If you love peanut butter, want to hit your protein goals, and prefer a recipe that is incredibly easy to throw together, you’re in the right place.
These Protein Nutter Butter cookies are going to become your new favorite cookies.
These are larger than regular Nutter Butter cookies, but they are just as delicious as the real thing. Don’t believe me? These cookies passed the “toddler test,” and my picky toddler loved them.
Nobody would ever know that these cookies were secretly low in carbs and high in protein.
Each cookie is pretty large, and yet they contain just 165 calories each with a generous 12 grams of protein.
These cookies are tender and moist with a slightly crispy exterior, the filling is perfectly sweet and peanut buttery, and I truly cannot think of a better way to hit your protein goals.
And if you’re worried about these cookies containing 165 calories each (for perspective, 2 smaller Nutter Butter cookies contain just 140 calories) then these cookies come with a great low-calorie “hack” as well.
The cookies break in half perfectly down the center, giving you two smaller peanut butter cookie sandwiches for only 80 calories each!
Ingredients Needed for Protein Nutter Butter Cookies
First off, let’s talk about ingredients.
You’ll need a scoop of the Peanut Butter Cookie flavored protein powder from PEScience – this stuff is gold for adding that authentic peanut buttery taste. If you’re in a pinch, vanilla protein powder would technically work, but you’ll be missing out on that signature flavor.
I have lots of peanut butter-based recipes here on my blog (links to my favorites are below) and they all start with PEScience. The flavor is simply unmatched.
Almond flour provides a great base, giving these cookies a slightly nutty, rich texture with some additional protein. If you’re allergic to almonds, you can use peanut flour or powdered peanut butter in its place, but that tends to lead to a slightly chewier cookie.
And, of course, we can’t forget the creamy peanut butter – it’s the heart and soul of this recipe, providing that unmistakable Nutter Butter taste. You might be tempted to swap it out for powdered peanut butter, but please don’t. Peanut butter gives us the necessary fat for these cookies to not only have authentic flavor, but texture as well.
Other than that, we’ll be rounding out this recipe with simple ingredients: sugar (sugar substitute or sugar, whichever you prefer), vanilla extract, baking soda, and a small amount of applesauce for added moisture.
How to Make Protein Nutter Butter Cookies
Unlike many other cookie recipes, these cookies do not require chilling, so they can be ready to go from scratch in under 30 minutes.
Preheating the oven to 350°F is our first order of business, and then we can dive into forming the Nutter Butter cookies.
This recipe has two parts: the first is forming those iconic peanut-shaped cookies, and the second is making the delicious peanut butter filling.
Once we mix all the ingredients up into cookie dough, we’re going to transform the peanut butter cookie dough into 10 peanut-shaped cookies.
We’re going to break off small pieces of dough, roughly the size of a cherry, and place them on a baking sheet. The dough will be enough to make roughly 20 small balls of cookie dough. Then, we’ll pair them into twos (yes, they will look like little butts) and use a form to press them down into peanut shapes.
We’ll use a fork to press the cookies down and create a checkboard pattern. Once you do this, you’ll have 10 cookies that resemble peanuts:
As the cookies bake and expand, they will bake into each other and hold their shape perfectly.
Baking for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees is all it takes for these. If you lean towards a softer cookie, pulling them out a bit early is totally fine since all of the ingredients are safe to eat raw. For those who prefer a slight crisp, letting them go for a full 8 minutes achieves just that.
While the cookies cool forabout 10 minutes, whipping up the peanut butter filling is a breeze. The filling we’re going with is a simple mix of peanut butter, protein powder, powdered sugar substitute, and milk.
Once the creamy core of these sandwiches is ready to go, it’s time to assemble the Protein Nutter Butter.
Flip the cookies over, add a small amount of the peanut butter filling, and then cover and press down with another Nutter Butter cookie.
You should have the perfect amount of filling for 5 Nutter Butter sandwiches, but if you prefer a “double stuffed” version, you can whip up more of the peanut butter frosting.
If your family enjoys peanut butter as much as mine does, then these cookies are not going to last very long in your house. But if you do happen to have leftovers, keep them stored in an airtight container and they will remain fresh throughout the week!
More Protein-Packed Recipes for Peanut Butter Lovers
Nothing is more delicious than peanut butter, at least in my mind. Since I firmly believe that, I have a lot of peanut butter recipes here on the blog to help you hit your protein goals.
Here are some of the best protein peanut butter recipes you can make:
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling:
- 16g (1 Tbsp) Creamy Peanut Butter
- 15g (Half Scoop) Peanut Butter Flavored Protein Powder (Code “Matt” To Save 10% On PEScience Brand)
- 5g Powdered Sugar Substitute (or regular powdered sugar)
- 1 Tbsp Milk of Choice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients for your Nutter Butter cookies (protein powder, almond flour, sugar substitute, baking soda, and salt). Mix to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl (creamy peanut butter, applesauce, and vanilla extract) and mix everything together until cookie dough forms.
- Break off a small piece of the dough (about the size of a cherry), roll it into a ball, and place it on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Continue until you have used up all of the dough, which should yield 20 balls in total (but may vary depending on the size).
- Take two of the dough balls and place them directly next to each other so they are touching, then use a fork to press each dough ball down in each direction. This will flatten the cookies to create the peanut shape we are after. If you’re confused, just take a peek at the process photos above this recipe card!
- Continue for all of the dough balls, leaving you with 10 peanut-shaped cookies.
- Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 6-8 minutes. All of the ingredients are safe to eat raw, so you can safely underbake these cookies if you prefer a soft cookie. I opted for 8 minutes to get a slight crisp.
- Remove the baked cookies from the oven and allow them to cool and set for about 10 minutes.
- While the cookies are cooling, whip up the peanut butter filling by mixing peanut butter, protein powder, powdered sugar, and milk in a small bowl.
- Once cooled, flip your cookies over, add a small amount of peanut butter frosting to half of them, and then cover with another cookie. Squeeze them to flatten the frosting, and then you are ready to enjoy!
- Keep any leftovers stored in an airtight container and enjoy them throughout the week.
Notes
- These cookies break in half perfectly to create smaller cookie sandwiches with only 80 calories and 6 grams of protein each.
- I highly recommend peanut butter-flavored protein powder, and the PEScience brand tastes better than any other brand I have tried. If you absolutely have to use a standard vanilla flavor, you can, but you’ll be missing out on great flavor.
- Applesauce gives these cookies moisture without needing extra fat, but it can be subbed for a small amount of milk if necessary.
- You may be tempted to save calories by swapping the peanut butter for powdered peanut butter like PB2, but I do not recommend it. The peanut butter not only adds flavor to these cookies, but is essential for the right texture. If you want a lower-calorie option, check out my PB2 Cookies.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 5
Serving Size 1 Cookie Sandwich
Amount Per Serving
Calories 165Total Fat 11gCarbohydrates 7gFiber 2gSugar 3gProtein 12g
