Three-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Soft, flourless peanut butter cookies from three store-cupboard ingredients, on the table in 20 minutes.
There is no flour, no butter and no mixer. Peanut butter brings the fat and the structure, sugar brings the crisp edge, and the egg holds it together, which is the entire recipe. They are naturally gluten-free as a result, and the only real decision is how long to bake them: short for soft, a couple of minutes longer for snappy.
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How to make Three-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
Quantities scale automatically. Cooking times stay the same.
Dough
To finish
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Baking sheet
- Fork
Method
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1
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 180C / 350F and line a baking sheet with baking paper. These cookies stick to a bare tray.
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2
Mix the dough
Stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and salt together with a spoon until the dough is uniform and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 1 minute. It will be stiff and slightly oily, which is right.
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3
Shape the cookies
Roll tablespoon-sized balls of about 30 g, rolling them in the extra sugar if you want a crisper shell, and space them well apart on the sheet. They spread a little but not much.
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4
Press the pattern
Flatten each ball with a fork, then again at a right angle to make the criss-cross. This is not only decoration: the dough has no gluten and no raising agent, so pressing it is what gives an even thickness that bakes through.
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5
Bake short
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops have lost their shine but the centres still look soft. They firm up completely as they cool.
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6
Cool on the sheet
Sprinkle with flaky salt and leave them on the tray for 10 minutes before moving them. Straight out of the oven they are too fragile to lift.
Cook’s tips
- Use a stabilised peanut butter rather than a natural one that separates. Natural peanut butter varies in oil content and the dough can come out either greasy or crumbly.
- Ten minutes is the line between soft and crunchy. Pull them early if you want chewy centres.
- Leave them alone on the hot tray. Lifting them too soon is the only way these break.
Variations
- Press a chocolate chunk into the centre of each ball before baking, or stir 100 g of chocolate chips through the dough.
- Swap the peanut butter for almond or cashew butter; the ratios are unchanged.
- Use half light brown sugar for a softer, more caramel-flavoured cookie.
Storage and make-ahead
Keep in an airtight tin at room temperature for 5 days. They freeze well baked, and the raw dough balls keep 2 months in the freezer and bake from frozen with an extra 2 minutes.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 196 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 16 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Fibre | 1 g |
| Sugar | 14 g |
| Sodium | 120 mg |
Nutrition is estimated from ingredient averages and will vary with brands and portioning.
