Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies Dates Poppyseeds Gluten-Free Vegan

A reimagined healthier plant-based gluten-free version of classic peanut butter blossom cookies. Using dates instead of sugar means more nutrients and flavor complexity, while poppyseeds add an interesting twist. The quality and nutritional profile of the chocolate chunks makes all the difference—this part’s entirely up to you!

WHY I LOVE THEM

I’m not alone in thinking that peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in cookie heaven. With all the dairy free chocolate currently on the market this classically scrumptious combination is easily veganized. What makes these particular cookies unique are the dates, the poppy seeds and the fact that I’m able to make them with my favorite brand of date sweetened chocolate. Although I’m not gluten-free myself, I enjoy coming up with recipes that include that demographic. And the gluten-free flours used in this recipe, oat and brown rice, also happen to add nutty notes and a lovely texture that is simultaneously chewy and crispy.

FOOD PROCESSOR NEEDED

This recipe requires a food processor in order to create a smooth cake-like batter. Electronic appliances like food processors allow us to quickly and easily harness the power of whole plant foods such as dates, eliminating the need for ingredients like sugar, oil and eggs which are calorie dense and comparatively low in nutrients.

MAKE YOUR OWN OAT FLOUR

If you want to use store bought oat flour, that’s fine. But making your own oat flour is easy, fast and economical. All you need is rolled oats, old fashioned or quick, and a food processor or high speed blender. Place your oats in your processor or blender and pulse until you get flour. Don’t over process your oat flour because it will become sticky and not work as well in your recipes. As far as flour texture goes, oat flour that’s a little coarse works better for most types of baking. Don’t try to make too much at a time. Small batches, no more than a cup and a half at a time, are better. I usually only process the amount I’m about to use in a recipe. One cup of oats makes approximately one cup of oat flour. Keep in mind that pure oats are gluten-free, but since oats can become contaminated with gluten during processing or harvesting, choose a brand of oats or oat flour marked gluten-free if you need to be 100% gluten-free for health reasons.

THE MAGIC OF DATES IN VEGAN BAKING

This cookie dough is sweetened with chopped dates which have been combined with the other ingredients using a food processor. Nearly all of my sweet recipes get most of their sweetness from whole dried fruits, and my go to dried fruits for sweetening recipes are dates. The intensely sweet caramel-like flavor of dates blends seamlessly with other ingredients. Dates also work as a binder, helping to hold doughs together the way that eggs do in traditional non-vegan baking. Processed dates also help to lock in moisture, acting as a substitute for added fats in whole food plant-based recipes. From a nutritional standpoint, dates are a whole plant food packed with fiber and a symphony of other nutrients. In this recipe I prefer not to completely process the dates. Leaving date pieces slightly chunky makes for a more interesting and slightly crispier cookie.

CHOOSING DATES

My favorite dates for baking are pitted Deglet Noor because they are sweet, flavorful, widely available and usually soft and moist. You can also use other kinds of dates by prepping and measuring them in the same way as you would Deglet Noor.

PREPPING DATES FOR BAKING

When I bake with dates I always begin by slicing them. I have found that dates that are supposedly pitted are, in fact, usually not all pitted. Pre-slicing my dates gives me the opportunity to remove any hidden pits and hard stems that may still be attached. In recipes like this one where the dates will be processed in a blender or food processor, slicing the dates allows them to be processed more quickly and effectively. Finally, slicing dates allows for greater consistency when measuring. Once the dates are sliced they can be pressed into measuring cups or spoons.

CHOOSING CHOCOLATE

These days vegans and other dairy-free folk have some decent choices when it comes to chocolate. Any type of chocolate bar will work in this recipe, but not all chocolate is vegan and gluten free. It’s also up to each baker to decide how big they want their chocolate chunks to be. Or you could stick with the classic peanut butter blossom concept and use dairy-free gluten-free chocolate kisses if you can find them.

In this recipe the chocolate chunks aren’t baked in. Instead, they’re poked into the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven. Feeling and seeing the chocolate chunks melt into the cookies right under my fingertips, and before my eyes, gives me a special kind of satisfaction. I also think that chocolate has a nicer taste if it hasn’t been cooked.

I try to be as whole food plant-based (WFPB) as possible in my choices, so I like to order dates sweetened chocolate online. My favorite brand of date sweetened chocolate is The Conscious bar. It’s quite pricey but very delicious, always gluten-free, and definitely healthier than mainstream chocolate.

BROWN RICE FLOUR

Although there’s only a little brown rice flour in this recipe, I enjoy the crispiness and slightly nutty flavor that it contributes. But you don’t have to go out and buy brown rice flour for the sake of using a couple of tablespoons in this recipe. If you want to keep things gluten-free, any other gluten-free flour could be used instead of brown rice flour. You could even just use two more tablespoons of oat flour.

If you don’t need these cookies to be gluten-free, you have even more options. The first few times I made these cookies I wasn’t going for gluten-free and I used whole spelt flour instead brown rice flour.

GROUND FLAXSEED

Always an excellent vegan binder (aka egg replacement), ground flaxseed also adds some wonderful nutrients to this recipe. It’s an important ingredient that keeps these cookies from being too crumbly. Ground chia seeds would probably work equally well but I haven’t tried them.

Note that I don’t make a ‘flax egg’ by premixing the ground flaxseed with liquid before using in the recipe. Once the ground flaxseeds come into contact with any amount of liquid the binding properties are released. I don’t think it’s necessary to create a ‘flax egg’ ahead of time unless you’re trying to create an egg substitute because you’re using a non-vegan recipe.

POPPYSEEDS

Honestly, the poppyseeds are my favorite part of this recipe. They have such a nice texture and a delicate subtle flavor. It seems to me that poppyseeds used to be more popular in America and then chia seeds entered the scene and usurped some of that popularity. I kinda miss poppyseeds.

POPPY SEED ALTERNATIVES

You could use whole chia or flax seeds as a substitute for poppy seeds in this recipe, but because chia and flax seeds soak up moisture in a way that poppy seeds don’t, you’ll need to add a tablespoon of plant milk or water to the recipe.

Hemp or sesame seeds could also be used instead of poppy seeds. If you go with hemp or sesame seeds you don’t need to add extra liquid.

SMUSHING IN THE CHOCOLATE

Once cookies are baked and out of the oven there’s no time to dilly dally! That’s because you have to smush the chocolate chunks in while the cookies are as soft and warm as possible. This is the fun part!

TRY TO LET THEM COOL

Once you look at all that gooey chocolate while smelling the deliciousness, you’ll want to pop these cookies in your mouth immediately. This is a perfectly normal thing to want to do. And eating these cookies while they’re still warm is pretty good in a messy sort of way. But what if I told you that these cookies actually taste better after they’ve cooled down completely? Well, they do. And they taste better still after they’ve been in the fridge. But, hey, maybe that’s just my opinion. Everyone’s tastebuds are different.

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