Can you detect the slight green color in the cookies? Nope, me neither. However, some avocado did find its way into these soft, moist cookies, completely replacing oil. (Okay, so I didn’t say fat. There’s plenty of fat in these cookies.) You won’t detect the avocado in the taste either – just pure peanut butter (and jelly). Thanks to Poppy at Poppy’s Patisserie for showing me, via her Gooseberry & Avocado Loaf Cake, among other recipes, that avocados make an excellent substitute for oil.
The original sandwich cookie appeared at Number 6 on Buzzfeed’s 29 Ways to Honor the Glory of Peanut Butter and Jelly with a recipe from I Heart Eating (which pretty much sums it up for most of us, don’t you think?).
Vegan Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cookies
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 30
- Yield: 24 1x
Description
Sweet jelly cozies up with two layers of nutty, soft peanut butter cookies. Plant-based with no added oil.
Ingredients
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- 3/4 cup smooth/creamy natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup maple sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. peanut butter extract
- 1 Tbsp. egg replacer + 3 tbsp. water (I used Beyond Eggs, but use your favorite replacer equivalent to 1 egg), whisked well
- 1/4 cup nut milk
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. powdered stevia
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup rolled oats soaked in 1/2 cup hot water (do not drain)
- 1/2 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts, chopped
- pinch salt
Other ingredients
- Your favorite flavor of jam or jelly
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the avocado, peanut butter, maple sugar, extracts, egg replacer, and non-dairy milk. Process until very smooth – you don’t want any little green chunks in there. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry oats, flour, stevia, baking soda, and baking powder. Pour the avocado mixture into the dry ingredients, add the oats that have been soaking in the water and stir well. Stir in the peanuts.
- Drop the batter by the teaspoonful onto the prepared baking sheets. Using wet fingers, gently press down the cookies and form into flat circles (these cookies do not spread when baking).
- Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.
- Allow cookies to cool in the pans for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
- When the cookies have cooled, top the bottom of one cookie with a bit of jelly or jam (a little goes a long way), then place another cookie on top and gently press. Proceed with remaining cookies.
Notes
- I baked some cookies on a silicon sheet and found that the bottoms did not crisp up as well as when baked on parchment.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
- Calories: 232
- Sugar: 5
- Sodium: 72
- Fat: 15
- Saturated Fat: 3
- Unsaturated Fat: 11
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 20
- Protein: 8
- Cholesterol: 1
Oh, I have tried the avocado before in baking and it was disgusting to me…maybe there was too much. It would have to be very faint for me to not taste it. I’m just so sensitive..,just like I nearly gagged at black bean desserts. I’m real sensitive to desserts not tasting “off”. I’ll believe you though if you say you can’t taste it :). They sure look good, that’s for sure! I’ve never even heard or seen peanut butter extract.
I agree with you Brandi! I had a horrible experience with avocado but I am willing to try it again with your delicious recipe 😀
It looks so addictive!
Cheers
CCU
Nothing sadder than a mouthwatering-looking dessert having an unexpected, funky taste! Avocado tastes great in guacamole – but I don’t want to taste it in my cookie – – and I didn’t taste avocado in these :-).
i am with brandy,, i made some avocado cupcakes from some place i dont remember and couldnt down them even if someone put a gun to my head:) so this is one good reason to try these cookies and see if i like avos in cookies!
Haha, “put a gun to my head”… That made me laugh out loud! 🙂
😛
Oh dear! There are some real avocado-cookie-cake horror stories out there!
Peanut butter extract? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a thing. Is that to make it more intensely nutty tasting? Your cookies look really good, I love the way the jam’s oozing out between the two layers.
I know, Lorna! I got it from King Arthur Flour – never heard of it so I knew I had to try it. It just adds a deeper peanut flavor.
Another stunning Pb&J recipe! I’m really looking forward to them each day! I love that you were inspired to use avocado in them. I must hunt down some PB extract too! 😀
I’m seeing that some folks don’t love avocado in baked goods – – but I didn’t taste it in these and I was so impressed with how creamy it made the cookies!
I think it depends on the application and the flavours used. I’ve never tasted it in a baked good, only when I’ve tried it blended with cocoa to make a mousse, I hated that. I have seen recipes that are designed to have an avocado flavour, not just to replace the refined fat like avocado and lime cupcakes, so I can imagine that my be weird. I’m sure with the PB flavours you would never taste it here! I’ve also had some people who get put off just from the idea that it’s in there, so I don’t tell people now til they’re eating and saying yum!!
I love pb cookies! The oats look like great addition. I would have thought with the fat provided by the pb that you wouldn’t even need the avocado and could probably just use some non-dairy milk for extra moisture….?
I’ll bet that (non-dairy milk) would work. For some reason, using just PB resulted in a kind of dry cookies. Weird, huh?
oh my!!!!!!!!!! yum yum yum yum yum yum!!!!
Loving all your PB & J posts 🙂
Thanks, Sandy! I’m having fun!
brill!
Who would’ve thought avocado, right?!
totally 🙂
These look amazing! I haven’t used avocado in baked goods yet…will have to give it a try!
Oh you’ve gotta!
Can I have two please? Or 7..or 10.
So fun! I love how simple the filling is.
Soooo goood!! Thank you for the recipe! I used grape jelly and they turned out delish! 🙂
Nice!! Thanks for letting me know – that makes my day.
Oh yum, these look inCREDible…. these must be made. I love love peanut butter and what you did here is fantastic! I love the peanuts popping out all over and the jam oozing from inside. Who can resist that? 🙂
Thanks, Kelli! Gotta feed the eyes, too, right ;-)?
I admire your creative combinations of PB & J, and this recipe is the most enticing one yet! I’m also excited to use the avocado, and to read Poppy’s blog. Thanks for pointing us in her direction!
Poppy is fantastic! So creative.
Hey, these cookies look amazing. I know that the avocado addition makes them awesome and oil less. But is there a way to make them without avocado. I have a fairly unique challenge. I am trying to be vegan, with an anaphylactic allergy to Avocado and Bananas. They are both such great foods and I wish that I could eat them. But I am unable, Still I am not allergic to peanuts or garbanzo beans and for that I am thankful.
Any suggestions. I really want to try them out 🙂
Thanks,
Avocados AND bananas?! You poor thing. I do have a suggestion: try mashed white beans. I made some chocolate chip cookies that way and they were super moist, no bean taste.
Or chickpeas! I recently had some oil-free chocolate chip cookies made with chickpeas and they were amazing!
I haven’t tried using chickpeas that way! Definitely going to try it. Thanks, Kelli :-)!
ActuaLly, the cookies I had were oil-free and grain-free… They were mostly chickpeas, I think, and totally incredible!
IIIIiiii knnnnoooooow, avocados and bananas, it is rough! But yeah i will try the mashed white beans. And I will let you know when i do.
and Kelli, chickpeas, awesome. Can you send me the recipe for your chickpea cookies or tell me how to found it.
At long last (I’m currently behind on everything in life!), here is the chocolate chip cookie recipe with chickpeas – they were really great! http://www.texanerin.com/2012/04/grain-free-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-bites.html
Excellent! Cannot wait to try. Thanks so much for digging this up and sharing.
THANK YOU!!!!
I made avocado chocolate chip cookies for a 4th of July party I went to this year and they were a HIT! Here’s the link: http://honkifyourevegan.com/2013/07/02/10-fabulous-vegan-party-foods/. After trying it, I’m sold on avocado in cookies. These look yummy Annie! Stunning photography as usual!! Celeste 🙂