These keto-friendly peanut butter cookies are just 2 ingredients and don’t require any flour or low carb flour alternatives. They come out buttery and melt-in-your-mouth, like shortbread cookies. The cookies are quick and easy to make and are ready in about 15 minutes from start to finish.
This is such an easy and fast recipe. All you need is one bowl and a spatula to mix the cookie dough and then the cookies are ready to bake. These cookies also store well and make a great snack.
Ingredients
- Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
- Sugar-Free Maple Flavored Syrup
This is not a recipe for just sweetened peanut butter. When the syrup is mixed with the natural peanut butter, it actually causes the peanut butter to thicken into a cookie dough consistency.
Natural Creamy Peanut Butter: This recipe will only work with natural peanut butter. Peanut butter processed with oils will not work. Make sure you use a newer jar of peanut butter. If you use an older jar and the peanut butter is sticking to the sides of your jar or no longer drippy, then it is too dry and will cause your dough to crumble. This recipe will also work with natural almond butter. If you are looking for a nut-free substitute, it will also work with sunflower seed butter.
Sugar-Free Maple Flavored Syrup: For best results, I recommend using ChocZero sugar free maple syrup. I have also tested this with Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup and while the recipe worked, the cookies were less sweet and more crumbly. If you are not on a keto diet, you can use pure maple syrup.
Cookie Texture
These cookies have a texture similar to shortbread, though they are more delicate. They are firm on the outside and when you bite into one, it will crumble and melt into your mouth. The cookie is quite buttery but because of how delicate it is, it does break and crumble easily.
I found that the thicker the cookies are, the less crumbly they are. So if you don’t care about appearance, you don’t have to make the criss-cross pattern and don’t flatten the cookie dough ball that much.
If you are looking for a softer peanut butter cookie, I recommend checking out my 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies.
More Easy Keto Low Carb Cookie Recipes
- 2 Ingredient Almond Cookies
- 2 Ingredient Keto Sugar Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 Ingredient Keto Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (128 g) natural creamy peanut butter unsweetened
- 3 tbsp (1.5 oz) ChocZero sugar free maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together peanut butter and syrup with a spatula. At first your batter will be very liquidy, but as you continue to mix, the dough will thicken considerably. Stir until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and formed a dough ball.
- Use a tablespoon to measure out 1 tbsp of dough. Roll between your hands and place onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing dough balls 2 inches apart.
- Press down gently on dough balls with the palm of your hand to form round disks. If desired, use a fork to make criss-cross pattern.
- Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until they are puffed up and the surface looks dry. Let cookies cool before attempting to remove them. If you remove them before they are set, they will crumble. Cookies should come off the parchment paper easily once they are set.
Notes
- The texture is similar to shortbread in that it melts and crumbles in your mouth, though they are more delicate than classic shortbread.
- I found the cookies are sturdier when they are thicker. If you aren't concerned about appearance, I recommend that you only gently press the dough balls down so they are dome-shaped, rather than making them round disks.
- This recipe will only work with natural peanut butter (only peanuts in the ingredient list and no oils). Make sure to use a newer jar of peanut butter. If your peanut butter is no longer drippy, then it is too dry for this recipe to work. If you have any questions regarding substitutions for peanut butter, see the post for possible substitutions.
- These cookies are not supposed to be super sweet. If you desire something sweeter, you can always dust them in powdered sugar free sweetener.
- This recipe works best with ChocZero sugar free maple syrup.* I did try it with Lakanto maple syrup but the cookies barely had any sweetness and the cookies turned out drier and more crumbly. If you are not on a keto diet, this recipe also works with pure maple syrup. It does not work with honey.
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
- If you are on a keto diet, please remember to look at net carbs and not just total carbs. The net carbs count excludes fiber and sugar alcohols (carbs from erythritol).
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I made a batch of these 2 ingredient keto peanut butter cookies and compared them with another one of your 2 ingredient keto peanut butter cookies that used an egg instead of the ChocZero sugar free maple syrup.
I really enjoyed this version that uses maple syrup because the texture and taste turned out much more to my liking than the version made with egg. I’m happy I had the ChocZero sugar free maple syrup on hand too to make them low carb friendly.
I’m definitely keeping this recipe in my go-tos for whenever I have a sweet craving! Really nice that it’s only two ingredients and super simple to make as well, thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for your nice review!
I made these the other night. Wow! I used almond butter instead of peanut butter and substituted the ChocZero with the Monkfruit Maple Syrup. Your assessment of the Monkfruit was spot on. They crumbled, but they were still absolutely delicious. I will make these at least once a week! Do you think if I added an egg to the recipe they would hold together?
We haven’t tried adding an egg because we wanted an eggless cookie. If you try it, please let us know how it worked!
Can you please give me some name brands of natural creamy peanut butter for the peanut butter recipe. Thank you
We like Kirkland Signature Organic Creamy Peanut Butter. Hope that helps!
Do you mean sugar free pancake syrup or true maple syrup?
We used sugar-free maple-flavored syrup which is like pancake syrup but sugar-free. Hope that helps!