This healthy Girl Scout Cookie peanut butter Tagalongs recipe can be vegan, gluten free, sugar free, grain free, and keto friendly!
Homemade Girl Scout Cookies
It is Girl Scout Cookie season once again.
And you know what that means… Tagalongs! Thin Mints! Do Si Dos! Samoas!
Or whatever cookies they are selling nowadays.
(Mango Cremes? What??)
Also try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Healthy peanut butter Tagalongs
I will stick with the classic.
Today’s recipe is for healthy homemade Tagalongs, those thick peanut butter patties with a buttery shortbread crust and smooth chocolate coating.
Until they come out with healthy Girl Scout Cookies (or at least vegan Girl Scout Cookie Tagalongs) I am not letting the Girl Scouts have all the fun.
At press time in 2025, Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties, supplied by ABC Bakers, are vegan. However Tagalongs, supplied by Little Brownie Bakers, are not. The region you live in will determine which option is available to you.
And both options contain unhealthy hydrogenated oil.
So last weekend, I set up a DIY Girl Scout Cookie factory in the kitchen.
By the end of the night, my factory successfully churned out batches of homemade healthy Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, and Tagalongs.
The best part? All of the cookies were whole grain, gluten free, trans fat free, dairy free, and egg free.
I will never understand why an institution concerned with bringing up healthy young girls continues to produce and promote cookies containing artery clogging hydrogenated oil when alternative baking methods exist.
True, cookies are not supposed to be a health food, but why keep the trans fats? Even Oreos got rid of hydrogenated oil in their cookies.
Seriously, you will not miss the trans fats in these healthy Girl Scout Cookies.
They are just really good.
Trending recipe: Snowball Cookies (4 ingredients)
Healthy Girl Scout Cookie recipe video
Above, watch the full video showing how to make the cookies.
Ingredients
The recipe calls for peanut butter, chocolate chips, almond flour, sweetener of choice, salt, baking soda, water, and pure vanilla extract.
Peanut butter – Feel free to use either conventional or natural peanut butter.
For a peanut free alternative, almond butter, sunflower butter, or cashew butter work. Refrigerate the nut butter until ready to use, because you want it firm.
Almond flour – Fine almond flour or flourless almond meal is readily available at regular grocery stores, Trader Joe’s, Target, Whole Foods, and health food stores.
Allergic to almonds? Use this simple recipe for Vegan Sugar Cookies as the base of the cookies instead.
Chocolate – It is your choice whether to go with semi sweet, milk, oat milk, or dark chocolate chips.
Sweetener – I like unrefined pure maple syrup here. Honey, powdered sugar, and agave also work.
To create keto girl scout cookies, sweeten with stevia or powdered erythritol instead.
How to make healthy Girl Scout Cookies
The first step is to gather your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Store the peanut butter in the refrigerator, because you want it firm, not runny.
Combine all dry ingredients except the chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Stir well to evenly incorporate the baking soda and salt.
Add in the wet ingredients, minus the peanut butter. It will seem dry at first. Keep stirring for at least a minute, breaking up large clumps of dough as you go.
Smush into a large ball, or transfer the cookie dough to a large Ziploc bag and smush into a ball from inside the bag. I find this second option much less messy and easier to shape without dough sticking to your hands.
From inside the bag or between two sheets of parchment paper, use a rolling pin to thinly roll the almond cookie mixture into a rectangle with about 1/8 inch thickness.
Use a cookie cutter or the rim of a small glass to cut circles or shapes of choice.
Re-roll any leftover dough scraps so none are wasted.
Place the raw cookie cut outs on a greased baking sheet or silicone baking mat, and bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for twelve minutes.
Let the baked cookies cool, then transfer to a parchment lined plate. Refrigerate or freeze until cold to the touch.
Spread peanut butter on top of each cookie base, then return to the refrigerator. This step is important because it ensures the peanut butter will not melt when it touches the hot chocolate sauce in the next step.
Chocolate coating
Add the chocolate chips to a microwave safe dish or the top bowl of a double boiler.
Carefully melt the chocolate, going slowly and checking often so it does not burn. If you are new to melting chocolate, you may find it helpful to read through the thorough instructions in my recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
Once the chips are fully melted, I find that stirring in just a teaspoon of vegetable or coconut oil yields a much smoother sauce. However, this ingredient is optional.
Using a spoon or fork, lower one peanut butter topped cookie into the chocolate. Set back on the parchment lined plate, and repeat this step with all remaining cookies.
Refrigerate to set the chocolate coating, then serve and enjoy.
Store any leftover Tagalongs in a cool, dry place or in the refrigerator or freezer.
The recipe was adapted from my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies and these Keto Cookies.
Healthy Girl Scout Cookie Tagalongs
Ingredients
Tagalong Cookies
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup or honey, or stevia equivalent
- 2 tsp water or oil
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup peanut butter or allergy friendly sub
Chocolate Coating
- 2/3 cup chocolate chips or Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
- 1 tsp oil (optional for a smoother chocolate sauce)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Chill the peanut butter in the refrigerator. Stir cookie dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, then stir in wet (minus the peanut butter). It will be dry at first. Keep stirring for a minute or two, breaking up large clumps, until it resembles a cookie dough. Transfer to a large Ziploc bag and smush into a ball from inside the bag. Either still inside the bag or between two sheets of parchment paper, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough about 1/8 inch thick. Cut circles or shapes of choice with cookie cutters or the rim of a small glass. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool, then refrigerate or freeze until cold to the touch. Spread peanut butter on each cookie base. Return to the refrigerator while you carefully melt the chocolate then stir in the optional oil. Use a spoon to coat the cookies in chocolate. Refrigerate to set. Enjoy your homemade healthy Girl Scout Cookies!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Healthy Cookie And Bar Recipes
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I must make these, like right now 🙂 I was so disappointed, I bought mango girl scout cookies this weekend instead of my tagalongs and they were horrible.
Yum! They look fabulous! Unfortunately we don’t have girl scout cookies over in the UK, maybe I could start a trend 🙂
Can you now do the Caramel Delights / Samoas?
They’re my favorite and absolutely TERRIBLE nutritionals.
It’s horrible of me to say…I’m a lifetime Girl Scout member and just can’t get behind how unhealthy the cookies are. Even the ones with a sugar substitute can’t be considered a healthy splurge!
I always find it hard to say no to any child who has the courage to come up and ask you to buy something. I remember doing it and it wasn’t easy. The good news is, my husband will have whatever I bought gone in about a day, so that saves me :).
Do you use liquid stevia or powdered? looks delicious–tag-a-longs are (were) my favorite!!
How about healthy Thin Mint cookies? got any recipes?
Thin mints are vegan. Not healthy but, vegan. Think I will give this on a try tonight!
Do you have the dry attachment for your vitamix to make the almond flour, or do you use the regular one? I use the regular one to make almond milk, can it make flour too?
Thanks for the healthy alternative. My Girl Scouts (Daisy through Ambassador) love to cook, have enjoyed MANY of your recipes, and this will be on our “to try” list! Thanks for putting in a plug for our “Cookies from Home” program, our troop sends lots of boxes to soldiers with help from donations like yours. Another option – make a donation directly to the troop! Looking forward to having you inspire us for many meetings to come!
I didn’t bake these + subbed almond butter (due to kitchen renovation, we don’t have an oven right now). They turned out amazing! Unfortunately, I hardly got any because of my family eating them, but they were a big hit!
I used to buy GS cookies. I was a GS and a GS leader. My girls were in it too. Since I discovered that glutetn was the source of my rashes, I’ve had to give them up. My hubby still buys them. Sometimes he even eats them in front of me! I can’t wait to try this recipe. You’ve made my day. Thanks.
I made the maple syrup version of these tonight, and they were amazing! I can’t believe that’s almond flour of all things.
I like them better than regular Tagalongs on taste alone because they aren’t too sweet – just right. Thanks for developing this recipe. They were worth the time it took to make them 🙂
We just ran out of tagalongs in my house so I decided to make these and let me just say…ohh my goodness these are SO GOOD. Even better than the real thing! I used a champagne flute as a cookie cutter which worked out perfectly. Thanks for sharing this recipe, Katie!
I used about 1/8 tsp of powder. It was perfect. I mixed it in with the dry ingredients.
Thank you! I was scrolling through all of these comments just hoping someone would mention the size of the cookie cutter. @Katie–it would really be helpful if you could include that detail in your recipes. I see on the nutritionals that the numbers are for 20 cookies, but I don’t want to divide my dough up into 20 bits. I’d rather know the cookie cutter size.
hi there
I was just wondering if the stevia is powder or liquid? I saw what brand you use in FAQ but still could not tell if it is liquid or powder. What would be a good amount to start with as I am not used to using it but would like to try?
thanks!
Ruth
Ooohh myyy gooosshh I am never disappointed with your recipes, Katie. 😀
Hey Katie,
About to make these for a weekend treat, but I don’t have baking soda. Do you think I could omit it? And also replace the oil with applesauce? I don’t use oil in anything, and only have Earth Balance Margarine.