Date paste peanut butter cookies! If you’re new to date paste cookies, these are a healthy vegan cookie recipe that uses dates instead of refined sugar. Plus how to make date paste.
We’re always on the hunt for healthier sweet treats for our kids.
One of our favorite kitchen hacks for these kinds of recipes is using date paste in place of white sugar. It works really well for recipes that are already a little dense, like these peanut butter cookies!
How to Make Date Paste
Never heard of date paste? That’s okay!
This is a simple kitchen hack that replaces white sugar in a number of sweet recipes. Follow the steps below for how to make dates paste and keep them handy.
- Soak your dates. This makes them easier to blend and easier to remove the date pits. To do this, place 1 cup of tightly packed dates in a glass jar and cover them with warm water.
- Remove the pits. Once your dates have been softened, you need to remove the pits. Drain them but reserve the water to make your paste. You may be able to break open the date with your fingers to remove the pit, otherwise slice gently with a knife.
- Puree. To a food processor or high-speed blender, add your softened pitted dates with about 1/4 cup of reserved water from your soak. If you accidentally tossed your reserve water, just use warm water instead. Blend for about 1 minute until very creamy.
How to Make These Cookies
Before you start your cookies, preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare your cooking sheet. Either spray it lightly with nonstick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.
Next, you’re going to make your date paste (see above).
Once you have your date paste prepared, add it to a food processor along with peanut butter, flax meal, baking soda, vanilla extract, and vinegar until everything is well-combined. Add in the flour and mix together. It should be somewhat sticky but not too tacky to the touch.
Then, you’re going to roll your mixture into balls of about 2-tablespoons each. Place them on your baking sheet evenly apart.
Once your baking sheet is full, dip a fork into flour and gently press it into the cookies to make a traditional peanut butter cookie hashtag shape.
Bake cookies for 10 minutes until they are just set. Note that they will be chewy.
Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to cool. Drizzle melted dark chocolate on top and scatter some sea salt flakes if you’re using it. Voila! Enjoy.
Find the full printable recipe below.
Date Paste Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Oven
- 1 cooking sheet
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup date paste
- 2/3 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter
- 2 tsp ground flax meal
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp vinegar
- 1/3 cup flour (more if needed for consistency)
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, melted
- flaked sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray with cooking spray and set aside.
- Blend together the date paste, peanut butter, flax meal, baking soda, vanilla extract and vinegar together until well combined. Add in the flour and mix together— it should be fairly sticky when held together but not too tacky.
- Roll mixture into ~2 tablespoon balls, then place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with rest of the dough, then dip a fork into flour and gently press onto the cookies to make a hashtag pattern. Bake for 10 minutes, until just set. The cookies will be chewy!
- Remove from oven and let cool, then drizzle on chocolate and top with flaked sea salt, if using.
Chime In: Have you made anything with date paste before? What did you think?
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Those are amazing! They are going to be a new staple in my kitchen. Thank you so much!
These were yummy!!
Are these safe for a 15 month old because of the chewiness?