Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away, if you haven't given it a thought until now consider this your friendly reminder😉 Even if you're single Valentine's Day is still a day to share love with all the amazing people in your life. I'm big on telling the people close to me how much they mean to me every day not just one day out of the year, but it's nice to do a little something extra special on Valentine's Day.

Normally Valentine's Day is filled with all sorts of candy hearts and loads of sugar...SO.MUCH.SUGAR😳 so I spent some time in the kitchen modifying one of my mom's peanut butter cookie recipes. These used to be one of my favorite cookies when I was younger before gluten and dairy problems arose. I recreated the recipe using allergy friendly ingredients and the cookies got a thumbs up from my family and friends. They're delicious, easy to make, and perfectly festive for Valentine's Day.  

Gluten and Dairy Free Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 cup plus 1/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cane sugar or sugar replacement
• 1/2 cup vegan butter (I used Earth Balance, for dairy eaters regular butter works too)
• 3/4 cup peanut butter (can sub any nut butter)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dairy free chocolate hearts for topping

Using a mixer combine butter, brown sugar and cane sugar. 

Add in peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract and mix until combined. 

Turn mixer to a lower speed and slowly add in gluten free flour and baking soda. Do not over mix batter.

For best results, refrigerate dough for 30 minutes or longer- this helps prevent the dough from spreading too much when baking.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line baking sheet with liner. 

Roll dough into balls 1-1.5 inches in size. You should be able to get 25 cookies (or more) out of the dough depending on how large you roll the cookies. 

Bake at 350F degrees for 9 minutes or until the tops are slightly darker brown and starting to crack.

Remove from oven promptly and press dairy free chocolate heart into cookies. I used dairy free chocolate hearts I found at a local health food store, but I also used some Dove dark chocolate hearts because my family and boyfriend can consume dairy without a problem. 

If the chocolate begins to melt too much after placing them in warm cookies place baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes. 

Store cookies in airtight container for up to 10 days.