These have to be the best—and the easiest—peanut butter cookies on the planet.
Just whip four ingredients together and bake.
It takes next to no time, and it’s a delicious treat (and relatively nutritious, for a cookie).
The secret? Use the best peanut butter and vanilla extract you can. There’s not a lot to these, so every ingredient counts.
Customize them with smooth or chunky peanut butter to suit your taste. (For us, we usually like smooth.)
As a bonus, they’re also gluten-free if that’s your thing.
Classic 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Do a little prep
Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
Make the cookie dough
Put the sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until smooth. (A whisk is going to get too gloppy.)
You’ll wind up with a really dense, thick paste. That’s fine. Just get it uniform.
Bake the cookies
Grab your prepared baking sheet. Scoop a rounded Tablespoon.
Roll it into a ball and set it on the pan.
Repeat with the rest of the dough until you’ve used it all up.
Next, squash each one down twice with a fork to give them that classic peanut butter cookie look.
Bake at 325 degrees F for about 15 minutes, until firm and opaque.
Cool and inhale
Transfer your cookies to a rack to cool.
How do you like your peanut butter cookies?
Plain? Fancy? Made with chocolate chips or dried cranberries?
Leave a comment below, let us know!
The Hungry Mouse
Yields About 2 dozen
These have to be the best—and the easiest—peanut butter cookies on the planet. Just whip four ingredients together and bake. It takes next to no time, and it’s a delicious treat (and relatively nutritious, for a cookie). They're also gluten free!
Save RecipeIngredients
Instructions
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Put the sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until smooth.
- Grab your prepared baking sheet. Scoop a rounded Tablespoon. Roll it into a ball and set it on the pan. Repeat til you've used up all your dough.
- Squash each one down twice with a fork to give them that classic peanut butter cookie hashmark.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for about 15 minutes, until firm and opaque.
- Transfer your cookies to a rack to cool. Enjoy!
