Peanut Butter Cookies with Coconut Oil

Growing up in America, peanut butter cookies were an absolute must in my house for the Christmas season. These cookies are quick and easy to make and have that great nutty, caramely flavor that I love for fall and winter. The coconut oil makes for pillowy little bites of peanut buttery goodness!

Note: Baking with coconut oil can take some getting used as it quickly liquefies when melted, but remains solid at room temperature. Using coconut oil also makes these cookies lactose free!

Fluffy Peanut Butter Cookies

Dry Ingredients

• 1- 1 1/4 cup flour
• ¼ cup spelt flour (optional, you can use regular flour too. The spelt flour just makes the dough a bit richer)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• A pinch of cinnamon

Wet Ingredients

• ¾ cup crunchy peanut butter
• ½ cup coconut oil
• ½ cup fine white sugar
• ⅓ cup brown sugar (crumbled)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 Tbs vanilla extract

If you don't have measuring spoons, you can substitute a regular teaspoon and regular table spoon.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Before You Start:

Chop your coconut oil into small chunks and let it sit in a bowl at room temperature until it warms up enough that you can cream it. I left mine sitting out for about 2 hours. DO NOT MELT YOUR COCONUT OIL!! Patience is key here. If you need to, stick your oil in the oven or in the microwave to warm it up. Beware though, LIQUID COCONUT OIL DOES NOT CREAM!

Cookie Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

2. Once the coconut oil is soft, cream the oil the same way you would cream butter:

Room temperature: coconut oil chunks Softened coconut oil: smooth and easy to stir

3. Once the coconut oil is soft and easy to stir, you are ready to add sugar. Brown sugar comes in many forms - for a more malty flavor, choose a darker raw sugar. For this recipe, I wanted a light brown sugar flavor, so I combined fine white sugar and dark brown raw sugar:

*If you can pack your sugar, pack it into your measuring cup. If your sugar is really hard, like mine, measure it and then crumble it in your hands to remove the lumps. Mix the sugar, coconut oil, egg and vanilla and stir until the batter feels light and fluffy.

In my recipe, I use vanilla extract, but you can easily substitute vanilla sugar, vanilla powder or split vanilla beans if you prefer.

4. In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients together. When they are thoroughly mixed, slowly add them to your wet ingredients.

The dough does not need much stirring. When the ingredients are all combined, it will still be slightly sticky.

Refrigerate the dough for at least 2-3 hours until the dough is firm. Firm coconut oil dough is a little different than butter-based doughs. I recommend scooping out the dough with two spoons, then quickly rolling it between your palms into a ball.

5. Finally, gently flatten out your cookies. For sweeter cookies, roll the cookie dough balls in sugar before baking.

Drop the cookies onto parchment paper, leaving space between them. Bake at 170° degrees Celsius for 8-9 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are a warm brown. Keep a close eye on them!

Once the cookies come out of the oven, press a fork into the top of the cookie to make a checkered design, then gently take them off the hot pan and slide them onto cooling racks. Voila! Perfectly light and fluffy peanut butter cookies.