Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Protein Cookies are easy, stir-and-bake protein cookies made with ¼ cup of protein powder. You can use soy or whey. The cookies aren't low in fat, but they are higher in protein than your average peanut butter cookie.
According to Mastercook, each cookie (about 1.2 oz each) has 148 Calories; 8g Fat, 4g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber. And if you use Smart Balance peanut butter with Omega 3’s, you'll get a good does of Omega 3's as well.
In the past I've noted that these protein cookies are better when completely cooled. That is, do not serve warm.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies
½ cup white whole wheat or all purpose flour (65 grams)
¼ cup protein powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsalted butter -- room temperature (28 grams)
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
5 tablespoons turbinado or brown sugar (60 grams)
1 tablespoon molasses (20 grams)
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
¼ cup peanut butter
½ cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 1 or 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Mix the flour, protein powder, salt & baking soda together in a bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter, applesauce, sugar, molasses, vanilla and peanut butter together in a second bowl. Stir in the egg. I do this all with a spoon.
Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir until blended. Add the chocolate chips and stir. Scoop up tablespoons of dough and shape them into neat rounds. If you don’t want to bake all the dough at once, just scoop up what you need and chill the rest. The cookies don’t spread much or change shape much, so try to make the mounds of dough look nice rather than scruffy.
Fit the mounds onto one or two cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until cookies appear set. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. These taste good after they’ve cooled. They’re not very good while still hot.
Makes 12 cookies
Nick says
Oooh, these are right up my alley. I'm always looking to increase my protein intake, especially post-workout. And the peanut butter really seals the deal in my mind.
Katrina says
Made these today, used soy protein, they are awesome! I love them.
Anna says
Ooops. Sorry to write a book, there!
About the soy flour. I used it in a gluten free biscotti recipe and it was pretty good. Great idea about using soy flour to up the protein. I'm going to look into that.
Anna says
Hi Sara,
It sounds like you made a new recipe! Swapping more butter for applesauce, deleting the egg in place of egg substitute, adding, milk, subtracting 2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar (thus diminishing the mass by about an ounce) would definitely change the results. Also, by elminating an ounce of a solid ingredient like sugar(something that accounts for structure), you've automatically increased the proportion of salt so it would make sense that yours would taste salty. That being said, mine are on the high end of salty, so if one is sensitive to salt, they might like the cookies with 1/4 teaspoon. I'll note that.
But I can't really compare the texture of the recipe above with yours because of the changes you made. However, it's always good to try new things and I commend you for being adventurous. Just for kicks, you might want to try making the recipe as written with no changes, then we can compare notes and see if there's really a problem with the recipe.
I made it as written above twice and the cookies are great! I know you'd like them if I gave you one and you probably wouldn't even mind the salt. However, if you and/or other people make the recipe as written and it tastes bad or they don't like the texture, than I need to make changes.
Sara says
I made these last night with whey protein powder - they came out really soft and cakey. Did yours have a normal dense cookie texture? I made a couple changes - used 1 tbsp butter and 1 extra tbsp applesauce, 3 tbsp egg substitute and 1 tbsp milk to help them spread more (they did spread nicely), 3 tbsp turbinado and 2 tbsp splenda and 6 tbsp choc chips instead of 1/2 cup. Mine also tasted too salty and I did use unsalted butter.
On another note, have you ever used soy flour? You can use it in place of about 1/4 the flour in most non-yeast risen recipes with little taste/texture impact. It has 14 grams protein in 1/4 cup. I like using it better than protein powder as it doesn't give it that weird gummy/rubbery texture that protein powder can. I actually buy it at my normal grocery store.
runjess says
You could use the Smart Balance 50/50 instead of the butter and get even more omegas. Those look so good!
Anna says
I can't wait to hear a report from someone who cuts the sugar.
I didn't find these too sweet with the 5 tablespoons of sugar and molasses and I don't usually like things too sweet. Plus, the sugar offsets the fat from the peanut butter and butter so everything seems in balance. I do think using a sweeter peanut butter like Jif or regular Skippy would make the cookies sweeter, so one option might be to cut the sugar by a tablespoon (or even 2) and use a sweeter peanut butter.
One thing I'm concerned about is that the cookies might spread even less with less sugar. It's a simple recipe, so it won't take much to find out!
Christine says
I'm with Lisa in sugar reduction but other than that, these look like great high-protein snacks.
Lisa Ernst says
This is a great recipe and I can't wait to try it. I'll reduce the sugar quite a bit and replace it with some non-bitter stevia. I've found that baked goods must have some sugar for texture and taste, but it can be reduced considerably and the end result will still work out fine.
Sue says
If you're leery of buying a whole canister of protein powder because you don't know what you'd do with the rest of it here's an idea. I use mine in fruit smoothies. It really helps me get the protein I'm supposed to eat daily. I buy vanilla whey protein powder without added sugar or sugar substitutes.
Anna says
Katrina, the best way to start buying protein powder is to just get a couple of scoops from the bulk bin. But if you do end up buying a whole canister, I'm sure you'll find a use for it.
CL, I hope your recovery goes well.
Sue, yes it is. Hopefully Mastercook is accurate!
Sara, the only thing I don't like about it is the sugar. I could reduce that, but I think I'd lose the qualities that make the cookie worth eating.
Kelly, great idea!
kelly gibson says
you could really push these cookies over the edge into health-food status if you added some Fiber Sure (and it adds no texture or taste).
Sara says
Yum, these sound great! What's not to like about a cookie with protein in it? Great recipe! 🙂
Sue says
That's a good amount of protein for cookies!
C L says
Oh, how yummy these cookies sound! Since I need extra protein due to surgery, dark chocolate contains antioxidants, whole wheat flour has fiber and applesauce is fruit, these lovely gems would be considered "medicinal", right? LOL 😉 I just might have to send a care package of these to college students I know...just to make sure they get a few healthy snacks or meals. 😉 Thank you, Anna, for posting this recipe! 🙂
Katrina says
Sounds and looks yummy! I've never bought protein before, but have wanted to. Maybe it will take a cookie to get me to do it!
VeggieGirl says
Mmm, protein!!