Get Baked: Peanut Butter Cookies Two Ways

Welcome to my orgy of peanut butter cookies!

via musketnuss.wordpress.com

Three-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

My peanut butter cookie repertoire used to consist of delicious, crispy cookies made from a recipe handed down from my grandmother. But they had nine ingredients in them, and who has that kind of time? These cookies have only three ingredients in them, and while they come with a little less childhood nostalgia, they are unbelievably easy/delicious.

I have made this recipe with crunchy, creamy, and organic almond peanut butter, but the smooth processed stuff still works best. You can add chocolate or caramel chips, coconut shavings, vanilla extract, breakfast cereal, or chopped nuts, but none of the extras are necessary.

Pay close attention to how long they bake: for chewier, moister cookies, take them out a little early, and for crunchy cookies, leave them in a little longer. And even though letting each batch cool in the pan for a few minutes slows down the process, it improves the taste and texture.


Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Mix ingredients until blended. Using your hands is the most fun, but a spoon will also do.

3. Roll into 24 balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Flatten with a fork.

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. They taste delicious if undercooked, but are still edible when overcooked. Cool for two minutes before removing from pan.

Crispy Peanut Butter Cookies

These are peanut butter cookies as they were meant to be made. This is a fantastic, though slightly more time- and ingredient-consuming, improvement. Even though leaving each batch in the pan for a few minutes slows down the process, they really do taste better because of it.

Sometimes I have more time on my hands than other times.

Ingredients

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. milk
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 package swirled peanut butter and chocolate chips (I had to use chopped baker’s chocolate and that also worked)
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar (extra/optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar.

2. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk, and beat well. (If you are not using milk, omit the baking powder later and add an extra 1/4 tsp of baking soda. Without milk, baking powder gets bitter and gross.)

3. In another bowl, combine four, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. To sugar-coat, drop the batter by spoonfuls into the tbsp of extra sugar and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Leaving some space between them, lightly flatten with a fork or spatula.

5. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for two minutes before removing from pan.

Adapted from my Grandmother and Smitten Kitchen.

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Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates was the NSFW Editor (2013–2018) and Literary Editor for Autostraddle.com, with bylines in Nylon, Refinery29, The Toast, Bitch, The Daily Beast, Jezebel, and elsewhere. They live in Los Angeles and also on twitter and instagram.

Ryan has written 1142 articles for us.

31 Comments

  1. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the best egg-replacer would be for the 3-ingredient recipe? This lazy vegan loves the idea of three ingredient recipes.

    • I bet you could use ground flax seeds + water for the egg replacer, but I guess that would make them 4 ingredient cookies. Chia seeds + water would work well too.

    • Presuming the egg is used as a binding agent I would use pureed banana..It will alter the flavor a bit but if you’ve ever had peanut butter & bananas it’s a good thing! Applesauce would work as well..1 egg = 1/4 cup of either..I do a lot of vegan baking

  2. What a coincidence. I woke up thinking about peanut butter cookies and thought about making them today. I guess now I have to!

  3. I might add chocolate chips az a fourth ingredient when I make mine. So tempting just to have these for dinner.

  4. I’m in Andalucia, and I haven’t really seen peanut butter in the local grocery but dear frickin’ jesus I will go to El Corte Ingles to get that shit! THESE COOKIES<3

  5. Doubled the recipe and added about a cup of chocolate chips to the second batch, meaning in that batch we have 1 to 1 chocolate to peanut butter. This is so delicious.

  6. I’ve been making a variation of this recipe for years.
    1 cup natural PB
    1 cup sugar
    1 egg
    1 tsp baking powder (optional)
    Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

  7. I was going to see if egg substitute could be used instead of egg, but then I realized the stuff I had expired almost a month ago and had somehow turned into a solid…this is why I fail at cooking things

  8. My family has been making those peanut butter cookies since year dot. They are AWESOME

    My mom did a variation where she would make a depression in the cookie dough with a spoon and then put a spoonful of jam all up ins. Before baking, of course. PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY COOKIES GUYS

  9. totally just made this! its delicious. omnomnom.

    though my flatmate told me that 3 ingredients didn’t count as a real cookie :(

  10. I make some semi-famous chocolate chip-peanut butter bars, adapted from my friend’s 4 ingredient recipe:

    2C Reese’s Peanut Butter
    2C Sugar
    2 Eggs
    2C apx. Hershey’s Chocolate chips
    1-2 Tbs Flour
    1-2 Tsp Vanilla

    Press down into any baking dish lined with parchment paper and bake at 350°F for 15-25 minutes. Let stand a few minutes before cutting. (Sidenote: For the chocolate chips I like to use semi-sweet and special dark.)

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  12. I did the 10 ingredient version and … ohhh my. They are not even ready yet but the batter is so delicious already! Besides finding my new calling in “stirring things with peanut butter with a fork” (a most pleasurable activity, i can assure you) I found another nice and cheap addition to the cookies: i bought peanuts (for 50cents or sth), put them in a little plastic bag and hit them repeatedly with a hammer (another very satisfying activity), then added them to the batter. Yum yum yum. Thank you for sharing your recipe! <3

  13. Pingback: Ice Cream For Breakfast | Mamoot

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