I love peanut butter cookies! Hands down they are my favorite. And Nutter Butter’s are my own personal kryptonite. I don’t even buy them for the rest of the family because it would just be torture to have them in the house.
So I finally made my own low carb version of the Nutter Butter and they are really satisfying! There is a secret ingredient in these cookies – it was an experiment and I was really happy with the results. So happy in fact that I’m going to be trying it out in some bread and cake versions in the near future. You’ll never guess what it is!
Water chestnuts! Yup! I had a can of them leftover from another recipe I was working on for the e-cookbook and they were so starchy and yet low in carbs that I thought they might work in baked goods. They are very neutral flavored so they virtually disappear in the recipe, yet they added an excellent texture to the cookies. I’m super excited to experiment with these further – and as an added bonus they are pretty cheap and easy to find in any grocery store’s Asian section. So stock up people because they are going to be showing up in a lot of my low carb recipes in the next month or so!
Low Carb Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
- Yield: 9 hearty cookies 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- For the cookies:
- 1 cup sliced water chestnuts
- 2 Tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup peanut butter*
- 3 tsp stevia sweetener
- 1/4 cup flax meal
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- For the filling:
- 1/3 cup peanut butter*
- 3 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 tsp stevia sweetener
Instructions
- Combine the softened butter, peanut butter, water chestnuts and stevia in a blender or food processor – blend until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a medium bowl.
- In a small bowl, combine the flax meal, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda and pinch of salt, stirring until well mixed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until a stiff dough forms. Chill for 1/2 an hour so it’s easier to work with.
- Roll into 18 balls and place on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Press down with a fork to make the traditional cross hatch designs. Bake in a preheated 375 degree (F) oven for 15 minutes. Remove and cool.
- To make the filling: blend your softened cream cheese and stevia until fluffy. Add your room temperature peanut butter* and blend until fully combined.
- To assemble the cookies: Spread the filling mixture onto 9 of the cookie halves, then press the remaining 9 cookie halves onto the top.
Notes
*Next time I would make these with almond butter because it lessens the net carbs by almost 20 grams in the total recipe. So if you are really strict with your carbs or are just avoiding legumes, you can substitute equal amounts of almond butter (or any nut butter of your choice) for the peanut butter.
**if you use almond butter in place of peanut butter it’s only 3g net carbs per assembled sandwich cookie.
Approximate nutrition info per single cookie (without filling):
54 calories, 4g fat, 1.4g net carbs, 2g protein
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Cookie sandwiches
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 sandwich
- Calories: 221
- Fat: 19g
- Carbohydrates: 5g net
- Protein: 7g
Judy@SavoringToday says
These look really tempting, the texture looks exactly like I’d want it to be in a peanut butter cookie. Since they are gluten-free, my daughter could enjoy them too. Thanks!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Your welcome Judy, hope you and your daughter both like them!
arlene says
Wow! These look amazing! I can’t wait to try them. Have you heard of Lupini beans?? I dream of the day you start playing with them…I’ve made cupcakes with the canned Lupini beans with great success, but I know beyond a doubt you could do better. They are almost 0 carb they are so high in fiber.
I LOVE all your recipes, and have tried many. Can’t wait for more…thank you!!
emily.barrett says
What else can you do with Lupini beans? I am on a strict low carb diet (fewer than about 15 carbs/day) and I am always looking for new yummy recipes and food to try that will stay within the diet…
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
I’m going to have to look into Lupini beans Arlene! Great idea! My mind is already racing with possibilities, now I just have to try to get my hands on some which probably won’t be easy here in rural SC but if I have to I’ll order some online! Thanks for the idea!
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
Wow, water chestnuts?? That seems so weird, but I can see how they would work, they really don’t have a flavor of their own. Your cookies look great, I’m impressed with the texture of them. Oooh, and that filling… Yum!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks Heidi!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
Absolutely amazing sandwich cookies! Sandwich cookies are so much better since you get a really good cookie to filling ratio. Great job!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thank you – I’m a big fan of lots of filling! ha ha!
Julia @The Roasted Root says
I’m in total awe. I cannot believe you make these with water chestnuts. I’m all over it! I love using coconut flour (or almond/hazelnut meal…pretty much any alternative to wheat) so I have some in my pantry already to work with. I’m also with ya on the peanut butter cookie thing. They’re the bomb. Can’t wait to try your recipe and will let ya know how it turns out :)
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Awesome, can’t wait to hear back Julia!
Anonymous says
is the nutritional info per cookie sandwich? which is to say, could i just make PB cookies, sans the filling, and get 2 for 5 carbs?
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
I added the nutrition info per cookie to the bottom of the post – it’s 1.4 net carbs per cookie using peanut butter. Probably less than one gram if you use almond butter.
Andrea says
i love the idea of these! I will have to modify somewhat, but look forward to trying it.
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks Andrea, let us know how they come out!
Laura says
What brand of stevia do you use?
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
I usually get whatever I can buy the cheapest! :) I’ve used Truvia, Pure Via, and most recently the Walmart Great Value brand which is definitely a bargain and I actually like the flavor the best so I’ll probably stick with it.
Anonymous says
If this works you’ll be my hero!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Thanks, now I have that Bette Midler song stuck in my head! :)
Erin Richmond says
OMG I”m so excited about these! Did you use natural peanut butter?
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Hey Erin, yes I used natural peanut butter with just peanuts and sea salt – so good! But I do love almond butter so I’ll use that from now on!