My search is complete. I have been looking for the perfect vegan peanut butter cookie for a long, long time, and I have finally found it. I’ve tried numerous times and failed numerous times. I’ve searched high and low and could never seem to get it right. Until now.

I decided that for our 4th of July BBQ this weekend, I didn’t want to worry about the meal. I wanted everyone else to take care of that. Instead, I opted to make an appetizer and a dessert. The appetizers were these amazing puff pastry pockets filled with mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and cream cheese. They were to die for. The recipe will show up here sometime soon.

The dessert was these vegan peanut butter cookies, and a few that I turned into ice cream sandwiches filled with fudge ice cream.

Our 4th of July weekend was all sorts of fun. We started off on Thursday night at a brewery up in Santa Margarita with a good group of friends for a mellow hangout. We amped it up Friday with a BBQ at our friends’ place, complete with garden-grown squash, Santa Maria style trip tip (a central coast specialty for non-vegetarians), and a pasta salad that I threw together just in time (i.e. at their house).

Then Saturday was a BBQ at our house with a few of the friends we saw on Thursday and Friday nights. We drank a lot of vodka in the form of Moscow Mules, fit 10 ears of corn, two pheasants, and a bunch of garlic bread onto our not very large grill, and got a little crazy with a can of whipped cream.

It was one of the most fun nights I’ve had in a while.

These cookies helped us finish the night off. I used some fudge ice cream to make a few ice cream sandwiches as a “cake” of sorts to celebrate my good friend Elissa’s birthday. We even found a candle and a proper lighter this time (as opposed to AJ’s preferred method of a blow torch) and sang the happy birthday song as loud as was appropriate. It was entirely too much fun.

And then to top off her birthday, her boyfriend proposed the next morning. So much excitement going on around here!

These cookies are heavily based off of Joy the Baker’s Crisp Peanut Butter Cookies. I simply changed a couple ingredients to make them vegan, and then proved that it could work. I’m pretty sure Joy is my baking idol – her Homemade Decadence book is my go-to source for delicious desserts.

And speaking of cookbooks, thank you to everyone who took my survey last week. I appreciate it so much. I got some really great feedback and feel like I have a better sense of what you guys like and don’t like and where I should be taking my blog in the next year.

I put all the emails in a random number generator and came up with a winner! Elisabeth Jewel, you have a fantastic cookbook coming your way!

Now go forth and make cookies.

• 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup vegan butter (I used Earth Balance), cold*
• 1/2 cup natural granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
• extra sugar for rolling, preferably course sugar

Instructions

1. Combine the flax seed and water in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Add the butter and sugars to a large bowl (preferably that of a stand mixer) and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until homogeneous and fluffy, about 3 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, grab a whisk and get ready for an arm workout.
3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the flax mixture and the vanilla extract. Beat another 2 minutes or so until everything is well mixed. Add the peanut butter and beat until combined.
4. While things are beating, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix only until just combined.
6. Cover the bowl and refrigerate 30 minutes. While the dough is chilling preheat your oven to 350°F.
7. Place a bit of sugar in a small bowl. Roll a tablespoon of dough between your palms to form a ball, then roll in the sugar. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, then use a fork to flatten.
8. Place the flattened cookies about 1.5″ apart.
9. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes until just starting to turn golden. Let sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

Notes