Soft Baked Snickers Cookies (Vegan Gluten-Free)

These thick Soft Baked Snickers Cookies are easy to make with a rich chocolatey protein cookie base and a peanut butter caramel filling all topped with chocolate and more peanut butter. They are vegan, gluten-free and made with wholesome ingredients.

I just love anything with snickers; the combination of chocolate, peanuts and caramel or nougat is one of my favourite things. After snickers brownies, caramel slices and breakfast recipes, it was only time before the snickers cookie made an appearance. These cookies are super soft like the fresh bakery ones with a slightly crispy top and a gooey filling, they are the best of both worlds in terms of chewy, soft cookie and crispy, crackly top.

Why will I love these Soft Baked Snickers Cookies?

These cookies are everything! They are:

• Soft, rich, chocolatey and tender
• Slightly chewy and super fudgy
• Filled with peanut butter caramel middle
• Topped with a dark chocolate shell
• Easy to make in one bowl with no chill time required
• Naturally vegan, gluten-free and high protein
• Made with good-for-you ingredients

If you already want to make these cookies today, skip ahead to the recipe card. Or, first let’s discuss the recipe in more detail.

What ingredients do I need?

These cookies are fudgy and rich so have quite a wet and thick cookie dough:

• Smooth peanut butter: this is best in terms of overall texture for the cookies and a runny one is best. I love the roasted peanut butter from KoRo here as the flavour is so rich.
• Thick dairy-free yoghurt: I always use Cocos Organic coconut yoghurt as it’s so thick and creamy and the ingredients are really natural and wholesome. Other Greek-style thick yoghurts will also work, I imagine.
• Maple syrup: for sticky sweetness or you can use other syrups like date, agave or vegan honey.
• Coconut sugar: again for sweetness and other sugar like golden or regular caster sugar or you could try light brown sugar, too.
• Plant-based milk: just a little for the smooth consistency. I like to use oat or almond milk but soya, coconut or another dairy-free milk will also be great.
• Vanilla essence: for the flavour.
• Oat flour: grind your oats to a fine flour to make oat flour at home. Check that your oats are certified gluten-free, where needed.
• Ground almonds: these act as a second “flour” in the recipe and keep the cookies high fibre and high protein.
• Chocolate protein powder: this adds a lovely chocolate flavour to the cookies and also acts as a third “flour”. It naturally absorbs more liquid than other flours so you cannot replace this like-for-like. To skip the protein powder, add more oat flour as needed. I’ve use the chocolate protein powder for KoRo and note that all brands will absorb liquid slightly differently.
• Cocoa powder: for more chocolatey-ness. You can also use cacao powder here.
• Baking powder: for a slight rise.
• Salt: for flavour.

For the peanut butter caramel filling:

• Peanut butter: use the same peanut butter as above or you can use a crunchy one for the filling if you prefer.
• Maple syrup: when stirred into the peanut butter it turns into a thick caramel which is perfect for filling the cookies with. As above, you can use other syrups.

For the topping we need the following ingredients:

• Dark chocolate: I use chocolate chips but any chocolate will work as it’s for melting down.
• Coconut oil: add this to the chocolate so that it is runnier and smoother and therefore sets shinier and slightly softer, too. It is not essential if you’d rather skip this.
• Peanut butter: for making swirls on top.
• Peanuts: crushed peanuts on top add crunch and more snickers-goodness.

How do I make this Soft Baked Snickers Cookies?

These cookies are easy to make in a few steps:

• Whisk together the wet ingredients for the cookie dough: till smooth.
• Add in the dry ingredients: and mix to a thick cookie dough.
• Use an ice cream scoop to divide into cookies: and transfer to a lined baking tray. Leave some room as they spread slightly but not a lot.
• Make an indent into the centre of each cookie: this will be for the filling.
• Bake for 9 to 10 minutes: until fudgy in the middle and slightly crackly on top.
• Re-shape the indents in the cookies: using your fingers while the cookies are warm.
• Allow to cool fully: you can place them in the fridge, if needed.
• Make the caramel: by stirring together the ingredients till thick.
• Fill each cookie hole with the caramel: and make all 7-8 cookies.
• Melt the chocolate and coconut oil: and pour over the cookies.
• Swirl on the peanut butter and add crushed peanuts: and allow the cookies to set or eat warm and gooey.

Are these cookies gluten-free and nut-free?

Yes, these are naturally gluten-free, as long as your oats are certified gluten-free. Snickers by nature contains peanuts, so you can make these nut-free or peanut-free although they will no longer be Soft Baked Snickers Cookies (but still delicious). Please swap the peanut butter in all elements of the cookies to another nut butter like almond or cashew or a seed butter like tahini or sunflower seed butter. The swap the ground almonds (if needed) to buckwheat or plain flour and swap the crushed peanuts on top for crushed nuts or seeds. Also check that your milk, yoghurt, chocolate and protein powder are free of nuts and/or gluten.

How long will these cookies keep for?

These are best kept in a sealed container in the fridge for 5-7 days or you can freeze them for up to 1 month. Allow to de-frost at room temperature.

I love making cookies, what else can I make?

I hope you are going to love these Soft Baked Snickers Cookies and for more cookie ideas, how about my:

• No Bake Chocolate Cookie Dough Stuffed Cookies
• Chocolate Filled Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches
• Chocolate Hazelnut Linzer Cookies
• Easy Vegan Neapolitan Cookies
• Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I look forward to hearing what you think of these Soft Baked Snickers Cookies so please let me know in the comments below. if you do make these cookies, I’d love to see them so please tag me, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With soft bake snickers love x