Easy Peanut Butter Patties (AKA Tagalongs!)

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Stack of homemade tagalongs with layers of shortbread cookies, peanut butter, and chocolate

Girl Scout cookies have a special place in my heart because I used to be a Girl Scout. Not to brag, but I did win the prize for most cookies sold in my troop one year despite suffering a sprained ankle the week prior. That’s dedication. The cookies I sold the most of (besides Thin Mints)? Tagalongs! If you’ve never had Tagalongs, also known as Peanut Butter Patties, you’re in for a treat!

A crisp, shortbread-style cookie is topped with creamy peanut butter and enveloped in melted chocolate. Swoon! Our inspired version is naturally vegan and gluten-free, simple to make, salty-sweet, and tastes JUST like the real thing! Let us show you how it’s done!

Chocolate chips, peanut butter, maple syrup, tapioca flour, oat flour, almond flour, coconut oil, baking soda, and sea salt

How to Make Homemade Tagalongs

Tagalongs consist of a shortbread cookie base, peanut butter filling, and chocolate coating.

To keep the shortbread cookie base gluten-free, we used a combination of almond flour (for classic cookie flavor and texture), oat flour (because it’s hearty and slightly sweet), and tapioca flour (to lighten them up and help them crisp). Baking soda provides the leavening and sea salt enhances the flavors. Coconut oil helps them get crispy, while maple syrup adds a hint of natural sweetness.

Shortbread cookie dough for making tagalongs

The peanut butter filling is a simple combination of a smooth salted peanut butter and a little bit of maple syrup. The mix of the two creates a drippy consistency that goes on top of the crisp shortbread cookie for the perfect contrast of textures.

Lastly, it’s coated with a mixture of melted semisweet chocolate chips and coconut oil for a perfectly sweetened, melt-in-your-mouth, chocolaty coating!

Using a spoon to top peanut butter patties with melted chocolate

We hope you love these peanut butter patties (a.k.a. Tagalongs)! They’re:

Crispy
Peanut buttery
Chocolaty
Salty-sweet
& SO delicious!

Enjoy these gems any time a chocolate + peanut butter craving strikes! Or host a homemade Girl Scout cookie night (virtual or IRL) and make these Tagalongs along with The BEST Thin Mints (V/GF). So fun!

Bowl of melted chocolate next to a rack with chocolate peanut butter patties

More Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!

Bowl of peanut butter next to a plate of tagalong cookies

Easy Peanut Butter Patties (AKA Tagalongs!)

Homemade Peanut Butter Patties (a.k.a. Tagalongs) that taste like the real thing! Undetectably vegan and gluten-free, simple to make, and SO satisfying!
Author Minimalist Baker
Print
Homemade peanut butter patties on a plate
4.95 from 18 votes
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 48 minutes
Servings 16 (Cookies)
Course Dessert
Cuisine Gluten-Free, Vegan
Freezer Friendly 1 month
Does it keep? 5 Days

Ingredients

SHORTBREAD COOKIE

  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup oat flour (gluten-free if needed)
  • 2 Tbsp tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt
  • 2 Tbsp solid refined coconut oil
  • 2 Tbsp maple syrup

PEANUT BUTTER FILLING

  • 1/4 cup smooth salted peanut butter (if using unsalted peanut butter, add 1 healthy pinch sea salt)
  • 2 tsp maple syrup

CHOCOLATE COATING

  • 1 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips (we used Enjoy Life)
  • 2 tsp refined coconut oil

Instructions

  • In a food processor combine almond flour, oat flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, and salt. Pulse a few times to fully combine.
  • Add in solid refined coconut oil (if your coconut oil has liquified simply place it into the fridge for a couple of minutes) and pulse until you achieve small crumbs, about 8 pulses. Add the maple syrup and pulse until a loose dough starts to form, about 10 pulses.
  • Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment or wax paper, flatten the dough slightly and fold it up tightly, then chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Remove cookie dough from the fridge. Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper that has been lightly floured with tapioca flour. Dust some tapioca flour on top of the dough as well. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/8-inch (~3 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (~5 cm) circle cookie cutter, cut out 16 circles. You will need to roll out the dough at least twice to get 16 cookies — continue rolling out the dough until all of it is used up. If the dough begins to break easily and becomes difficult to work with, put it back in the fridge to firm up slightly.
  • Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to your parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping them at least 2 inches (~5 cm) apart. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges become lightly golden. They should feel slightly firm to the touch when hot. Remove the cookies from the tray and place on a cooling rack until completely cooled.
  • While the cookies are cooling combine the peanut butter and maple syrup in a small bowl. Stir well and set aside.
  • Place the chocolate chips and 2 tsp of coconut oil into a small saucepan (amount as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size). Stirring constantly, heat the chocolate chips on low heat until about half of the chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. You can also do this in the microwave in 30-second increments. Set aside.
  • Once cookies are cool, place the cooling rack of cookies over your parchment-lined baking sheet to catch any drips. Line a large round plate with parchment paper and set aside. Parchment is important here as your completed cookies will be difficult to remove in the final step without it!
  • Place a heaping 1/2 tsp of peanut butter mixture in the center of each cookie. Shake and tap the cookie to spread the peanut butter, leaving about 1/4-inch of cookie around the edge. Place cookies on your parchment-lined plate and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes, until peanut butter is firm to the touch.
  • Remove cookies from the freezer and place them back on the cooling rack. Pour 1 tablespoon melted chocolate on each cookie, letting it coat the top and sides of each cookie. Shake the cookies to evenly distribute the chocolate.
  • Once all of the cookies are covered in chocolate, use a metal spatula to transfer them back onto the parchment-lined plate, carefully ensuring the cookies don’t touch (the chocolate will stick them together)! Place the cookies in the fridge until completely set, about 15 minutes, then remove gently with a spatula.
  • Enjoy them chilled or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 1 month.

Video

Notes

*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.

Nutrition (1 of 16 servings)

Serving: 1 cookie Calories: 171 Carbohydrates: 16.2 g Protein: 3.1 g Fat: 11.3 g Saturated Fat: 5.5 g Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1 g Monounsaturated Fat: 2.4 g Trans Fat: 0 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Sodium: 60 mg Potassium: 69 mg Fiber: 2 g Sugar: 9.6 g Vitamin A: 0 IU Vitamin C: 0 mg Calcium: 36.1 mg Iron: 1.4 mg

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  1. Kim says

    These were so good! I would absolutely make these again and I can tell they’re going to be a hit among the household!
    Some notes on my experience preparing: I ground up my own oat flour in the food processor before adding the other ingredients which worked out well. The dough was very crumbly (probably because my oat flour wasn’t fine enough, which is my own fault) so I couldn’t roll it out. However, I was able to hand-form each disc. More like 1/4″ thick which I adjusted my bake time for. Peanut butter mixture was way thicker than what was shown in the video (I used Santa Cruz Organic) but I just spread it evenly with a butter knife and that worked well!
    1c chocolate + 2tbsp of coconut oil resulted in a lot more melted chocolate than what was needed. I was able to fully dunk each cookie and still had about 1/4c left over.

  2. Val says

    These are SO dang good! I’m a pretty inexperienced baker and I found this super easy to put together. The shortbread was so delightfully crisp and I’ll be saving that portion of the recipe to make cookies for decorating at Christmas time because they hold up so well. Thanks!

  3. Little lily says

    Well, i knew they’d be good after reading the ingredients. But they were so so so good! Really. I didn’t change a thing, but i think my peanut butter was a little thicker than yours, likely because i store it in the fridge. Not enough patience to let it come to room temp…. I had to spread with a mini spatula, instead of shaking them. It worked out perfectly.
    The cookies are delightful.

  4. sadie says

    These were so fun to make – nostalgia AND getting messy. I subbed the coconut oil in the dough for butter, and added a bit to the process…
    – dented the cookies with the back of a tea spoon to make more room for peanut butter
    – my pb mixture was quite thick… so I ended up making little balls then squishing them into the cookies. bonus- they have that ‘plateau’ shape like tagalongs
    – I had enough chocolate to flip the cookies after cooling and coat the bottom too :)

  5. Lauren says

    I made these and the shortbread cookies were my favorite part. They provided the most perfect crunch and nice base for the rest of the ingredients. I prepped my peanut butter and maple a little earlier than the recipe suggested, so it seized up a bit but it was actually easier to mold into patties to put on the cookie. Overall, yummy and easy.

  6. Nicole says

    I enjoyed these. I think to be healthier though, the amount of maple sugar could be reduced by half and still taste really sweet.

  7. Diane K says

    I find it impossible to read your recipes or the comments as the page keeps refreshing over and over and throwing me back to the top. I had to fight with it to leave this comment. Is anyone else having this problem or is it my browser (Safari)?

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Sorry that’s happening, Diane! Have you tried clearing your cache? Would you mind sharing what type of device you’re using?

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Hi K, we haven’t tried coconut flour here and aren’t sure how it would work. If you try it you might want to start with ~1/2 the amount since coconut flour is much more absorbent than almond.

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Hi Dottie! We haven’t tried these without almond flour but it’s possible that coconut flour could work. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try! xo

  8. Adrienn says

    My dough got very dry, after taking out from the refrigerator I could not roll out, as the dough simply just fallen apart. It was like just crumbs. I tried to create smaller batches by forming smaller balls and prepare 2-3 circles at once – it was a bit better, but still not as expected. Any idea what should I do differently? Add more oil or maple syrup? Before I put the dough into the fridge, it looked like on the video :( Thanks!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Hi Adrienn, so sorry to hear that happened! It does sound like it needed more oil and/or maple. Is it possible it was left in the fridge too long? Or did you make any modifications to the ingredients?

      • Adrienn says

        I kept everything as it was in the recipe. I thought as well that maybe the dough went too cold, so I was waiting a bit after removing from the fridge, but did not helped. Next time I might will add a bit more liquid. For now I saved the dough with baking it as crumbs, and just simply mixed it with the peanut butter and some melted chocolate. Let’s say I got a kind of “glass dessert”, and we could it it with spoon from the bowl :) The taste is anyhow really good :)

        • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

          We’re so glad to hear it was still delicious. Let us know how it goes next time!

  9. Christa G says

    I absolutely LOVE this recipe. I have made it enough times now that I pretty much have the recipe memorized because it is just so good!

    It’s such a tasty sweet treat without all the refined ingredients, and it uses ingredients I normally keep in my pantry. I sub the tapioca flour for arrowroot, and it turns out great.

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Woohoo! We’re so glad to hear it, Christa. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo

  10. Braely says

    I am allergic to almonds and I’m not gluten free is there another flour I can substitute or add more oat flour?

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Hi Braely, we’d say your best bet would be all purpose flour. But potentially use less as it’s more drying / absorbent than almond flour. Let us know if you try!

  11. Linsey says

    Really easy, delicious cookies. My husband could not stop going on and on about how good they were.

    I didn’t have coconut oil so I used the suggestion I saw and used avocado oil which worked perfectly! Next time I will bake for a couple extra minutes – they came out great but I like my shortbread a little more cripsy. These came out dense but a little soft for me (maybe has to do with the oil sub?)

    Overall they were easy, delicious, and uses ingredients I always have on hand (coconut oil was a fluke this time!). Thanks!!

  12. Eileen Nolan says

    Wow! After the thin mints, I KNEW I would have to increase the amount of cookies, and so will you. These are AWESOME! I used crunchy peanut butter, as that is what I had. Read through the recipe so you know all the steps (I didn’t, and ended up in a time-crunch, but the race was worth it).

    AMAZING! Thank you sooooo much! Even my Scottish ‘doesn’t-get-peanut-butter’ husband loves these.

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Woohoo! We’re so glad you both enjoy them, Eileen. Thanks so much for the helpful review!

  13. Sandra says

    So good! We loved the Thin Mints – my husband kept telling me how good they were hinting for me to make more. When I started these, I think he was disappointed it wasn’t more of the Thin Mints… until he tasted them! ;-) Our only complaint is that it doesn’t make enough cookies – but that’s a blessing in disguise. Samoas are up next!

  14. Rachel says

    I made these as written and they were great. It’s easy but fairly time-consuming–I would budget at least 1.5 hours start to finish, but almost all of that is down time while things chill or bake. Like others, I dipped the cookies in chocolate. My peanut butter was also too stiff to shake, so I spread it with a knife and only popped the cookies in the freezer for a couple minutes before dipping.

    Three of us (all gluten eaters and two non-vegans) finished these off in under 24 hours!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Rachel! We’re so glad everyone enjoyed them!

  15. Krissy says

    Really yummy! I think if I make them again I’ll cut them out much smaller. However, I didn’t have a cutter and just used a glass. They’re as close as one can get to a Tagalong when on a gluten free diet! Thanks Dana!

  16. Adiel says

    Super delicious! I didn’t have oat flour so I processed some oats prior to adding in the other flours. Also as others have mentioned spooning the chocolate on top didn’t really work well so I dipped the top in the chocolate. Love the Girl Scout cookie content!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      We’re so glad you’re enjoying the Girl Scout cookies series! Thanks so much for sharing, Adiel! xo

  17. Vanessa says

    Omg soooo good! It was my first time baking with almond and oat flour :-) I didn’t have tapioca flour so I used all purpose instead and didn’t have chocolate chips so I used 70% cacao chocolate bars. Fiancé absolutely loved and I’m planning to make again and doubling the recipe. Thank you for the recipe!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      We’re so glad you both enjoyed them! Thanks so much for the lovely review, Vanessa! xo

  18. Sunshine says

    I made the Easy Peanut Butter patties this weekend and yes, they were easy and delicious!! My family also suggested increasing the peanut butter mix so we’ll try that next time. Thanks for a great recipe!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerDana @ Minimalist Baker says

      Yay! Thanks, Sunshine! Next time would you mind adding a rating to your review? It’s super helpful to us and other readers! xo

  19. Cindy says

    Nice crispy, tasty cookie! Give me PB and chocolate anytime!
    I think rolling out to 1/4” will work better for my cookies next time, 1/8” was very thin. I will also increase the PB…it wasn’t quite enough for all of the cookies. It was easier to dip the whole top into the chocolate rather than spooning over – I got to eat them sooner!
    Looking forward to more cookie recipes! Thank you!

  20. Dorothy says

    These were super fun to make! I actually found it easier to dip the PB-topped cookies upside down on the chocolate rather than spooning the chocolate on top. Thanks for the fun little treat! I didn’t make any substitutions.

  21. Alex says

    Made these tonight exactly according to the recipe. WOW incredible. I just don’t understand how you do it. I ate an amount that I’m ashamed to divulge and I washed them down with a glass of almond milk that I made from another MB recipe. Thanks for all you do <3

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Aw, we’re so glad you enjoyed them, Alex! Thanks so much for your kind words and lovely review! xo

  22. Zoe Walsh says

    Hi, I would love to make this recipe, but I don’t have the GF ingredients. I am fine with using regular flour and gluten. What should I substitute? Thanks a ton!!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerSupport @ Minimalist Baker says

      Hi Zoe, you could possibly replace the flours with all-purpose, but we haven’t tried that. We’d suggest starting with less as it can be more drying. Let us know how it goes!

  23. Carina says

    What would be a good substitute for the almond flour? I’m allergic to real nuts and don’t need the recipe to be gluten free. Could I just double the oat flour or what would make for a good shortbread like texture?
    Thank you!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerDana @ Minimalist Baker says

      I’d say your best bet would be all purpose or GF all purpose. But potentially use less as it’s more drying / absorbent than almond flour. Let us know if you try!

  24. Rah Hornbaker says

    Hello!! Thank you so much for this recipe! I want to make this immediately, but my partner is allergic to almonds. What would you suggest instead of almond flour?

    Thanks!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerDana @ Minimalist Baker says

      I’d say your best bet would be all purpose or GF all purpose. But potentially use less as it’s more drying / absorbent than almond flour. Let us know if you try!

  25. Leanne says

    Hi,
    I can’t have oat flour. Can a gf 1 for 1 be substituted for the oat & tapioca or do you have a better solution?
    Thanks!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerDana @ Minimalist Baker says

      I’d sub a GF blend for the oat flour, but keep the tapioca or sub it for arrowroot or cornstarch!

  26. Samantha says

    Hi,
    As someone who’s allergic to both wheat and oats, do you have a flour replacement suggestion for this recipe?
    Thank you so much, I love your blog!!

    • Avatar for Dana @ Minimalist BakerDana @ Minimalist Baker says

      Allergic, hmm. I’d say avocado would be the next closest, or sub vegan butter! Let us know if you try.