Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies, made with butternut squash, are gluten-free, egg-free, lower in sugar and are a sensible treat for kiddos and adults.
Hey friends, Ana here! Back on the blog to share with you yet another healthy, gluten-free baked good recipe.
We all love a good peanut butter cookie, right? They remind us of being at Grandma’s house. Since going gluten-free enjoying some treats have come to a halt. Do you ever feel like some of your favorite treats from growing up just aren’t options right now? Well, not anymore! Going gluten-free can be freeing! Bring back a few special treats, make foods with great taste again. We’re bringing the peanut-butter cookie back with a healthy twist. Find more of my healthy gluten-free recipes on Instagram.
A squashed cookie!
Normally when I hear “squashed cookie” I dread walking into the kitchen to find the toddler with a cookie he has squashed!! Finding a trail of cookie bits from one end of the kitchen to the other, is never fun! With creating a brand new version of the traditional peanut-butter cookie, I added butternut squash and now love the sound of a “squashed cookie”. The butternut squash adds a smooth texture to these Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies, moisture to the dough and quite an impressive list of vitamins and minerals. Butternut squash has a high amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and magnesium as well as antioxidants.
Chocolate-Dipped PB Cookies are made with butternut squash & are gluten & egg-free! Click To Tweet
Adding some Old Home peanut butter for all of the peanut butter lovers.
When it comes to peanut butter there are a few things I always look for. I won’t buy one that has sugar added or hydrogenated vegetable oils, because let’s face it, it just isn’t what I want to feed my family. Peanut butter should be just that…peanuts! With Old Home Foods Peanut Butter, I have found my match! The ingredient list only has 2 ingredients: peanuts and sea salt. Perfect for serving to my family. And the taste is quite amazing! One little taste of peanut butter and it bursts with fresh roasted peanuts. And the fresh taste of peanuts carries through to the cookies.
Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies are lower in sugar, too.
Lets face it, cookies are delicious because they have sugar and chocolate chips in them, right? Not anymore! When creating new recipes to serve at our home, I like trying to use as little sugar as possible. I love that Old Home peanut butter doesn’t add extra sugar, so when I add cane sugar or coconut sugar, I know that is the only sugar going into the recipe! This recipe has ¾ cup of sugar and makes 3 ½ dozen cookies, so all in all, that’s not much sugar per cookie! Plus with the butternut squash and peanut butter in them, I like when the kids ask for these cookies for their special treat! A few more recipes with veggies snuck in are on my Facebook page!
An added boost of protein.
For this recipe I like adding two scoops of collagen, my go-to protein powder. It adds a little more protein, a lot of health benefits (check out our post here) and adds the perfect amount of texture to the dough to roll them out. Most of the time I’ll just add a scoop or two of collagen to a cup of coffee, but the kids are not getting any of the gut-healthy collagen peptides. So I like sneaking little bits in here and there! If you will be skipping the two scoops of protein, try adding 3 tablespoons of gluten-free flour to the Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies.
Dipped in chocolate.
For an extra special treat, we’ll dip half the cookie in a little melted chocolate. I’ll melt a small amount of chocolate on the stove top and the kids will help with dipping cookies. At the end of the cookie-dipping, we also have dipped knuckles and chocolate lips, because how can little ones resist taking a bite of these Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies? Dipping the cookies in chocolate take a little more time, so if you’re looking for a quick version, feel free to skip the chocolate, they still taste amazing sans chocolate! But it is a great way to spend quality time with the family!
Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature (or coconut oil for dairy-free/vegan)
- ¾ cups organic cane sugar (or coconut sugar)
- ½ cup Old Home Foods All-Natural creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup butternut squash, cooked and pureed (may sub canned pumpkin)
- 2 ½ cups all purpose gluten-free flour
- 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
- 2 scoops Collagen Peptides (optional – omit for vegan-friendly/additional 3 Tbsp all purpose gluten-free flour if omitted)
- ½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
- 1 tsp. butter or coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl combine butter, sugar, peanut butter and butternut squash. Mix together until very smooth.
- Add the flour and baking soda to the mixture and stir until well combined. Lastly add the optional collagen peptides or additional flour and fold into the dough.
- Scooping out small spoonfuls, roll the dough in the palm of your hands. Roll into a round ball and gently flatten into a disk onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 7-9 minutes until the bottom and edges are golden brown.
- Remove from baking sheet and let cool on the counter or baking rack.
- Once the cookies have cooled, gently melt the chocolate chips and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stirring constantly so the chocolate won’t burn to the bottom or edges of pan. After all the chocolate has melted, remove from heat and begin dipping the cookies.
- Take a cookie and dip it halfway into the chocolate, using the back of a spoon to help spread the chocolate and scrape off excess chocolate. Place dipped cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Place finished cookies in the freezer for 10-12 minutes to set the chocolate. Remove from freezer and serve.
- Store extras in an airtight container.
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Notes
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Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 115
- Fat: 7g
- Sodium: 95mg
- Carbohydrate: 11g
- (Fiber: 1g
- Sugar: 5g)
- Protein: 3g
Dietary
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