New to baking with millet flour? Try these gluten free peanut butter cookies! They are everything you want in a cookie – a little sweet, a bit salty, very simple and incredibly satisfying!
What is Millet Flour?
Good question!
Millet flour is a type of gluten-free flour made by grinding millet seeds into a fine powder. While it’s technically a seed, Millet is considered an ancient grain as that is how it’s been cultivated and consumed for thousands of years. It’s quite similar to quinoa as both a flour and a grain.
I’m currently working on a series on individual gluten free flour flours (like I’ve done in the past with almond flour and coconut flour) and millet flour is first up on my list!
If you like millet flour you might also want to check out these millet pancakes and millet roti recipe!
Why Bake with Millet?
- Great substitute for wheat flour: It can be used alone or in combination with other gluten-free flours, such as rice flour or almond flour.
- Nutrient packed: Millet flour is a good source of protein, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals.
- Tasty: Millet has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor that is often compared to cornmeal. Too much millet can taste a bit bitter, but in sensible amounts (like in these gluten free peanut butter cookies!) it’s quite pleasant.
Key Ingredients
- Millet Flour & Arrowroot: Tapioca starch works if you don’t have any arrowroot on hand. Too much millet would make for crumbly cookies with a more distinct millet-flavor.
- Peanut Butter: Use either smooth or crunchy peanut butter – chef’s choice. If using a natural peanut butter, try to drain off the excess oil before mixing.
- Sugar: Use a combination of white and brown sugar. The white sugar helps create the crisp edges and the brown sugar makes for chewy cookies.
- Butter: Start with room temperature butter. It can be salted or unsalted – I’ll still tell you to add a bit of salt later.
- Egg: Adds moisture and helps with binding.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: For optimal cookie lift and spread.
- Salt & Vanilla: Our flavor enhancers.
- Chocolate Chips: Omit the chocolate if you prefer. You can also swap them out for peanut butter chips if you prefer.
How to Make these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Easy! Aside from the millet flour and arrowroot, these gluten free peanut butter cookies are made the same as most traditional peanut butter cookies.
Cookie Dough Steps
- Beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars in a stand mixer or with a hand held mixer. Beat on high 1-2 minutes until smooth and creamy.
- Add the egg and vanilla.
- Whisk the remaining dry ingredients (except chocolate) in another bowl until combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix into a thick, slightly sticky dough.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
Bake, Cool & Enjoy
- Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of dough at a time.
- Roll into balls.
- Place on a prepared baking sheet leaving a couple inches in-between each dough ball.
- Bake about 12-13 minutes until the top turns a light golden-brown and the edges have set.
- Let cool on the baking sheet about 5 minutes to set then transfer and cool completely on a wire rack.
Give Your Cookies A Bakehouse Look
As they are cooling on the baking sheet, gently press a few extra chocolate chips into the top of the cookies to give them a bakery-style look!
Final Tips & Notes
- Make sure to chill the dough before baking. The dough is already quite thick as is, but a quick 30 minutes in the fridge is just the right amount of time to rest the dough before baking to ensure they don’t over spread in the oven.
- You can chill the dough up the 4 days. If chilling longer than an hour, make sure to let the dough sit at room temperature about 20 minutes before baking. Otherwise it will be too cold and not spread enough.
- Make it dairy free. Use a vegan butter block instead of regular butter. Use vegan friendly chocolate chips as well. I haven’t tested these with coconut oil, but I do think it would work as a butter substitute.
- Make it egg free. Swap out the egg for a chia or flax seed egg instead. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before moving. Egg free cookies make with flax/chia eggs are usually more delicate until the cool and set.
Enjoy!
Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below if you try it out. I always appreciate the feedback – especially when you share what changes you may have made. It also helps future readers who are thinking of making the recipe!
Recipe
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies (Millet Flour)
Yield:
18 cookies
Prep Time:
15 minutes
Cook Time:
12 minutes
Additional Time:
30 minutes
Total Time:
57 minutes
A little sweet, a bit salty, very simple and incredibly satisfying!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup millet flour (90 grams)
- 1/3 cup arrowroot flour (40 grams)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened (113 grams)
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter unsweetened (190 g)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (60 grams)
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (150 grams)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips (130g)
Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk together the millet flour, arrowroot, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat on a medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix on low until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Dough will be thick and sticky at this point. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (up to 4 days).
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line or grease baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop balls of cookie dough (about 2 tablespoons per cookie, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Optional* While the cookies are still warm and cooling on the baking sheet, press a few chocolate chips into the tops to give them a bakehouse-look.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week.
Notes
- Recipe adapted from Bob's Red Mill.
- If you plan on chilling the cooking for longer than an hour, make sure you give them about 20 minutes to sit at room temperature before scooping and baking.
- Make it dairy free: You can use dairy free/vegan butter block and dairy free chocolate chips.
- Make it egg free: Use a flaxseed egg instead of the chicken egg. Allow the cookies to cool fully on the baking sheet before moving. Cookies made with vegan egg substitutes are quite delicate and prone to breaking until they get a chance to set.
- Arrowroot flour can be replaced with tapioca starch/flour.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 18 cookies
Serving Size:
1 cookie Calories: 230Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 15gProtein: 5gThis website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
More Peanut Butter Recipes
If you like these cookies you might also like some of my other peanut butter recipes:
Valentina says
I would make them again but with less sugar. They came out too sweet for my taste
Sarah Nevins says
That’s fair! Glad you enjoyed them still 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know how it went!