Healthier Peanut Butter M&M Christmas Cookies- Made with no butter, oil or flour these peanut butter cookies are full of flavor and so soft and delicious! The perfect Christmas cookie without the guilt! 

I love making cookies year-round but there’s something special about baking in December don’t you think? Christmas cookies are a favorite of mine but lately I’ve been trying to eat a little healthier and have less sugar in my diet. These cookies are the perfect way to still enjoy something sweet but without the guilt! There’s very little sugar in the recipe. To still make these sweet there is a little honey and it makes the cookies taste so yummy! There also isn’t as much fat as typical peanut butter cookie because there’s no butter or oil! How awesome is that?! Despite using less sugar and fat in this recipe these cookies are my very favorite peanut butter cookie! They are so soft and full of flavor. And I love that there’s oats in these cookies. Many of you know and love my recipe for Healthy Monster Cookies and this recipe is my Christmas version of that!

In my opinion a delicious and festive Christmas recipe often includes Christmas M&M’s. I was excited to see they have Peanut Butter Christmas M&M’s too. The more peanut butter the better!

This recipe is a quick one-bowl recipe and the dough doesn’t even need to chill! The main ingredients are peanut butter, oats and a little brown sugar and honey. Some of my favorite ingredients to bake with! I added semi-sweet chocolate chips because those are my favorite type to bake with but feel free to use milk or dark chocolate chips if you prefer. You can even add peanut butter chips.

After the dough is scooped into balls I flatten them slightly and add the M&M’s. Such a pretty cookie don’t you think?!

These cookies are amazing! It’s the perfect Christmas cookie because you can eat 2 or 3 without even feeling like you had too much sugar! My boys loved these cookies too and I was happy I was giving them a healthier cookie option than the typical peanut butter cookie packed with sugar and butter.

Enjoy!

Yield: 16

Healthier Peanut Butter M&M Christmas Cookies

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats (or quick oats)
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Peanut Butter Christmas M&M's for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium sized bowl (I used my stand mixer) stir together the peanut butter, honey, and brown sugar. Do not warm up the peanut butter or the honey.
3. Add in the oats, salt, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Stir well.
4. In a separate bowl lightly beat the egg and then add it to the mixture.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the dough. Press the dough very tightly in the cookie scoop to form the balls if using your hands squeeze the mixture tightly into a ball so it doesn’t crumble.
7. Form the balls onto a cookie sheet, press down slightly, top with the Peanut Butter M&M's and more chocolate chips if desired and bake for 7-8 minutes.
8. Watch the cookies closely and remove when the bottom barely starts to brown even if they don't look completely done (they cook more as they cool).
9. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Chelsea’s Messy Apron