Vegan Peanut Butter Hemp Cookies with Rye Flour
Simple, chewy vegan peanut butter hemp cookies ready in 20 minutes. Nourishing ingredients, like hemp hearts and ground flax, make this cookie the perfect healthy vegan treat. This cookie recipe also uses whole grain rye flour for a gut health twist!
I love cookies. But not just any cookie.
I’m sorry to say that I am extremely picky about my cookies. I’m not a big sweets person, so they can’t be too sweet. I have literally never craved a crispy cookie in my life. And if it’s a snack cookie I’m after, I want them to be healthy… but not taste ‘healthy’.
Well, my friend, this homemade cookie recipe with hemp hearts is all-of-the-things, and you can whip em up in under 20 minutes in one bowl! Because I also don’t like waiting a long time in between craving and eating.
If you’re new around here, nothing makes me happier than cramming a bunch of nutrient-dense plant foods into a recipe…and making it taste really good. So if you’re wondering why I’m using rye flour here, let’s talk.
As a gut health dietitian, the research is pretty clear that a variety of plant foods is important for a healthier gut. And yet, most of us are eating wheat three times a day. So this is an easy way to build a little grain diversity…but/and/also, rye flour is packed with flavonoids and prebiotics (and it’s delicious!)
These vegan peanut butter and rye flour cookies taste like a plush little pillow of peanut butter, one of my fave things, and my kids love them as much as they love less healthy snacks (you cannot imagine what a win this is in this house!). Each cookie has about 4g protein and 2g fiber per cookie. Which is not nothing!
I think these just might be one of my fave post run snacks, with a glass of my green blender juice. They’re also cute for afterschool with a mug of hot cocoa. Definitely one of my favourite vegan cookie recipes here on the blog!
Looking for more nourishing, fun to eat plant-based recipes? Pick up a copy of my book Plant Magic at the library or local bookshop!
A few tips to making these too-good-to-be-healthy peanut butter hemp cookies
As a whole grain baking fanatic, I really want to convert you to rye flour…because it doesn’t get the love it deserves. But if you have whole wheat or gluten free all purpose flour on hand, it should work just fine too.
The one absolutely critical step to making these cookies tender: the peanut butter needs to be well-stirred so it has the right amount of oil in it to hydrate the cookies. If it’s dry, your cookies will be dry.
Rule of the chewy cookie game: don’t over-bake your cookies. They should be soft when you take them out of the oven!
More yummy, nourishing cookies for any time of day!
- Healthy Breakfast Cookies with Oats and Almond Flour
- 30 Minute Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Quick Vegan Snowball Cookies with Almond Flour
- Vegan Low FODMAP Peanut Butter Cookies
Vegan Peanut Butter Hemp Cookies with Rye Flour
Ingredients
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup 100% Whole Grain Rye Flour
- ¼ cup hemp hearts, (learn about the benefits of hemp hearts!)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
Optional
- ¼ cup mini dark chocolate chips
Equipment
- handheld beaters or some serious elbow grease!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F // 175℃. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up.
- First, make the flax egg: stir ground flax with 3 tablespoons hot water in a small dish and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream peanut butter and maple syrup together with a hand mixer for a minute until light and fluffy. Add flax egg and vanilla, and mix until combined.
- Sprinkle over the rye flour, hemp hearts, salt, baking soda and cinnamon and continue mixing until just incorporated, do not over mix. If adding chocolate chips, stir them in by hand now.
- Roll about a tablespoon of dough into a ball and then press into 2 inch (5cm) diameter cookie. Space cookies about 1 inch (2.5cm) apart.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes until just firm around the edges and the top starts to crack. The cookies will still be soft.
- Remove from oven and leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack where they will continue to firm up.
- Store at room temperature for up to three days (if they last that long!) or freeze once fully cool.
20 Comments on “Vegan Peanut Butter Hemp Cookies with Rye Flour”
I made these last night and they’re so yummy! The perfect little (healthy) snack.
Yay! So glad you like the cookies, Katie. Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review, it really helps others discover the recipe 🙂
I haven’t tried the cookies as yet, but will make them. Do you have any recommendation for vegan butter for baking which would help with high cholesterol? I see many on utube, but i don’t wish to use coconut oil. I’m in Toronto
Hi! So for baking, you typically want a higher saturated fat solid …but in these cookies, a softer one will work as I designed them for coconut oil. So just for this recipe I would recommend Melt, which is blended for nutrition first. For my other recipes, it doesn’t work (it literally melts!) so stick to earth balance baking sticks or becel plant butter sticks.
Could I replace the rye flour with whole wheat flour?
Hi CC,
Yes, you totally can – you might notice the dough is a bit drier as whole wheat will have a stronger gluten but you could add even just a little splash of water if needed.
I prefer to use finely ground almond flour, coconut flour or oat flour for all my baking. Any chance 1 of those could work for this recipe which sounds really good.
Hi Patricia,
I haven’t tested these with any alternatives…but I suspect that both oat and almond will work! Please do let me know if you try..and the results! I am sure it will help another baker 🙂
I need to make these…they sound so good
Enjoy Kirstin!
Hi, I was wondering if you include nutrition values for your recipes. I just found out I’m pre-diabetic and not sure how much sugar is OK to include. Thanks.
Hi Sylvia,
I don’t include nutrition values for my recipes; however, I can say that ALL of my recipes – including my desserts – are designed to be lower in sugar and supportive of blood sugar balance with plenty of fibre, healthy fats and protein. Please confirm with your dietitian for your unique needs, but in my opinion, my recipes are pre-diabetes friendly!
Do you happen to have the nutrition information available for this recipe?
Hi Kristi,
Thank you for your note –
I don’t do nutrition facts for any of my recipes to support others in a more intuitive style of eating.
Is there a flour I could sub for the Rye Flour?
Hi Kari,
I haven’t tested this recipe with other flours, but I suspect that another low or no-gluten flour would probably work such as almond meal or spelt! Regular wheat flour might make these cookies a bit too try but you could add more peanut butter perhaps. Let me know what you try…and if it works! Others might have the same question 🙂
Making these cookies for the third time in three weeks – nutritious snack for the family and seem to get better every time! Yum!
I love hearing that!!! Enjoy 🙂
Delicious cookie recipe – I needed a healthful recipe to add some echinacea and other immune boosters to for my 17month old. This was a wonderful option for us – thank you!
So glad you like them, Nikki! Such an energizing treat 🙂