Desserts · American
Five Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Some recipes earn their keep by being short. This one is five ingredients, one bowl, no flour, and no mixer, and it produces the exact peanut butter cookie people mean when they say peanut butter cookie, crisp edges, dense centers, and the fork crosshatch pressed on top.
Because there is no flour, the cookies are naturally gluten free, and the pantry does the rest. Peanut butter, sugar, an egg, vanilla, and a little salt to keep the sweetness honest.
The one thing you must not skip is the 10 minute rest after portioning. The dough relaxes and the cookies bake into chewier, denser rounds instead of greasy puddles.
By the TasteBoard team. Timed in a home kitchen, with total time added up and safe temperatures checked.
Photo: @Crisco 1492 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Prep
- 12 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 22 min
- Plus waiting
- 10 min
- Servings
- 18
- Course
- Desserts
- Calories, about
- 130 per serving
Instructions
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Why you will love it
Five ingredients, one bowl, a fork, and 22 minutes of mostly waiting.
Naturally gluten free, flour free, and still a real cookie, about 130 calories each, an estimate.
Crisp sugared edges, dense peanut center, the classic texture with no shortcuts visible.
Doubles cleanly, and kids can do the fork pressing, which is their favorite kitchen job anyway.
The ingredient list costs about two dollars and makes eighteen cookies.
Tips
Stir the peanut butter jar thoroughly before measuring, especially natural brands. The oil on top is what makes greasy cookies, incorporate it back in first.
The cookies look underdone at minute 10, and they are, deliberately. Pull them at set tops and soft centers, flourless cookies go from chewy to brittle in about 90 seconds of over baking.
Dip the fork in sugar before every third press or so, a sticky fork drags the dough and blurs the crosshatch, and the pattern is half the charm.
For thicker cookies, chill the rolled balls 15 minutes extra in the fridge before pressing and add 1 minute to the bake.
Swaps and variations
Chunky peanut butter: same amounts, and the cookies carry peanut crunch inside, the crosshatch pressing gets slightly rougher and nobody minds.
Brown sugar for half the white sugar: chewier centers, deeper toffee note, the edges crisp slightly less, this is the grown up version.
Chocolate press: press a few chocolate chips into each cookie right after the crosshatch, they melt into the warm tops and make them bakery window pretty.
What to serve
Cold milk, the partnership was settled decades before any of us arrived.
Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two of them, which turns a humble cookie into a full dessert event.
Coffee for the adults, the salt and peanut edge cuts straight through a dark roast.
Storage and reheating
Keeps 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature, a slice of bread in the container keeps them chewy. They crisp slightly overnight, and 8 seconds in the microwave brings back the just baked softness. Freeze up to 3 months, baked or as rolled dough balls, thaw baked cookies on the counter for 20 minutes, or bake frozen dough balls with 2 extra minutes added and the crosshatch pressed before freezing.
Calories shown are an estimate from standard ingredients, not medical advice. Brands and amounts change the number.
Questions cooks actually ask
Why no flour?
Traditional flourless peanut butter cookies were engineered exactly because peanut butter is rich enough to hold a cookie together alone. The result is a purer peanut flavor and a naturally gluten free cookie, and the egg does all the structural work flour would do.
Can I use natural peanut butter?
Yes, with a very good stir first. Natural peanut butter makes a slightly looser dough and a chewier cookie, and the visible oil must be fully stirred back in or the cookies greasiness separates. No stir style spreads work best of all.
Why did my cookies come out greasy?
Two usual causes, unstirred peanut butter, or dough that skipped its 10 minute rest. Both are fixed in the next batch, stir the jar properly and let the portioned dough sit before pressing and baking.
Can I make them without the sugar coating?
Yes, the coating is purely for the crisp sugared edge and the sparkle, the cookie itself bakes identically without it. Skip the extra 3 tbsp and press with a plain fork dipped in a saucer of water instead.
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