Protein Cookies

These are hands down the Best Healthy Protein Cookies recipe! These easy vegan protein cookies can be made with any protein powder and are so delicious! Gluten free, dairy free, easy to make and tasty – you will love this yummy treat!

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If you’re anything like me – you try to sneak in extra protein wherever/however you can. So many people under eat protein!

It’s easy to blend in protein powder to things like a Strawberry Banana Smoothie, but baked goods are the perfect place to sneak in protein. Healthy Protein Donuts and Healthy Banana Protein Muffins are some of our most popular recipes, so it only made sense that we perfected a protein cookie recipe for you!

There are a lot of different protein cookies on the shelves of supplement/health food stores – but honestly… those aren’t exactly healthy. Here’s what we think about them…

Are protein cookies good for you?

These protein cookies have a pretty good balance of protein, fat and carbs. Each cookie has 90 calories, 8g carbs, 6g fat and 5g protein. They’re a better alternative to a regular chocolate chip cookie, but should still be treated as a treat. 

These cookies are much better for you than a Lenny & Larry’s cookie or even a Quest cookie.  This protein cookie recipe is also much smaller, so you’d need about 4 cookies to stack up to eating to 1 Lenny Larry’s Cookie.

Are Lenny & Larry’s Cookies Healthy?

For comparison:

Lenny & Larry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie: 420 calories, 12g fat, 59g carbs and 16g of protein. 

Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie: 250 calories, 17g fat, 19g carbs, 15g protein

4 of our protein cookies: 360 calories, 24g fat, 32g carbs, 20g of protein

Pre-made protein cookies have on average 20 ingredients, where our homemade protein cookies only have 6 ingredients. The ingredients in pre-made protein cookies are less than stellar, and often loaded with gums, thickeners and sugar.

In our opinion, Lenny & Larry’s or Quest Chocolate Chip Cookies aren’t really healthy for you. They should be considered a treat.. not post workout nutrition.

Same goes for our protein cookies. A cookie is a cookie, but these have minimal ingredients, no preservatives, and are much lower in sugar!

Here’s what you’ll need to make them:

Vegan Protein Cookie Ingredients:

These protein cookies on require 6 simple ingredients:

• protein powder (whey or vegan)
• coconut flour
• peanut butter
• applesauce
• baking soda
• chocolate chips

Our favorite protein powder is from Now Foods. I’ve included substitutions for all of the ingredients below for you in case you don’t have some of the ingredients listed above.

How to make Easy Protein Cookies:

Making protein cookies is SO easy.

1. Just combine your protein powder, peanut butter, coconut flour, baking soda and applesauce together until combined. 
2. The dough will be sticky and wet, it’s not your typical cookie dough. 
3. Once combined, fold in your chocolate chips.
4. Roll the dough into 2 tablespoon balls and press down to flatten.  (We love this cookie scoop!) The cookies will not spread on their own, so flattening them is necessary!
5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes and enjoy.

If you want, you can double the cookie size and make each cookie 4 tablespoons. This will make them closer in size to a Lenny & Larry’s or Quest cookie. They may need to bake for about 1 minute more. 

These cookies are just a little bit crispy on the outside, and perfectly soft on the inside. They’re seriously SO yummy. We like to eat them right out of the oven!

How to pick the best healthy peanut butter:

Not all peanut butters are the same! When we buy a peanut butter we look for 3 things:

1. That the ingredients contain just nuts (and maybe some salt). 
2. That there are no added sugars. There is no need for added sugar in nut butter. 
3. That there is no added oil. Added oils are unnecessary, and usually used as a filler to mimic the taste/texture of nuts instead of using them (it saves manufacturers $$!) 

Some of our favorite places/brands of peanut butter are Costco (They have a 2 pack of organic creamy peanut butter. It’s cheaper to buy in store), Crazy Richard’s, Spread the Love, Whole Foods Brand, and Trader Joe’s

Storing/Freezing Peanut Butter Protein Cookies:

Storing: We recommend storing these cookies in the refrigerator. They will last up to 1 week in an airtight container. You can store the cookies at room temperature, but they are relatively moist and more apt to get moldy because there are no preservatives.

Freezing: These cookies freeze SO well. Let them cool completely, place them in a bag or container and freeze. When you’re ready to eat, simply pop them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds until they are warm. 

We don’t recommend freezing un-baked dough. I would bake the cookies and then freeze them. 

Other healthy dessert recipes:

• Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
• Greek Yogurt Cheesecake Bites
• Healthy Lemon Bars (Paleo, Gluten Free, Grain Free)
• Paleo Salted Almond Butter Brownies
• Healthy Banana Bread