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 made them without the baking soda and salt. I used Organic Earth Balance, melted for the oil. I didn’t add the extra milk (didn’t need it). And I used Maple Flavored Agave since I didn’t have real pure maple. And only used 1/2 tsp PB on each (although regret that decision now!) Boyfriend said they are “good” but could be more crunchy on bottom and more creamy on top. So kudos for the duplicate, and I’ll perfect my use of PB haha. 🙂 Thanks Katie!
These look amazing. Can’t wait to try them. Thanks for sharing.
Katie – These were a HIT at my house! WOW- thank you SOOOOO much! My only issue is that I have to at least quadruple your recipes to make a normal batch (that tests my math skills with these off measurements!) as I have 3 growing boyz and often their friends (and hubby and myself of course;-) to feed! I LOVE having these great recipes though – you are terrific.
the almond flour (homemade) didn’t work out too well for me so I added ww flour and they didn’t turn out too pretty….:/ oh well. good recipe, though. 🙂
I used gluten free flour and then added the crushed almonds.. Try that Bren.. just an idea:)
I made these tonight, Yum! What am I doing wrong…I made them about 2 inches across but got only 6 cookies which REALLY changes the calories from 18-20 cookies as I see your nutritional breakdown is for.
OK, well I’m in the UK and we don’t have Girl Scout cookies over here ((that I know of!!)), buuuut, I MUST make these for my boyfriend soon!! He loves PB AND chocolate AND shortbread, so all of them together, wow!! Methinks I’ll make these for Easter 🙂 thanks again, Katie!! I may even make some with some white chocolate “caramel” instead of PB, for my ((weird!!)) PB-hating little bro 😛
I love your website and can’t wait to try these tagalongs tomorrow! I’ll let you know if they pass the kid test (but I’m sure they will)!
This may seem very naive of me, but the coconut oil is always supposed to melted when called for, right?
yes
Thanks you for following your Christian principles. I too think the GSA has become a progressive and consequently destructive organization, in some ways. I refuse to support their indoctrination of young women. I had a friend who worked in the Northwest Ohio GSA and it was intolerable. They were so NON-INCLUSIVE when it comes to conservative thought. You always have to agree with them!
This recipe looks amazing! I would love to make it but there my little sister is allergic to almonds, if there an alternative that you would suggest to the almond flour? THANKS!
Hi, this is the first recipe of yours that I have tried. I like it! Kids like it! Husband likes it! It’s a keeper!
I rubbed coconut oil on my hands and then rolled the dough into balls and flattend them before putting them onto the sheet for the freezer…no mess! Also, after I put the peanut butter on the cookie, I put the sheet back in the freezer so the pb could harden a bit. The I dipped each one; worked great! The choclolate has to be super runny to not pull the peanut butter off of the cookie though.
Anyways, I can’t wait to try some more of your recipes…. 🙂
Thanks a bunch 🙂
Holly from Ontario Canada 😉
Holly, your idea was genius. So easy and it worked great!
Katie, these are fabulous. Thanks for another hit recipe. =)
Im making these this evening for a COOKIE SWAP. IM sooo excited! Can you tell me how many this recipe makes? I need 6 dozen cookies. I couldn’t find anywhere in here what quantity. Thanks!
18-20
How much stevia are you guys using??
I have little packets of stevia, the ones meant for coffee.
18 tsp of peanut butter???
Those look delicious! /..O.O..
I’m not sure what went wrong, but I’ll have to agree with some other comments that the almond flour just didn’t work. I made my own and used agave; the batter was way too sticky so I added a tablespoon of regular flour. It only yielded 6 cookies. I think I would give it another go with regular unbleached all purpose flour and double the recipe.