Chocolate Heart Peanut Butter Cookies (Refined Sugar Free!)
A thick and dense peanut butter cookie made with honey, and topped with a dark chocolate heart is perfect for your Valentine...or just you! 😉
January was a rather savory month here on greens & chocolate, wasn't it? I focused heavily on the greens and much less on the chocolate.
The main reason was that Marc and I were doing a (very) modified version of Pinch of Yum's Sugar Free January. It was mainly a month where I did little to no baking, we stayed away from desserts, and focused on healthy eating.
Now that January is done I'm easing back into desserts. I don't feel the need to go crazy with sugar, which is one of the benefits of getting my cravings back under control, but a girl needs a cookie every now and then y'know?! So I'm starting with these refined sugar free chocolate heart peanut butter cookies!
I used Dove's Dark Chocolate Hearts because I may have been sneaking one or two here and there the last week of January (hey Pinch of Yum says dark chocolate is okay!) and already had a bag open. You could use whatever chocolate you want to top them with! Dove also has some peanut butter filled chocolates that would be wonderful. A good 'ol Reese's peanut butter cup would do the trick. Or maybe a Hershey's kiss to resemble peanut butter blossoms? All great options. 
So if I didn't use sugar in these cookies, then what did I use? To replace white sugar that is in a traditional peanut butter cookie, I used honey. The result is a much less sweet cookie than your traditional peanut butter blossom, but I have to say - these definitely still hit the spot! I also used white whole wheat flour in these, making them full of whole grains!
One last thing that I LOVE about these cookies is that they stay chewy days after I made them, which I think is due to the honey in them. I love a thick and chewy cookie, and this is exactly what that is!
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- Chocolate hearts of your liking/preference
Instructions
- Preheat oven o 350 degrees F.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat together honey, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Add salt, baking soda, and flour, and mix until combined.
- Roll dough into ~1 ½ tablespoon dough balls and place on baking sheet. These don't spread much, so you can put them fairly close together.
- Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes, until edges are lightly golden. You definitely don't want to over bake these so error on the side of under done.
- Once out of the oven, place a chocolate heart on the top of each one.
- Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
- Enjoy!
