These 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies are the easiest cookies for peanut butter lovers, ultra crunchy and ready in 20 minutes.
Plus, these are flourless, gluten-free, dairy-free, and the best allergy-friendly peanut butter cookies to share.
How To Make 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
If you love peanut butter cookies but are not a baker or don’t like spending hour baking, this easy cookie recipe is for you.
Ingredients
All you need to make these easy peanut butter cookies are four ingredients that we all have at home.
- Natural Creamy Peanut Butter – Use a fresh jar with drippy peanut butter for the best result. Natural peanut butter has no added sugar, oil, or salt. You can also use crunchy peanut butter if you enjoy the crunchy bites of peanuts in your cookies.
- Soft Brown Sugar – White sugar can be used for a crispier texture. I love packed soft brown sugar because it adds a nice flavor and a lightly moist texture in the center of peanut butter cookies.
- Egg – Pick a large pasture-raised egg.
- Baking Soda – It adds some soft texture to the cookies.
Optional Flavors
Feel free to add vanilla extract or almond extract in the batter if you like.
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Oil the paper with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Use an electric beater to beat egg and sugar on low speed until well combined.
Then, add natural peanut butter and baking soda and use a rubber spatula to bring ingredients together. The dough his become dryer as you stir and should form a cookie dough ball after 1 minute.
Baking The Cookies
Divide the cookie dough into 12 smaller balls and place each dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet with parchment paper.
Leave a thumb space between each cookie. They expand slightly in the oven.
Use the back of a fork to press down the top of the cookie dough balls. Then, work in the opposite direction to form a lovely crisscross pattern on top of the flourless peanut butter cookies.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown on the sides. They should be soft when warm. They firm up as they cool down.
Let the cookies cool down for 10 minutes at room temperature before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Flavoring Options
You can create a range of flavors using this easy peanut butter cookie recipe.
For example, you can stir in:
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract – at the same time you add egg and sugar.
- 1/3 cup of chocolate chips at the end
Allergy Swaps
Here are some ingredients you can substitute if you need:
- Peanut-Free – This recipe works with other nut butter, like almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter.
- Egg-Free – I didn’t test the recipe with egg replacers. I guess you can use a store-bought egg replacer, but I can’t guarantee the result.
- Baking Soda – You can skip this ingredient, but the cookies are much crunchier.
- Sweeteners – You can use any crystal sweeteners you like, including white sugar, coconut sugar, or unrefined cane sugar.
- Sugar-Free – To make keto peanut butter cookies, use brown erythritol instead of brown sugar.
Storage Instructions
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. You can freeze peanut butter cookies in ziplock bags for up to 1 month.
Thaw the cookies the day before at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
I listed below the most common answers about this peanut butter cookie recipe.
A classic peanut butter cookie is made from egg, natural peanut butter, flour, and sugar.
Baking soda is a leavening agent that creates carbon dioxide helping the cookies rise.
As a result, the cookies are less crispy and a bit softer in the center.
The ratio of egg to sugar in peanut butter cookies is essential but it’s not enough to harden the cookies.
It is crucial to cool down peanut butter cookies twice, first on the baking sheet at room temperature to give them time to firm up before transferring them to a cooling rack for the second cooling.
More Easy Cookie Recipes
If you like easy cookie recipes, you’ll love these other ones:
4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Natural Peanut Butter
- 1 cup Soft Brown Sugar or sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Optional – to roll cookie dough balls
- ¼ cup Soft Brown Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and oil the paper with cooking oil spray. Set it aside.
- In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add egg and brown sugar until well combined.
- Using a hand whisk or the stand mixer's whisk attachment, beat on low speed until well combined – it takes 30 seconds.
- Add the natural peanut butter and baking soda. Switch to the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer, or use a rubber spatula to stir peanut butter into the egg mixture. It should come together into a cookie dough ball.
- Form 12 cookie dough balls of about 1 inch. Roll each ball into brown sugar (optional), then place them onto the prepared cookie sheet leaving half a thumb of space between each.
- Use the back of a fork to lightly press the cookie dough balls twice, in opposite directions, to form a crisscross shape on top of the balls.
- Bake in the center rack for 10-15 minutes until golden brown on the sides.
- Cool the peanut butter cookies for about 10 minutes on the cookie rack.
- Slide a spatula under each cookies to transfer to a cooling rack. They firm up as they cool down and reach room temperature.
Storage
- Store the cookies in a cookie jar for up to 1 week in the fridge. Freeze in zip-lock bags for up to 1 month.
