Healthier Peanut Butter Blossoms made with whole wheat flour taste just as delicious as the original!

Hi hi hello! These cookies are evvverythinggggg.

Buttery and fluffy and soft and peanuty and filled with the most gorg pool of dark chocolate in the middle... I MEAN what more do you need in life?

Let me be honest with you, though. As a total cookie lover and peanut butter fanatic, peanut butter cookies were never my go-to.

Chocolate cookies, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, cream cheese cookies...get in my belly. But peanut butter cookies? Meh. Where's the chocolate, yo?

But Jeff adores peanut butter cookies. I think he likes them more than he likes me.

I took his true love for peanut butter cookies and my deep dark chocolate obsession (and ok fine, way too many HERSHEY's kisses for my own good) and set out to make those wonderful little peanut butter blossoms I remembered from childhood.

While I didn't grow up making Christmas cookies per se (I'm Jewish!), I've eaten my fair share of them over the years. I used to take cooking classes with the most awesome lady named Betty Buns. I have vivid memories making meatloaf and banana bread and chocolate chip cookies at the ripe age of ten.

The passion started when I was just just a tot! So you can imagine my excitement when I found my beloved Betty Buns cookbook while searching my mom's cookbook cabinet for recipe inspiration.

A healthier spin on the classic!

I took Betty Buns' Peanut Butter Blossoms recipe and worked my magic. The holidays are as a good a time as ever to indulge, but I saw no harm in taking out a bit of the sugar, swapping the white flour for white whole wheat, and using less refined sugars like coconut sugar + organic cane sugar.

Oh, and a wee flax egg!

The good news is that you don't need a big fancy mixer to make these. I don't have a big fancy mixer. Even though Great British Baking show makes me feel like I need one yesterday. If you don't own one of these super affordable hand mixers, get it on your holiday list stat!

You also don't have to chill the dough. I KNOW, it keeps getting better.

Ingredients tips and substitutions

White whole wheat flour: I love white whole wheat flour because it's less wheaty tasting than regular whole wheat flour. You could also use all purpose flour, or a mix of half and half. I haven't tried it, but I bet this all purpose gluten free baking flour would also work.
Peanut butter: Use natural salted peanut butter with peanuts and salt as the ingredients.
Vegan butter: Earth Balance buttery sticks are my go-to, but you can use whatever vegan butter or real butter you fancy. Make sure it's room temperature for foolproof creaming.
Organic sugar: For sweetness, structure, and moisture! You can use regular granulated sugar, too. I’m not sure how coconut sugar would work here, but I know they’d be darker.
Coconut sugar: Because the mix of white and brown sugar is fab for flavor and moisture. You can also use brown sugar.
Flax: Our vegan sub for an egg, which helps the cookies bind together.
Chocolate kisses: I use HERSHEY's dark chocolate kisses. The key is adding them at the end so they don't melt into a chocolate pool you want to swim in.

I found that the key to getting the chocolate kisses to stick was the bake these bad boys for 8 minutes, quickly dot each cookie with a kiss (so cute), then bake for one minute more.

Tools to make perfect peanut butter blossoms

Silicone baking mat: reusable and makes for the easiest clean up. I make roasted vegetables, cookies, and more on this!
Cookie sheet: because everyone needs a few. This extra large one is the best!
Cookie scoop: for easy cookie portioning. I use the scoop and then roll the dough into balls so they’re smooth.
Hand mixer: less than $20 and my go-to appliance for mixing since I don’t have a stand mixer.
Air tight container: my storage solution for just about everything.

More holiday treats to love!

P.S. I definitely accidentally spilled the milk in these photos and decided it looked cool. Does it look cool or no??

If you make these healthy peanut butter blossoms, please let me know by leaving a comment and star rating. I’m so grateful for your feedback!

Healthier Peanut Butter Blossoms

★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews

Author: Alexis Joseph | Hummusapien
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 9 mins
Total Time: 24 mins
Yield: 23 cookies 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Description

This healthier version of the classic Peanut Butter Blossoms made with whole wheat flour taste just as delicious as the original!

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water (can sub 1 egg)
½ cup natural salted peanut butter*
½ cup vegan butter, softened (can sub regular butter)
½ cup organic cane sugar
¼ cup coconut sugar (can sub brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white whole wheat flour (can sub all-purpose flour)
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine sea salt
23 chocolate kisses (I love dark chocolate)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F. Line 1 large or 2 regular cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silipat. Make sure you have about 23 unwrapped kisses ready to go.
Mix together ground flax and water in a small bowl for "flax egg." Set aside to gel.
In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together peanut butter, butter, and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the flax egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined. Roll dough into smooth 1-inch balls (I used a cookie scoop) and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. No need to flatten.
Bake (one cookie sheet at a time) for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Return to the oven and bake for one more minute. Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

*If using unsalted peanut butter, add ¼ tsp salt to the recipe.

GLUTEN FREE: If you're looking for gluten free cookies, I'd recommend these Peanut Butter Cup Cookies!