Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms
Posted Dec 08, 2017, Updated Apr 04, 2025
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Gluten free peanut butter blossoms are made with 7 ingredients in one in 20 minutes! Dress them up by making your own holiday shaped chocolates – or use chocolate kisses – and they’ll be the first to disappear from your cookie tray.
Peanut butter blossoms are my favorite Christmas cookie, and when I want to make them gluten-free I take my favorite flourless peanut butter cookies and turn them into these gluten free peanut butter blossoms!
They are super easy to make with 7 ingredients, in one bowl in 20 minutes, and are a great treat to make for your gluten-free friends.
I melted chocolate and made it into festive holiday shapes, but you can use regular kisses, or even peanut butter cups to press into the center.
Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Blossoms: Substitutions
- Creamy Peanut Butter. Crunchy peanut butter or sunflower butter are good substitues. I do not recommend using almond butter, as I have tried it and it didn’t taste nearly as good as peanut butter. If you’re looking for a paleo blossom cookie check out my Paleo Almond Butter Blossom recipe (which is also vegan).
- Granulated Sugar. organic cane sugar and brown sugar are good substitutes.
- Mini Chocolate Chips. I highly recommend adding mini chocolate chips to this recipe to add extra chocolate flavor throughout the cookies. Or, you can omit the chips.
- Chocolate Candies. See “method” section for how I made these fun Christmas shaped candies Or use store-bought candy like Hershey Kisses, Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, and peanut butter cups.
How to Make Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Blossoms
These cookies are made in one bowl! We’ll walk through the process together, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin by putting freezing the chocolate. Wether you use homemade or store bought chocolates (kisses), they need to be frozen so they don’t melt when put on top of the warm cookie.
If you make your own chocolates, remove them from the molds and put them in a bowl to freeze completely.
Or, placed unwrapped chocolate kisses in the freezer at least 1 hour before making the cookies.
Then, in a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter and sugar.
Once combined, add the egg, vanilla and salt and stir.
Mix in the mini chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Then, roll 2 Tablespoon portions of dough into balls or use a small cookie scoop and on baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 1” apart.
These cookies don’t spread. They will come out of the oven in the shape you put them in! So keep that in mind as you make your balls!
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are just barely browned and the cookies look set.
As soon as you remove the pan from the oven, remove the chocolate candy from the freezer and gently press one into the center of each cookie.
Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking pan, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
If you choose to make chocolate shapes, you may need to put the cookies on the pan in the freezer or outside on a cold day, to prevent the shapes from melting.
Making Chocolate Shapes
I used these silicone molds to make fun Christmas shapes out of chocolate. To do this:
- Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon peanut butter,
- Pour it into the mold
- Freeze for at least 1 hour.
You can use any chocolate variety you love, and skip the peanut butter if you want! But I enjoy the extra peanut butter flavor and the way it makes the chocolate a little softer.
Serve
Serve the gluten free peanut butter blossoms after they have cooled completely. Or, add them to a cookie tray with your favorite Christmas cookies!
Store/Freeze
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms Recipe FAQs
Yes, solid chocolate Hershey kisses are gluten-free.
Yes, to make more than 12 cookies double or triple the recipe.
Our favorite peanut butter cups are Justin’s and they are gluten-free. Most Reese’s are also gluten free (except for the holiday shaped varieties).
Yes, freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
If you make and love my recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so I can see your creations!
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt*
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- 12 chocolate kisses (frozen)
Homemade Chocolate Candies
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Place unwrapped chocolate candy or kisses in the freezer at least 1 hour before making the cookies.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter and sugar.
- Add egg, vanilla and salt and stir until combined.
- Mix in chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Roll 2 Tablespoon portions of dough into balls or use a small cookie scoop and on baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 1” apart (these cookies do not spread).
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are just barely browned and the tops look set.
- As soon as you remove the pan from the oven, remove chocolate candy from the freezer and gently press one into the center of each cookie.
- Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking pan, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack.
- If you choose to make chocolate shapes, you may need to put the cookies on the pan in the freezer to prevent the shapes from melting!
Homemade Chocolate Candies
- In a microwave-safe bowl melt together chocolate chips and peanut butter and stir until combined and smooth.
- Place a silicone mold on a baking sheet and fill it with the prepared chocolate peanut butter mixture.
- Place filled mold in the freezer until chocolate has hardened (about 1-2 hours).
- Once hardened, remove from mold and place back in the freezer until cookies are ready, then use them as the frozen chocolate in the recipe!
Video
Notes
- Creamy Peanut Butter. Crunchy peanut butter or sunflower butter are good substitues. I do not recommend using almond butter, as I have tried it and it didn’t taste nearly as good as peanut butter. If you’re looking for a paleo blossom cookie check out my Paleo Almond Butter Blossom recipe (which is also vegan).
- Granulated Sugar. organic cane sugar and brown sugar are good substitutes.
- Mini Chocolate Chips. I highly recommend adding mini chocolate chips to this recipe to add extra chocolate flavor throughout the cookies. Or, you can omit the chips.
- Chocolate Candies. See “method” section for how I made these fun Christmas shaped candies Or use store-bought candy like Hershey Kisses, Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, and peanut butter cups.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I loved these. I made the chocolate and they froze up quickly and were very cute. Those were a great idea. I forgot the salt but I don’t think I have sea salt anyway. I thought they tasted amazing and my family agreed. Thanks for the recipe.
I always love looking at your blog– you have the most creative recipes and your photography is beautiful! These cookies look so great– so neat how these don’t have any flour! I’m going to Pin this now so I can come back to it at Christmas!
I use soy nut butter for nut allergies and turns out to be a great gluten AND nut free blossom!
Not sure why you don’t recommend using seed butter. I’ve been making these with peanut-free sun butter for years!
Hey Anne! I just had never tried it before and didn’t want to lead anyone astray! But I will add that sun butter works great! 🙂
Oh my goodness. I LOVE the idea of the chocolate shapes on top! A bit more work, but definitely a show stopper!
They’re actually super easy to make! Just a mold and some melted chocolate! 😉 But they definitely make them even more fun!
Ohhmyygoodnesss I totally need these in my life! Those chocolates are too cute! Must try ASAP
I’m making these. I love that they’re flourless. Now I just have to find cute little chocolate toppings like yours!
I just made them myself!
OMG, I was working on a recipe just like this! Great minds bake a like 🙂 These look fabulous Laura!!!
Confession: I love the kids cookies like these but have never made them. I would have gone in without freezing the chocolate and it would not have been good. Can’t wait to try!!