevia, baking powder and salt (if using) and blend until combined. It’ll look like this:


Try not to eat it all (but definitely taste-test).

Roll into small balls onto ungreased cookie sheet. I aimed for 20, but only got 18 out of the dough. I then attempted to make pretty little criss-crosses with my fork like peanut butter cookies of yore, but the dough was pretty sticky so I had to settle for these hot messes:


Bake about 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool, or eat one cookie that’s so hot you burn your tongue just because you don’t want to wait any longer. Then eat another after they cool. Then another before bed (the last one is optional).

Store in the freezer, or wherever you like (nightstand?).

Voila! So good to be so close again, dear peanut butter.