I have never been particularly interested in recipes — or, if we’re being completely tactlessly honest, people — defined by what they are not, which is probably why you don’t see a lot of recipes with flour/dairy/gluten/meat/sugar-free, no-bake, one-bowl, hand-whisked or the like in recipe titles here, although we have plenty of all of the above. My favorite foods in this category are accidentally what they are; it’s a perk, but not the purpose. I’d rather talk about what a recipe does have, like flavor, or texture or an appeal that makes it almost painful not to make it in the minutes after you read about it.
But I am not immune to the charms of ingredient absences. Many years ago, I assembled some easy after-school snack recipes for a magazine — something I couldn’t have been less of an expert on then, pre-kids, or, frankly, now (an apple and a cookie, maybe?) — and it gave me a chance to audition a three-ingredient peanut butter cookie a friend had told me about that was curiously absent in flour, butter, baking powder or baking soda and even salt. The results were, I mean, okay. It was peanut butter and sugar, it couldn’t possibly not be delicious. But they weren’t exceptional; they merely fit the bill.
So, when the Ovenly Bakery’s cookbook came out last year and a reader emailed insisting I pick it up (I did) and I saw a peanut butter cookie that was similar, I dismissed it as probably not worth it. And then, as these things happen, while walking past a coffee shop on Sunday, I abruptly decided my husband and I needed a re-up, and while in there even more abruptly decided we had to split the last peanut butter cookie at the shop before someone else got to it. It was spectacular: tall, dome-shaped with a crisp exterior and decadently tender center, absolutely intense with peanut butter in a way that invokes peanut butter cups, and topped not with the usual wan flakes of sea salt but tiny coarse boulders. When I realized that it was in fact the Ovenly cookie, it was clear that they knew a few things about this three-ingredient cookie that I did not.
First, they use slightly less sugar and peanut butter per egg, rather than the classic 1 cup, 1 cup, 1 egg ratio. They use light brown sugar instead of granulated white sugar, which I suspect leads to the softer cookie and more dynamic flavor. Finally, it’s scooped tall and chilled before baking so it keeps its height. The result is perfect, and absolutely nothing like the ones I made years ago, in all the best ways.
Meanwhile, the list of absences in the recipe are notably long. There’s no butter, no flour or leaveners; the whole thing is whisked by hand in one bowl and has all of five ingredients, two of which are vanilla and salt. And yet if the recipe dictated that I had to render lard, then roast and blend my own peanuts while standing on my head and singing in tune to make them, I’d probably consider it. They’re that good.
One year ago: Carrot Cake with Cider and Olive Oil
Two years ago: Lazy Pizza Dough + Favorite Margherita Pizza
Three years ago: Pancetta White Bean and Swiss Chard Pot Pies
Four years ago: Apple Pie Cookies
Five years ago: Apple and Cheddar Scones
Six years ago: Apple Cider Doughnuts
Seven years ago: Twice-Baked Shortbread and Acorn Squash Quesadillas with Tomatillo Salsa
Eight years ago: Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Nine years ago: Wild Mushroom and Stilton Galette
And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: Artichoke Gratin Toasts
1.5 Years Ago: Baked Eggs with Spinach and Mushrooms
2.5 Years Ago: Bee Sting Cake
3.5 Years Ago: Pasta with Garlicky Broccoli Rabe
4.5 Years Ago: Heavenly Chocolate Cake Roll
Salted Peanut Butter Cookies
Barely adapted, just a bunch of extra notes, from the Ovenly cookbook
Yield 26 to 28 cookies with a 1 2/3 tablespoon or #40 scoop. (I halved the recipe and regret it so much.)
1 3/4 cups (335 grams) packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups (450 grams) smooth peanut butter (see note at end)
Coarse-grained sea salt, to finish
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the light brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then the peanut butter until smooth and completely incorporated; you shouldn’t be able to see any ribbons of peanut butter. Ovenly says you know the dough is ready when it has the consistency of Play-Doh, but I can tell you as the mom of a Play-Doh fanatic that mine was thinner, softer.
If you’d like to get those pretty striations across the top of the cookies, chill the dough by freezing it in its bowl for 15 minutes, stirring it once (so the edges don’t freeze first), before scooping it. If you’re not obsessed with these markings, you can scoop it right away. Scoop or spoon the dough into balls — Ovenly uses about a 1/4-cup scoop (probably #16); I use a 1 2/3 tablespoons or #40 scoop. Place on prepared pan. For the tallest final shape, place the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
Sprinkle the dough balls lightly with coarse-grained sea salt just before baking. Bake smaller cookies for 14 to 15 minutes and larger for 18 to 20. When finished, cookies should be golden at edges. They’ll need to set on the sheet for a minute or two before they can be lifted intact to a cooling sheet. Trust me, you should let these cool completely before eating so the different textures (crisp outside, soft inside) can set up.
Do ahead: You can definitely make the dough in advance and either refrigerate it for a couple days or freeze it longer. However, if I were going to freeze it, I’d probably go ahead and scoop it first. You can bake them right from the freezer.
About chilling the dough: The Ovenly recipe says you can scoop and bake the cookies right away, but they keep their shape better if you chill them in the freezer for 15 minutes first. I tried it with and without and did find a better dome and final shape with the 15 minutes after. However, I was incredibly charmed by the striated marks from the cookie scoop on top of the cookie I bought last weekend, as well as in the photo in their book, and I realized that I couldn’t get it at home with just-mixed dough; you’ll get more of a blob shape from your scoop. So, I also chilled the dough for 15 minutes before scooping it and was then satisfied with the shape. It’s not necessary unless you’re as taken with top pattern as I am.
Two questions I suspect someone will ask very soon: Can you make this with all-natural peanut butter and can you make this with almond or a nut butter? The answer to both is yes, however, the authors themselves warn that you’ll get the best final shape and texture from a smooth, thick processed peanut butter like Skippy (their recommendation; updated to note, thanks to a commenter suggestion, that the 16.3-ounce jar of Skippy is estimated to contain 1 3/4 cups, saving you some measuring). I suspect an almond or cashew butter will have a similar effect as natural peanut butter.
Cannot wait to make these. Sounds like a great recipe to have in my back pocket for when I need a fast–parve recipe
Hi. I’m on a no sugar thing right now. Wondering how these would do w a harder honey instead of sugar?
I’m a Type 2 Diabetic, and even though there is a Pound of Light brown sugar in this recipe, after eating a few cookies my blood sugar barely moves upward … not that it will neccessarily have the same effect on you, but … I use a Pound of brown sugar and 1 Jar of PB instead of measuring 1.75 cups of Each (it’s not much different. I also freeze them and cook from frozen, small cookie scoop – 350F & 14 minutes.
Yummy! I bet they’ll be better than the to-die-for PB cookies at Magnolia.
These cookies are simple and perfect. I used flake salt and didn’t have a an ice cream scooper so weighed and made dough balls. Still so damn perfect. I also added some special concetrate so they’d be bed time cookies. Thank you!!
WHAT was the special concentrate, I need that?
An Edible?
I’ve been making the “Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip” cookies from Epicurious.com for years, and think you may want to try it. I never use mini Chico chips as called for… I use big chips or chunks. I have also added Heath Bits (with chocolate chips) and that’s amazing too, but you can’t always find Heath bits. They’re not tall as you’re describing, but they are amazing.
That sounds good … would you happen to have a link or that, or the simple recipe? Thx!!!
I’m sorry, I never saw this request until now. Here’s the link: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/flourless-peanut-butter-and-chocolate-chip-cookies-102200
Enjoy!
Sounds amazing! (I think I need to try these with chocolate chips.)
I just tried making these and they spread so thin they turned into one cookie… didn’t maintain any height. Not sure what I did wrong.
I just bought an espresso salt that would be the perfect finishing touch!
You had me at “like a peanut butter cup.” Currently resenting my husband’s accidental purchase of reduced fat skippy or else these would happen tonight.
Attempting these with my own accidental reduced fat skippy purchase. Will report back. I suspect they’ll be fine
Okay. It’s possible these are better with the reduced fat skippy. The dough was a little different than it normally is but I scooped them and froze them and then baked them off and they’re like a little chewier than the regular ones are. I’m really digging it.
I would think they would be a little better because they do not have as much oil to make the cookies spread, and probably more sugar, as most “low fat” food tends to add.
PB cookies have been on my to-bake list for months and months, just waiting for a time when no fruits were desperately vying for attention. The time is coming…I can’t wait to try these ones, though the chocolate chunk ones (poor chocolate has also waited for so long!) were going to be the ones. I think these just took precedence. And who says half the batch can’t be chocolate chunk? Nothing wrong with gliding the lily, in my book.
These look perfect! I don’t eat dairy (allergies) and am always searching for dairy-free receipes
These look amazing! Salted peanut butter or unsalted?
These were so good!! I substituted brown sugar with coconut sugar and only used 1/2 the sugar called for in the recipe. I also used Whole Foods unsweetened organic peanut butter instead of skippy. Salt was key! Cookies maintained shape and were a delight for our tastebuds.
These look delicious. I love everything with peanut butter. I know it’sounds advised to use smooth peanut butter, but I have a jar with delicious cruncy PB that I would looove to try with these.
I’ve been making the three ingredient version of these cookies for years since they are delicious option for me and a celiac friend, but I love the idea of these little tweaks to make them even more delicious!
These cookies look amazing! They’re definitely going to be perfect on a cozy fall night!
Can you use crunchy peanut butter?
I wholeheartedly suggest using the Maple Almond Butter from Justin’s, and maybe a little maple syrup, and perhaps a few slivered almonds cooked in maple syrup. Just a suggestion (that created the best cookies I’ve ever made)
Deb – what do you think, would adding a few chocolate chips to the dough mess up the texture? (I don’t think “chocolate chips” and “mess up” can really belong in the same sentence, but worth asking.)
Is it weird that I want to (and WILL) make these cookies the second I get home tonight. OH MY GOODNESS! I love this simple recipe – the brown sugar is definitely a neat addition.
Oh, Deb. I’m supposed to be writing a dissertation, not baking cookies…
(Thanks. :)
Eyeballing it quickly, each cookie has some protein and fewer than 30 grams of carb. That means that someone who is prediabetic (like me) could have one, feel pretty satisfied. Probably would want more but even one would be a decent cookie fix.
The protein and the carbs are good, carbs actually help your pacreas to process Fat and Sugar both equally bad for you. Having said that, as long as the rest of the diet is well balanced and healthy there is no reason not to have treats. Just a lot less of them. And not ever day. I am a diabetic with genetic predisposition so my diet has always been good, probably helped to postpone the inevitable . Watch your fats and sugar and you will be ok. Cookie now and then is good for the soul.
Fats actually aren’t unhealthy at all–that’s a myth perpetrated by the sugar lobby, starting back in the 1950s, and then adopted by all sorts of other corporations who stood to profit (I’m talking to you, Snackwells).
The documentary “Sugar Coated” gives an excellent explanation of this.
I avoid processed fats, like margarine or canola oil, but whole fats from olives, avocados, coconuts, seeds, nuts, and humanely raised animals (butter, lard, suet, schmaltz) are a necessary part of the diet, and lead to feeling full in ways that allow people to cut down on sugar (which is less healthy, as you say). Fat also just tastes good in a dish.
For this recipe I’d probably sacrifice the Skippy effect in favor of the super healthy dose of peanut fat from a better brand.
Hi Hana, I would ask that you refrain from giving medical advice as you are not a doctor.
I’m not seeing whereHana gave any medical advice…
I’m with Moe. She offered her perspective. I think we all realize no doctors are weighing in here and we can all make our own decisions.
Well said Moe. Not likely that anyone died and made Rebekah Empress of Comments but if they did it wasn’t from following Hanna’s comment.
Great. I just awakened from a dream about polenta. Now, I’m day-dreaming about peanut butter cookies. Thanks Deb. You never disappoint!
Has anyone tried using Swerve or similar brown sugar instead of regular?
I make them for my type 2 husband and just replace the brown sugar with swerve. He loves them.
Sorry I meant 20 grams of carb, not 30.
These are delicious! I used Splenda brown sugar and added a scoop of Genepro protein powder to the dough. They will be wiped out in this house by dinner! Everyone loved them!
Yup. That after school snack list was clearly written by someone without toddlers. Snacks in our house include Cheerios mixed with raisins, a piece of string cheese, or cut up melon I had the energy to clean before crashing out from exhaustion the night before. I was surprised that the comments weren’t full of people mocking you! Oh, and I bet all those snacks were put together without the benefit of screen time to distract kids while I futz in the kitchen. ;)
I’m happy you posted today, not only because this looks like a great cookie to put together with Lilli after daycare today, but because I saw THIS in my FB feed this morning: https://byhopewesteer.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/saying-goodbye-to-dear-friends/ I almost tweeted it at you, but ended up not having the time to do so. (My sister has a masters in kiddie lit and library science, so my feed is full of children’s book editors, children’s librarians and booksellers who post interesting — and sometimes heartbreaking — stuff like this.)
You crack me up. Cannot wait to try!
I’d juuuust been craving peanut butter cookies – thank you!
Last time we were in Brooklyn we walked by Ovenly and thought “oh, that looks like a pretty spot, too bad I’m not hungry”. And then I later heard some more about them and immediately regretted not stopping in!
You can make these with Splenda if you don’t want the sugar (or are diabetic and can’t eat the sugar) equal ratios of peanut butter, almond meal (replaces the volume from the sugar), splenda and one egg. I usually do a dash of salt and vanilla. Bake on greased foil. Still gluten free, wheat free, dairy free and sugar free. Soft when they come out, but set up nicely.
Deb, thank you for this! I just had my first Ovenly peanut butter cookie from the Oren’s on William St. in lower Manhattan on Friday when they had a buy one get one deal, and, like you, was blown away. I highly recommend combining it with Ovenly’s chocolate truffle cookie. A bite of this, a bite of that….
Yes, this certainly looks like what I got at Oren’s! I am so glad you said that as googling “Oren’s peanut butter cookies” was the first thing I did to try to find the recipe. Success!
As one of the pathetic people that has to have quite a lot of food defined by what it isn’t, the “okay” version of this cookie has been on my go-to baking list ever since my food allergies first made my life 100% less delicious. This recipe looks SO MUCH BETTER. I can’t tell you how excited I am.
(But a note: from personal experience, the non-highly processed peanut butter does not work ONE BIT on the cookies I’m used to making (the one-to-one-to-one ratio kind). They just separate into disgusting little lumps of oil and fat on the cookie sheet. That was even trying with so-called “natural” Jif, which resembles natural peanut butter about as much as Wonderbread resembles a homemade loaf. Perhaps the higher egg-to-peanut-butter ratio would help with that problem in his recipe, and my comments are completely unhelpful, but for what it’s worth…beware.)
I just made these with organic creamy peanut butter. I just made a big oily crumby mess 😔
I wish I had read your comment before hand!
Wow really no baking soda is needed?
I’m kind of in love with their cookbook. I made the chocolate stout cake for a friend’s birthday, and it was UNREAL. Like, truly, truly, life-changing. I’ve also made their scones, and another cake which was as good but not quite as heavenly.
Oh my. I’ve got to try these. Noms
I’ve made the 3-ingredient version before but always added a little vanilla to it because it felt right and I thought they tasted really good. To be fair, I liked them even without the vanilla and it was more a novelty for me to make a cookie without using flour. I used a small 1 tsp scoop so the 1c/1c/1c recipe made a LOT of little yummy pb cookies. I’m going to try your version because I also like the striations and better formed “blobs.” It’ll be interesting to compare texture of the chilled vs non-chilled. Thanks for the idea!
i am SUCH a fan of this cookie! van leeuwens icecream shop on 7th and 2nd usually has them– you need not go so far! advance apologies for just telling you that.
question: i’m always looking for ways to cut down the sugar in baked goods– i find my tastebuds don’t necessarily need it, and then there’s health. what do you think the tolerance is for brown sugar reduction in this cookie without compromising the texture?
I routinely leave 1/3 of sugar out of all recipes, and so far, I’ve hardly ever missed it. I did that here, too, and they still taste great. But everyone has a different perception of what’s sweet enough, so … best just try it out!
I cut the sugar with no I’ll effects…they’re delicious.
*ill, not I’ll 🙄
How much did you cut the sugar? Totally?
Cannot wait to try these! While I no longer need to provide after-school snacks, I am always on the lookout for new cookies to bake for care packages for my sons off at college. You may not know how well these keep, given how delicious they look, but do you think they will travel ok?
Also, I’m not above using Skippy if it will make a better cookie, but it seems like they all have at least a little added sugar, don’t they? Will that play a big role in the outcome?
Thanks so much!
I’ve made those 3-ingredient ones a bunch, but they are better with a smaller volume of brown sugar (or sucanat, or coconut sugar) and with the addition of chocolate chips. I like your idea of freezing scoops. I hardly ever think to, but these would be good candidates.
These are THE BEST. And a very helpful tip–the 1 3/4 cups of PB is exactly the size of the normal, 16.3 oz jar of Skippy, so no need to annoyingly measure out that sticky PB (I learned this the hard way…)
Any idea why your new recipes no longer appear immediately in my Flipboard feed? The last recipe there is the Cannoli pound cake :(
Yea, if I weren’t at work right now these would be happening.
Any reason in particular not to use chunky peanut butter?
I just made them with chunky peanut butter, and they’re great. I see no reason why it has to be smooth, on the contrary – I like the extra crunch!
I have read about these flourless cookies but only you could have convinced me to try them . I love your recipes and blog and have been a follower since i first landed here in search of the oreo recipe. I have tried most of your recipes …atleast in the dessert department and yes they stand out .thanks for the most flavorful recipes.
Are these cakey at all? we are chewy cookie lovers in my house!
They’re almost fudgey. I’m a chewy cookie gal myself and I loved them.
I hear you on all the *something-FREE* recipes out there. I mean, I totally get that there are lots of people who need these types of recipes and I love that they’re accessible for them… but for some reason, a gluten-free, vegan, egg-free, nut-free brownie isn’t the kind of recipe description that makes me want to get cooking! ;) HOWEVER, I love that there are certain recipes that are both delicious AND incidentally fit the dietary requirements of people I’m cooking for. Win-win!
These look beautiful! So glad our recipe worked out for you. You are loved at Ovenly!
I have made the other recipe a few times and thought they were pretty good, particularly for how easy they were. So if you are saying these are amazing I will have to try them. The brown sugar is wonderful in these, I bet! I love the sea salt on top, too!
Once again, you come to the rescue. I’m going to a BBQ tomorrow, and I want to bring something, but all I’ve been told is “I think she avoids gluten, but there’s other stuff she won’t eat either.” I’m thinking I’ll make these, maybe dip or drizzle some in chocolate, and call it a day.
these. are. beautiful. and I’m very allergic to gluten. So this is wonderful.
I really don’t want to use processed peanut butter, do they really need all the extra stuff in them? They sound so delicious I’m going to risk making them with natural.
I only have honey and maple syrup in my cabinet. I need to EAT THESE RIGHT NOW because I am NINE MONTHS PREGNANT. Any suggestions on ratios? Thanks!
I don’t know what it says about me because I skip through a post about peanut butter cookies to look at photos of your kid(s), but I do. I think it’s the red hair/big brother combo. I mean, Deb, you’re KILLING MY OVARIES right now.
I have to be on a diet right now to discover what, if any, my food allergies are, so I cannot eat eggs, wheat, rice, potatoes, dairy, apples and bananas (it is KILLING me right now), but I am going to attempt these tomorrow with an egg substitute. Then, when I’m done with the diet (Nov 23rd, 39 days and counting), I’ll make them as written and compare! I am so so happy to be able to eat peanut butter at least!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! We had to go gluten-free this summer because one of my kids was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I can’t wait to make these cookies soon.
Yum these look so good. I love peanut butter cookies–but they’re a treat I rarely have due to the high calories in peanut butter. Still–delicous.
I once made a flourless peanut butter cookie and was underwhelmed, but this looks like a different animal. I kinda want to dip them in chocolate.
I salt my peanut butter every single time I eat it! These are just so cute and puffy.
I’m daydreaming pretty hard about using Nutella, or my favorite, Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Spread! Would this work, do you think…? I may have to try, too simple not to, right?
I think the whole ____free attitude (and those who share it) is based on being blessed w/ not having health-threatening allergies. Those of us who do….really appreciate those labels because they help cut down on the hours spent reading recipes/labels.
We all know this, of course….but not being our reality, it’s easy to be irritated by the emphasis. So, just a reminder for us all. Hating watching a good friend w/celiac & what she has to go thru. That and the pnut allergies here at my house.
Those peanut butter cookies look flippin amazing! Totally want to try them :)
Hannah did you make them with the natural peanut butter? I would love to know how they turned out before I go for it! :)
I cannot explain how excited I am for this recipe! My local Union Market sells the Ovenly version for over $2/cookie and they are my favorite! I am making these this weekend!
I have been searching for the perfect peanut butter cookie – soft and fluffy- not like the conventional crunchy, crumbly sawdusty things- and this comes very, very close to my cookie nirvana. When I saw your post today, I may have squealed out loud and promptly scuttled home to make them. Super-fast oven-to-belly time and basic ingredients will make this into my regular rotation for sure.
These look like the perfect antidote for a frustrating school day. Definitely a comfort food treat!
I love the original 3 ingredient recipe with crunchy peanut butter, and rolling them in sesame seeds before baking, will have to try adding some vanilla and salt to the mix, thanks! :)
Made these for dessert. Yummy. I love that I can put this on the no dairy, no wheat list for family and guests. And I am an especially happy camper when a recipe calls for one bowl! As always, thanks for sharing a gem.
My favorite salted peanut butter cookie is from the cafe at McNally Jackson!
Fantastically easy, though I have a few notes. My hippy peanut butter was significantly less dense- 2 cups weighed ~400g. But, it’s all I had so I went with it and it worked. The fresh ground texture was delightful, though I don’t have the Skippy version to compare. I made ping ping sized balls to get 30 2″ diameter cookies. I used Maldens salt, and am glad I did.
My favorite peanut butter cookie was from my childhood. I loved in St.Paul, Minnesota. My mom used to take me shopping at the Daytons downtown (which later became Marshall Fields) and there was the best cookie shop ever right as we came out of the Parking garage. I had to make these immediately because I’ve been searching for that same cookie ever since. The cookie shop and department store have all closed down. I have to say with gratitude that this cookie is the closest I’ve ever come to recreating that childhood dream cookie! Thank you so much for posting this!!!!! I did use natural peanut butter because that’s all I had on hand and I was short about two tablespoons so I added two more tablespoons of sugar figuring that’s about how much sugar would have been in the Skippy and they turned out AWESOME!!!
Just took these out of the oven and they are incredible! I added chocolate chunks and measured them out using a tablespoon because that was the best scoop I had. So, so good!
Can you please recommend the best egg substitute for this recipe?
To the list of delicious and happens to be dairy-free, gluten-free etc you can add happens to be kosher for Passover (depending on your practice).
I’ve always got an eye out for dessert recipes that are yummy anytime and just happen to be klp.
Yessssss! I never even thought of making these for Pesach, but what a great idea!
Those look awesome! I’ve come to love peanut butter only recently, so I’m very curious how these cookies taste! Thanks for the recipe!
By coincidence, I came upon the original recipe last week and since I was looking for a creamier PB cookie experience I tried it with only one alteration – the addition of a drizzle of vanilla extract. I liked the result but thought I would trade the white sugar for brown to achieve a more interesting flavor. Had not thought about improved texture. Thanks for doing the leg work, Deb. I’ll whip these up tomorrow.
Your first paragraph perfectly describes why I was first drawn to your blog and your recipes. I continue to follow and use many of your recipes and love your approach and your writing. Also, the fact that you continue to do all this with two “smalls” really impresses me!
These look great. I might add some peanut butter chips: I have never seen them in supermarkets in Europe but I bought some when I was in the US this year because I thought I was constantly seeing recipes using them. Now I don’t know what to do with them! Don’t forget to tag this recipe with peanut butter – that’s a SK food group, no?
She has a great pb cookie recipe that uses choc & pb chips. The best I have ever tasted.
I have a 10 year old student cooking student, Waylon, who loves to make treats to take to school and share. But his mother refrains from gluten, and he wants to treat her, too — he asks, “Is this gluten-free?” Yes, Waylon, this is.
These are my go to flourless peanut butter cookies that *do* include chocolate chips. What I like most about flourless pb cookies is that the pb flavor is always present and the cookie doesn’t end up just tasting sweet by the end. I love pb and I want to taste it! http://www.recchiuti.com/recipe_detail.html?recipe=02 I’ll be doing a side-by-side for sure. Thanks, Deb!
Dang it. Today was going to be “turn over a new leaf” day. Guess not. There’s always Monday.
I love “just happen to be gluten free” recipes too! And I’ve been making the 1:1:1 peanut butter cookies for a while, but now I’m going to have to try these tweaks for sure
I had to try making these this morning. They turned out great. Mine turned out a bit more flat then yours. I did put the batter in the freezer twice. Before putting shaping them into balls and after. I did not put that much salt on them and next time will put a bit more. I used Kosher salt and next time with use a larger grain salt like sea salt. I will also try chocolate chips in them next time. My daughter already tried one as they were cooling and they will not last more then a day at our home.
I used to work at Ovenly, and getting dibs on the broken cookies was the highlight of the job. So exciting to see their recipe on my favorite cooking site!
Funnily enough I have just been making cookings that are accidentally ‘absent’ of many things (dairy, refined sugar, gluten, egg) but turned out great (would love if you wanted to take a look: http://www.carolinescooking.com/spiced-vermont-maple-cookies/). We all love peanut butter in our house too, though, so I can see these being a hit as well!
I made these last night for my family and they were a hit! Super easy and super tasty! The consistency was divine. My wife was even plotting who we could give them to at Christmas time.
I’m a huge fan of peanut butter cookies, but haven’t been able to make them because my daughter has peanut allergies. She’s recently left for college, so guess what has moved to the top of my must-make-now list? Thanks for the recipe!
Deb, how do you feel about the volume vs. weights measurements in the Ovenly cookbook?
Ooooh, my favorite food in a whole new delivery method. And those folks who thought maybe they’d be good either dipped in milk chocolate or with a hershey’s kiss pressed right into the center…I’ll do the research and get back to you. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.
you know what kills me? my freezer ain’t got no room for a cookie sheet with cookies loaded on it! maybe i could move some stuff to the fridge for just 15 minutes? worth trying…i want pretty cookies! thanks!
Looks delicious Deb! I am a peanut butter lover myself, but do you think sun butter would work for my daughter’s nut-free school? If so, I might need to make two batches. :-)
How these keep — Well, ours only lasted two days in an airtight container at room temperature but I was VERY impressed with how well they kept — they still had the crisp exterior and soft interior, which, to me, means they deserve a standing ovation.
Altering ingredients, i.e. sugar, egg — I only made these as shown above. My hunch is that they’ll still work with adjustments but they may not look like the ones you see here, i.e. tall, domed, soft-centered etc. When a recipe has so few ingredients, changing one can have a much bigger impact than, say, reducing the sugar in a cake with 12 ingredients. Each ingredient is far more essential to the final structure; it’s not just about taste.
Adding chocolate — I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I just don’t think it’s needed here. However, I might play around with pressing a chocolate chip or two into the center of each cookie ball. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Salted or unsalted peanut butter — Hm, I guess Skippy is salted? That’s what I used.
Julie M — Best tip yet! Thank you.
Jenny — Now tagged! Thank you, I completely forgot I had that category. :)
Shelagh — Thank you. I have help! I would never want anyone to think I pull this off singlehandedly.
Marcia — I was going to tag it as such (and was going to try these out earlier this year because of it) but I know a lot of people don’t eat peanuts on Passover and didn’t want to be yelled at in the comments, heh.
Christina, re, chunky peanut butter — I don’t see why you cannot, but I think the final texture is nicer without the chunks.
Susan — No, it’s absolutely not necessary here.
Kathryn — No, not sure. Anyone else having trouble with Flipboard? I think I took the app off my phone but can reinstall and see.
Helen — It’s not about lack of empathy for people who cannot eat things they wish they could; my goal when making things that fall under these labels is that they should be so good that you’d eat them regardless of dietary limitations.
Bryn — Probably closer to cakey than chewy, but they’re not cakey, especially if not overbaked. They’re soft in the center, almost like a peanut butter cup, crisp outside.
Agatha — Thank you!
Salvegging — Yes, no baking soda is needed.
Molly — Totally devastated! (Shared you link 10 seconds after you commented on FB. My friends with kids are equally crushed.) Btw, that whole slideshow is not my recipes. I think I just made 8 for them (and the angle wasn’t healthy) and it reappeared years later in that larger one. Regardless, yes, definitely not written by someone with kids and yet I’m strangely craving a tortilla pizza right now. ;)
Courtney — Mine didn’t have an weights in it? These are my weights added.
Yum! I can’t wait to try these! I have made sever pb cookies recipes and none of them have been spectacular, in fact most of them were disappointingly not peanut buttery enough or too dry. These look divine. Thank you! Ps. Your blog is my most favorite food blog every and I loooove your cook book!
You are killing me. My PITA celiac husband also is allergic to peanuts and won’t eat any type of nuts. Gah!
Just tried this recipe and it failed miserably, any idea why they ended up pooling all over the sheet? I freezed the dough, followed the recipe and ended up with a pan that looked more like sheet cake!
I do not like peanut butter cookies ever, but something about this recipe spoke to me and I made it and half the cookies are gone. Amazing.
Wow!Looks amazing!I would love to eat that…..
Superb!Definitely gonna try this tonight.
I enjoy cooking for people with dietary restrictions, because it’s such an enjoyable challenge (for me) to make something for them that’s fantastic and works for them. But whenever I see recipes that promise 5 minute/5 ingredient/vegan paleo/no bake cookies I’m more than suspicious about the final product. I’m very glad that this recipe had a happy ending.
So weird to see peanut butter cookies in that shape, but they sound delicious! Appreciate the note about freezing the dough pre-scoop – cool tip!
Has anyone made them with natural peanut butter? Smucker’s? I’m wondering how much extra sugar you might have to add in if you go the natural way. It’s a much different product than Skippy. Has anyone experimented? Thanks
These look amazing, can’t beat anything with peanut butter!
Where’s the flour? Peanut Butter cookies are supposed to have flour!
If you’re looking to do these with natural, chunky PB, I added 1 tbsp of coconut flour and the dough tightened right up. I scooped them out and popped them in the freezer for the 15 mins and when they came out of the oven, they were nicely domed and tendre and soft on the inside.
Just made these guys with good old Kraft peanut butter. I will say that mine came out quite a bit flatter, but they still had that perfect crispy/chewy mix. In any case, they’re all gone now…whoops. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the always fun and excellent posts! For those of you yearning for these
cookies and cannot eat peanut butter, I just made them with Artisana brand cashew
butter (very creamy). I did freeze the dough before and after forming balls, as recommended, and though they did not stand tall like Smittens beautiful photos, they are delish!!!!
These look amazing. I remember making 3-ingredient PB cookies with my mom in middle or high school, and these look so much better!
I’d love to see a picture of the middle, I just made them and I’m not sure they’re right. They taste good, but…
Your recipes are great and all but it’s the writing that reels me in.
Superbly written sweet mama.
Re the typical three ingredient pb cookie: Its value lies not in the eating but that it’s the easiest intro to cooking for kids. They can make it all by themselves with the exception of putting into and taking out of the oven. That’s something that isn’t common in a 4 year old’s experience.
Elizabeth, thank you so much for your reply. I love the cookies and did not want to be disappointed after freezing. I love having sweet treats ready to pull out of the freezer. Yay
This may be a silly question- I have recently developed a peanut allergy (at the age of 23! I didn’t even know that that was possible and I am very perturbed by this fact) and have yet to try baking with almond butter in its place. How do you think these cookies would fare with almond butter instead of peanut butter?
Thanks!
Mmmm… We just made the cookies and they are delicious! Used natural PB and it worked just fine. Thanks so much for the recipe!
I made these with demarara brown sugar because that’s what I had on hand, and although they are delicious, they are almost too sweet and the taste is overpowered by sweet instead of peanut butter. I would make these again using the plain brown sugar Deb specified. I made these with my 4 year old and it was really easy and fun!
Just finished baking and cooling. I think that you are missing one key ingredient—one cold glass of whole milk to wash the decadence down!
So glad to have this recipe as I just made the 3-ingredient version and you’re right– it is NOT delicious! Peanut butter straight out of the jar has much more flavor than those cookies. Can’t wait to try these. Thanks, Deb!
I got a phone call from a friend yesterday saying he was in need of company (he suffers chronic depression). So I grabbed the ingredients for these cookies and headed to his house. It took me about 10 minutes to whip these up; it wasn’t even enough time to pre-heat the oven! I also skipped chilling because my dough was already fairly firm; it’s cold in his house. The cookies baked up beautifully, and they were completely delicious. I was thrilled, and he dubbed me a “#hero”.
These are going to live on in my recipe book as a go-to “I really need a damn cookie NOW” solution!
well… i used dark brown sugar (because my wife had hidden all the LBS). and i used three kinds of peanut butter, as we had several kinds skulking around the cabinets. (mostly I used Peter Pan’s Simply Ground, which is a new product around here…). let’s see. oh, i also used a 2T scoop. i stuck them, shaped on the tray, in the freezer for 15 minutes. and i baked them 20 minutes. with Maldon salt sprinkled atop. and let them cool. and then argued with the children whether they were an appropriate 15-minutes-before-supper kind of snack (they are not). but, man, for as simple as they were to make, they were really good.
These turned into a liquidy mess in my oven and I can’t seem to figure out what I did wrong. I used regular Jif peanut butter and dark brown sugar. Your pictures look amazing but mine were a hot mess… Help!
I’ve had these on the brain since I read the post, and thought I would attempt to squelch the craving by buying a PB cookie at Whole Foods today. It was fine, but crunchy and not at all inside-of-a-PB-cup. Craving decidedly not squelched, so I’m going to make these happen this week!!
Hi! I was wondering if anyone has had any luck making these as bars/Blondies?
I make the “3 ingredient” recipe with 1/2 light brown 1/2 granulated sugar and vanilla but these really are SO MUCH better!! I did the first 15 min chill before scooping but skipped the second chill. I was still happy with the shape. I am a one ingredient peanut butter girl (maybe two;salt) but made an exception for these cookies. I used store brand “natural” creamy peanut butter spread. Ing: peanuts, sugar, palm oil, salt. I love these and will not make it them the old way ever again.
janetP – If your nut-free celiac husband can tolerate sesame seeds – Try Deb’s granola bars from this summer ( just check the oats). I used olive oil, Tehina (whole foods) in lieu of nut butter and chopped dates along with the chocolate chips. http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2015/06/chocolate-chunk-granola-bars/
Just made these and they’re SOOO good. I used the only peanut butter I had on hand, which was Jif Natural. They flattened out (despite the fact that I put the dough in the freezer and put them back in the freezer for more than 15 min after scooping)…. even though they’re not dome shaped, they’re amazing. I will try these again with more processed peanut butter (like normal Jif or Skippy, like recommended) and see if they keep their tall shape.
How do you come up with so many amazing recipes??? You are so creative.
We so adored this recipe but was disappointed in that mine didn’t have a long shelf life. They tasted kind of stale a day later, lost the great texture. any storing tips to keep some longevity?
tess — Sorry to hear that. We found that they kept really well; were yours softer (more fudge-like) in the center when they were first baked or more solid like a traditional cookie? This may affect how the texture works out on day 2, as will if they were fully and completely cool when they were put away for storage.
Great easy cookie – mine stayed in the same dome shape when baked. I put the dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before scooping and baking. Texture was phenomenal. However, I do wish that it had more sweetness and/or chocolate. I have a big sweet tooth, though. I used Jif creamy peanut butter.
Passover, right!? Something to look forward to this year.
I didn’t read through all the comments but I was asked by my SO what the nutritional info is for this recipe and I did not have an answer for her. Is this available? Thanks.
I like the fun dome shape of these cookies. This new rendition of a classic cookie looks awesome.
Hi Deb! Thank you for this delicious recipe! Although a bit misshapen, they disappeared very quickly…
I have one of ‘those’ questions: I would like to make these to bring to my daughter’s day care. However, because of some kids’ peanut allergies, we are not supposed to bring anything peanut; do you think – or has somebody else on the thread experimented with this – whether this would work as well with sunflower seed butter?
These sound amazing, and I will give them a try! However, as a person who requests black coffee, vanilla pound cake, or fluffy pancakes (hold the nuts, chocolate, fruit, and whole grains), Alice Medrich’s peanut butter cookies are my Holy Grail. They are perfection of the classic pb cookie genre in both taste and looks, and I’ve never gotten so many compliments on such a humble cookie.
These were amazing – almost caramelized on the outside. I took a shot at reducing the sugar just a bit, to 1 1/2 cups, and in the oven the cookies released a truly alarming amount of oil (I used Jif PB) but the final result was great, not greasy and they held their shape fine. I scooped them straight away then left the shaped dough in the fridge for a couple of hours.
I can totally relate to this post. I tried the 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie once and was completely underwhelmed. This, on the other hand, looks nothing like those cookies so I am more than intrigued! And when you tell me a cookie is good, then I better believe it. I’m still swooning over those chocolate chunk cookies you made – they’ve become my favorite. Can’t wait to give this one a try too. You’ve made beautiful cookies, Deb! XO
These are fabulous! I used Skippy chunky PB since that’s what I had. I would reduce the sugar a tiny bit next time – and there will be a next time!! Deb, would these freeze well?
Has anyone tried these substituting a little pureed pumpkin for the peanut butter? Thinking it might make a nice seasonal cookie, and cut down on some of the less desirable ingredients in the processed peanut butter. I am not a baker. Thoughts?
These turned out a flat, runny disaster and I was really, really sad. I don’t know what happened! I made my own brown sugar (using white sugar and molasses) because I couldn’t be bother to go to the store. Could this have something to do with the end results? Also, I did freeze the dough for 30 minutes.
Going back to the kitchen to attempt round 2.
I think I’ll make these the next time in my kitchen aid. It’s a workout! Although it might help if my light brown sugar weren’t more brick-like than granular.
I used the organic Trader Joe’s smooth salted Valencia peanut butter (ingredients: peanuts & salt). I mixed the oil back in and then put the jar in the fridge to keep the pb from separating while waiting for the eggs to warm up to room temp. It was definitely a playdough consistancy, maybe a teensy bit softer. Put it in the freezer for 8m, it broke my wooden spoon when I stirred it (old and cheap, but still broken!), and then started scooping after another 8m in the freezer.
After the last 15m of freezer time, they baked up great! I did a test batch to see if they’d spread a bunch (they didn’t). I forgot to sprinkle the salt on top, which I think they definitely needed – something to cut through, so I’ll have to remember that the next time. And there will probably be a batch with some kind of chocolate added too just to see how that turns out. I’d imagine they’d be delicious with a dark chocolate coating on the bottom of the cookie, but that’s not going to happen with a toddler in the house. :)
Just pulled a test batch out of the oven to find peanut butter cookie perfection. Incredible!
i love that these only have 4 ingredients!!! win-win!
I used natural Skippy and they turned out, though flattened more than in the pictures. I would use less sugar next time, a bit sweeter than I prefer.
Someone asked about nutritional info – I used tablespoon scoop and calculated each of my cookies to be around 120 calories, 6.7 grams fat, 12.5 grams carbs, 3.6 grams protein. Of course this will vary based on scoop size.
You know what is awesome – to make this with Nutella – you’re welcome people :-)
Followed ingredients, measurements and instructions to the letter…turned into peanut butter water and ran off the baking sheet into the bottom of the oven. Brought to mind the mantra of INCONCEIVABLE! from The Princess Bride. Possible explanation: like altitude and leaveners, baking these north of the American border changes everything about how the recipe works.
I wanted to love them but they seemed too sweet, and I have quite a sweet tooth.
Hi!
I tried them this weekend. My Sweetheart read the ingredient and made a face. “What? No flour? It will be strange!”
No, it wasn’t, and he ate most of them ^^ So, I don’t know how well they kept because they last only 2h after they were cooled (and my cats tried to steal them too, I didn’t know cats liked peanut butter…).
We aren’t huge fans of peanut butter in France, it’s some time difficult to find some, but this recipe totally worth the search in multiple supermarket ! Thank you !
Next time, I think i’ll try them in thumbprint form, with a center of cherry jam.
Deb,
I made these last night, and they were amazing–I don’t even like peanut butter sweets that much, and I loved them. AND I got the striations. A good day. Thank you so much!
Interesting, I made these Saturday night and baked off a few and they turned out awesome. I scooped and froze the rest of the dough and baked off this morning from frozen. They didn’t turn out this morning! The shape was still domed, they are kind of oily and the bottom started to get almost burned before the rest of the cookie cooked. I still wish they were sweeter – but I think that everyone has a different sweet tooth!
I followed your recipe to a T (although I added a cup of chocolate chips) and the cookies came out just like your photos: crispy on the outside, soft and chewy inside. These were a little sweet for even my huge sweet tooth, and I felt like I was crunching on raw sugar. Did I not bake them long enough or is it supposed to be like that? All in all, really good cookies, and they only lasted 2 days before my hubby ate them. All of them.
these cookies are MAGIC. My sister-out-law burned them and they were still tasty. I made them with the crazy mix of nut butter dregs I had at home, intentionally underbaked them just slightly, and they were addictively delicious. i have not yet put chocolate chunks in (one of my weird dregs was a chocolate-peanut butter combo) but my suspicion is that it will be phenomenal, though not at all needed.
thanks for highlighting this super easy and amazing recipe, that even my celiac sis can enjoy!
A jar of Skippy says 16.3 ounces is 462 grams. That’s according to the label. This suggests that either the reader who wrote that 16.3 ounces is 1 3/4 cup or your information about 1 3/4 cup or 450 grams isn’t right. Or perhaps I’m misreading this?
What finishing salt do you use?
Carmen — I use fleur de sel, the traditional kind with coarse-ish granules.
A – I think it is more that the 12 gram difference is a negligible difference in terms of the final outcome (<3% variance).
Just made a batch of these with Sunbutter brand sunflower-seed butter. They are delicious! And safe for school! I often make the flourless cookies with sunbutter and everyone says it tastes just like peanut butter. We’ve been a peanut-free house for 6 years so I take their word for it.
These taste best (to me anyway) when kept icy cold in the fridge and taken out just before eating.
Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of peanut butter baked goods or cookies (I know…!), but I felt compelled to make these over the weekend. I am addicted and have also made an addict of my boyfriend (who will easily eat any baked good, though confesses peanut butter is not a favorite). I’ve sent the recipe to my peanut butter-loving father and plan to make a second batch tonight for my office. Magic!
Re, the 16.3-ounce jar of peanut butter — The jar is labeled as 462 grams and says it contains about 14 2-tablespoon servings, or about 1 3/4 cups. It also says that each tablespoon weighs 16 grams, i.e. 1 3/4 cups weighs 448, which I round to 450 (the nearest 5) or people tend to yell at me. The variance of 14 grams suggests that the jar could have up to 7/8 tablespoon more peanut butter than the recipe calls for. It should not throw off the results.
I’ve made your original recipe for years (courtesy of Southern Living) and they called for a chocolate kiss pressed into the center as soon as it’s pulled out of the oven. The kids loved them but your recipe sounds better…less cloying.
Upon reading this post, I was so desperate to make them immediately that I used dark brown sugar, natural peanut butter (Teddy’s) and an ice cream scoop… and they were delicious. Holy mother of all holy things, they were good. Except for the second batch, which I burned because I was so engrossed in eating the first batch, I did not hear the timer go off.
I consider myself a pretty good baker, but these cookies may change
My mind. Not sure what happened but the 1st batch were raw and the 2nd batch burned. What??? So upsetting especial since I left my cozy house to get more brown sugar. Oh well. I’ll be sticking to these going forward. http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/12/peanut-butter-cookies/
Hi Deb, I attempted these over the weekend; the dough came together just fine. I followed all the freezing & scooping instructions to the final detail. I baked the frozen (overnight) dough balls for about 14-15mins (they were small ice cream scoops). The shape kept fairly nicely domed however I’m curious about the inner texture of your cookie. The outer texture was lovely and crisp but the inside was quite ‘doughy’. It was very ‘fudgy’ v/s cakey …. any thoughts?
Faye — Sounds like they came out just right. For a firmer center, cook them a minute longer next time. You can choose how soft the center ends up.
I made these and they were absolutely delicious. Do you think that I can replace the peanut butter with tahini next time?
Brooke — See what I said about other nut butters above; I suspect it will be the same, i.e. it will work but will probably end up flatter. Do let us know how they come out; I adore tahini.
Hi Deb, thanks for sharing this recipe and your comments!
I made these tonight with Skippy super chunk (breaking my rule of always trying a recipe as written, as I only keep chunky peanut butter at home) and Billington’s dark muscovado sugar. I also reduced the sugar to 300g, and scooped 3tbsp and 1tbsp cookies.
Both turned out well, I think I could’ve been braver with salting the tops, though. They’re headed in to my office tomorrow, along with some caramel ice cream I made earlier – dessert for our team lunch!
I thought you might enjoy my kitchen near fail with these… I had the eggs and sugar whisking up in my KitchenAid and then dumped in the vanilla extract. I noticed it was clear instead of brown and upon closer inspection, discovered that I’d accidentally grabbed the lemon extract instead (I blame the distracting 6 year old). Good thing I noticed before adding the peanut butter! I tossed in some powdered ginger, leavening, and flour instead, then baked it in a square pan for an improvised (but tasty!) lemon ginger brown sugar snack cake.
I WILL come back to this recipe and be more careful!
Oh my, if you love tahini, Deb, you should try the sesame cookies from the old Greyston Bakery cookbook. Copies of the paperback are still around in places:
http://www.amazon.com/Greyston-Bakery-Cookbook-Helen-Glassman/dp/0877734143
If you really want to see it I can take a picture of the recipe with my phone.
Trisha — Thanks for the tip! Any excuse to go to Bonnie Slotnick. Did you know there’s a newer Greyston Bakery cookbook? Sara-Kate from Apartment Therapy’s Kitchn wrote it a few years ago. I wonder if it’s related.
I made a few as written and then added about a cup of mini chocolate chips. They’re divine this way. They actually taste like peanut butter cups as much as can be imagined. I’m a total convert to these cookies.
Simple is best! Love the additions of brown sugar and salt!
Absolutely delicious. I love getting the crunchy bit of salt to offset the sweetness of it all; definitely a huge reward for little effort, considering how quick they are to make!
it looks good i wanna eat it like i eat my fingers
Hello there… Belgium calling… I just made these with Calvé, a 350g jar which was all the Carrefour had, topped up with the health food shop peanut butter we had in the fridge (Horizon brand). Dough didn’t seem like play-doh at all so there’s obviously something in that Skippy/Jif! Smaller scoops got a better dome result – those are still in the oven. First batch less dome-y but otherwise excellent: chewy, soft in center and slightly caramelized on the edges. Wonderful!
This looks like a great recipe, and thank you for testing and sharing it, and it’s exciting to find a simple and delicious gluten free cookie recipe that I can cook and share with my family. I avoid wheat and dairy because it helps me avoid daily chronic pain – not because there’s anything interesting about it. I can’t eat most of the food that you write about, but I’m a faithful reader, and I have the cookbook. Some of your recipes are beloved family favorites – neither my husband nor daughters share my food sensitivities, and I work hard to cook family dinners with food that will delight them. But, it’s a grind, and, sometimes a discouraging amount of work. And so it seems to me like a great luxury, to be able to dismiss the entire concern as uninteresting.
I totally understand being completely un-interested in all of the “free of ___” recipes. I was too…and frankly, those people got on my nerves.
Then about 2 years ago, after some medical complications, I developed a myriad of food allergies (nuts, egg, wheat, corn, soy, dairy…the list goes on). As someone who loves cooking and baking, I find myself lately baking for others, knowing I can’t eat it, but I love when I stumble on something like your broccoli roasts, promising a delicious bite.
Maybe I’ll be able to have nuts one day. These will be first on my list.
These are AMAZING!! used one jar of skippy peanut butter and whole foods organic light brown sugar. Came out perfect!!! To the other Robin have you made these with the Splenda and how did they come out. If yes could you post the amount of Splenda and almond meal you used (didn’t know I would need to do this). These are definately being made for Thanksgiving and as many in my family are diabetic would love to sub in Splenda (but I’ve never really baked with it).
Thanks Deb for posting this and all your notes are so helpful on all the recipes I make from your website. Did you use a whisk to mix in the peanut butter? I started to and it was all getting clumped in the whisk so I switched to a rubber spatula. Just curious.
Thanks again!!!!
Robin — I used a whisk, otherwise it seemed to difficult to get the other ingredients smoothly mixed in.
Well you had me at peanut butter and salted, then you nearly lost me at 3 ingrediense cookie, I been so disapointed with it, now I will givevthis a try
I made these last night and they were perfect! I followed the recipe exactly using weights on a kitchen scale (honestly I do it to dirty less dishes, as I just plop the mixing bowl onto the scale and scoop in, taring for each new ingredient) and following instructions. Since folks seem to be particularly curious about particular nut butter brands/types: I used Woodstock smooth organic peanut butter. I did place the dough in the freezer for 15ish minutes. My rather large cookies came out moist and almost cakey at around the 16-17 minute mark. I used a 1/4 cup scoop imprecisely and got about 20 cookies out of the batch. I had one after they cooled and it was a truly perfect peanut butter cookie. They were still the perfect moist chewy cookie the next evening when I had another one and passed off the rest of them to a friend who’s husband functions as a dispose-all for most of my baking that I cannot keep around the house for fear that I will eat it all :) Thanks for the recipe! Because of the small list of common household ingredients required, I am sure I will end up making this in a pinch for dinners, parties, bribes, rainy days, last minute visitors and the like.
These were amazing! I used a full jar of the Skippy peanut butter, chilled the dough for several hours and used the #40 scoop and made 26 cookies. The dough freezes beautifully. Be care not to overbake! I baked it for a minute too long and lost the gooey center.
i made these for a get-together last sunday and i am still enjoying them with my coffee on friday! i have found that they keep getting softer and more chewy with each passing day. i used chunky jif pb because that’s all i had and they are fantastic! thanks for another winning recipe. :)
Hello Deb…Can one add mini chocolate chips to this?.
Thanks.
oops sorry!! i see someone did that already
Making these today! One thing- I was looking at the weight provided for the brown sugar, and I think it might be a little off. The weight of packed light brown sugar is 215 grams per cup (as opposed to 192 grams per cup, or 4 g per teaspoon, of unpacked light brown sugar), which would make 1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar to be about 375 grams.
Anyway, thanks for posting the recipe! I was just at Ovenly last weekend, and I regretted not getting the peanut butter cookie. Can’t wait to try them!
These were a smash hit! Especially for my sweet gluten-free friend, who I always struggle to make inclusive treats for at our small group :) Thanks for another amazing recipe, Deb!
These are ridiculously good.
These turned out great.
They wound up being the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever eaten. And I love peanut butter cookies.
We ran out of smooth, so ended up using about 2/3 smooth and 1/3 crunchy. I really liked the bits of peanut.
The two changes I would make the next time I make this are:
1. Don’t try to do the fork lines. Once it chills in the freezer the dough is simply too clingy.
2. Add more salt at the end. I under salted out of fear of the unknown. But having hit a few nicely salted patches here and there, I now realize that the salt is really key, and I should salt per the recipe.
Cheers and thanks,
GK
These were so good that I believe this recipe will forever replace my former default peanut butter cookie recipe!
I followed the recipe exactly, except that I used a 1.5 Tablespoon measuring spoon to make the cookies, since that was the closest I had to what you recommended. I put the whole bowl of batter in the freezer for 15 minutes before scooping them out; then I put half the cookies in the freezer for an additional 15 minutes before baking but just baked the other half right after scooping. I thought the batch that did NOT do the second freeze actually came out slightly better because they crisped up a bit more on the outside–the two-freezes batch did not have much exterior crisp for me, though the texture otherwise was perfect.
Fabulous recipe! Thank you :)
Sitting here making my 3rd batch of these since you posted because everyone loves them! The first batch I gave half to my dad and he keeps asking if I’ve made more yet (my mom stole the rest of that batch when she came over, rude!). Second batch was the first dessert gone at the Halloween party I went to this weekend. Such a simple and lovely recipe!
Can we talk salt? Deb, I have Maldon sea salt on hand. I’m not sure what the difference is between that and fleur de sel. How would the cookie taste different?More or less salty? Should I wait and make them when I can get fleur de sel?
Dee — Fleur de sel is usually more coarse, but still in crumbly granules, i.e. not pretzel salt-like chunks. Maldon is flat and flaky. Taste? Probably some people can tell the difference; I haven’t bothered deciphering it. Either will work.
I have to say THESE COOKIES ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, DECADENT & COMFORTING!!! Oh my gosh I am in love! This was my first time with this recipe as well as making peanut butter cookies in general!! Thank you so much for sharing! xx
I find regular Skippy to be super sweet; it’s good at first but then after a couple of bites it just tastes like candy to me. But I used Skippy for my first batch of these; the cookies were good but honestly they were just too sweet. So I made a replacement batch with natural peanut butter (“smooth”, but natural pb just doesn’t really come all that smooth); and found the cookies to be perfect. I added a pinch of salt to the batter (I always do this to adjust for the lack of salt in the peanut butter), and whipped it until it was well blended — it never got to be batter-like as the Skippy batch. But I prefer the taste, for sure.
i wanted to use this recipe to replace the cookie recipe here http://www.mommymusings.com/halloween-peanut-butter-spider-cookies-recipe/ do you think it would work? (as far as being soft enough to squish the pb cups into and not be ruined?
Claudia — When it just comes out of the oven, probably.
These are fantastic. Definitely use a coarse salt if you can. I made them with dark brown sugar, and they were wonderful.
I made these with and without chocolate chips (as I typically wouldn’t bother eating a sweet that didn’t have chocolate in them). Without was way better. Will definitely make these again!
Oh how your commitment to turning out seriously tasty and straight forward recipes along with your undeniable wit brighten my week each new recipe you post. You are a delight :)
Happy to report I made these with natural peanut butter and coconut sugar as substitutes and they turned out pretty magical. I made sure to spend extra time with the mixer to get the coarser sugar to dissolve and achieve the playdough like texture of the final dough. Great reference point! Perfect dome shape with the crunchy/chewy texture you described. I added a pinch of salt to the dough and also finished with it and am glad I did!
I’m out of parchment paper. would you suggest tinfoil, or go bare? thanks!
Deb, we have a serious nut allergy in our home, so any kind of tree nuts or peanuts is considered as dangerous as cyanide.
Do you suppose Sunflower butter might be a suitable substitute, and what sort of modifications of the recipe do you suggest?
Thank you
These didn’t turn out right for me. Flat cookie, no dome, although taste was fine. Pretty sure you should chill the dough for at least an hour (or more) to get the dome shape.
I made these last night. I used standard Jif peanut butter and they were fantastic! A bit of Halloween candy was used to garnish a few of them! I might dip the edges in melted chocolate next time. This is my new go to cookie recipe! Thanks, Deb!
You had me at peanut butter + salt but thanks for the extra descriptors as I know can almost taste how good they would be and am heading to the kitchen right now to make some. :)
Whoa, Deb. These cookies are awesome! My husband ranks them with Ottolenghi’s spice cookies, which is the highest praise.
I’ve made them twice now. First time I used a natural creamy cashew butter, and added chopped bittersweet chocolate to half of the cookies. My husband thought the chocolate was not needed, but I loved it. Second time with a natural creamy peanut butter, and no chocolate. I’m coming around to loving them without chocolate.
Since I don’t use a cookie scoop, I used wet fingers to push my dough into a rounder shape. That’s my contribution to the recipe. You’re welcome!
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try this recipe out.Thanks for sharing it.
Hi Deb, thanks for spreading the word and sharing the tips on these cookies. I saw your post and had to make them and did the other day. I added a little bit of grated chocolate to the dough. They were “scrummy!” It was like a peanut butter truffle with that firm outside but fudgy interior. I also went and got myself a #40 scoop for this. : ) Thanks again!
These are phenomenally delicious. Best peanut butter cookie I have ever had, by far. A question: I am planning to make these along with several other desserts for a reception feeding 100+ people. Trying to do as much work as possible in advance of the event. What is the best way to store these overnight to maintain their crispy outsides? Thanks!
Holley — I put mine in an airtight container at RT and found them still crisp on the outside, soft inside, the next day.
Love this site. But question–if you’re going to stick the dough in the freezer, is it really necessary to have the eggs at room temperature?
Selena — Eggs at room temperature are easier to mix, that’s all. You can work with cold eggs, it’s just a little more work to beat them in without leaving pockets of white. But not a TON more work. :)
I’ve made this recipe now – four times since you posted it. They are great little cookies. I recently added 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to a batch, and the cookies came out great. I am wheat free and this is a recipe I can use. THANKS
Made a half batch of these using Smucker’s natural creamy pb, and they baked up exactly as promised! So good. I usually hate peanut butter cookies. Every time I’ve tried them, they’ve been bland, overly sweet, and hard as a rock. But these are chewy, salty, and taste mostly like peanut butter rather than sugar. I’ll definitely make a whole batch next time.
OHHHH these remind me so much of City Bakery’s peanut butter cookies, which are pure magic. Have you had them? I worked there years ago and have pined for them since, til one day this summer I was like, hey, remember the internet? A nifty lil trick called google? And sure enough someone had tracked em down:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017030-salty-sweet-peanut-butter-sandies
I made them and they were close enough to transport the 3000 miles that’s now between me and Union Square. They’re damn near perfect. BUT i suppose this is all less exciting when it’s *adding* ingredients to a curiously–and since they sound so lovely–thrillingly, short list, but then again, it’s a pb cookie recipe, so i figured you wouldn’t be, y’know, MAD.
So disappointing! These didn’t turn out right for me, either. I made them in my Kitchenaid mixer. The dough was smooth but crumbly, not like Play-Doh at all. I froze the dough after both steps. The cookies kept a dome shape, but from the photo, it looks like they should have spread a little. And they weren’t fully baked inside. I wonder if I overmixed?
These are the best, most peanut buttery cookies ever! Flour? Who needs it! 50 points to Gryffindor!
Just made these with a combo of peanut and almond butter. We also happened to have made bacon for tacos, and let’s just say adding crumbled bacon to these are not outside of the realm of possibility. Also, a plate of two cookies served next to a slice of bacon to be used as a chaser was also discussed. These were too simple to be this fantastic.
These were so good! I cannot even describe how amazing they taste and very easy as well.
hi…dont forget those of us who have to eat gluten free or dairy free or whatever really appreciate that in the name or as a tag like you have.
I am eating one of these RIGHT NOW.
Purchased some “American-style” smooth peanut butter yesterday, and made a batch last night. I was suspicious (…Smooth peanut butter? Peanut butter that isn’t as thick or flavoursome? No flour?), but these are delicious!
The recipe came together very quickly with an electric hand mixer. The most time-consuming thing was the scoopingscooping! I used a 1T measuring spoon (20ml in Australia) to scoop, which was perfect.
Make sure you get a piece of salt with each bite.
Your tastebuds will thank you.
I’m a good cook and have baked lots of good things but somehow never really made a successful cookie before, as weird as that sounds. These were amazing! Exactly as I thought they would turn out! Thanks so much for posting!
These are perfect! I’ve had no luck previously with the 3-ingredient peanut butter cookie, but these work beautifully.
I used demerara sugar because it’s all I had on hand (larger crystals) and Jif peanut butter. I refrigerated the dough for about an hour before baking, more to fit my schedule than to firm up the dough, and scooped using the 1/4 cup scoop.
The cookies set up nice and high and came out pleasantly sandy-ish on the edges/soft in the middle with a nice crunch from the demerara sugar. Next up–this recipe subbing homemade pecan-cashew butter for the peanut butter.
I have made these cookies twice now, and they are AMAZING!! But both times the bottoms burnt a little before the tops cooked. They were so good, that I scraped off the burnt parts to salvage the cookies (and it was totally worth the extra work!). Any thoughts on why this is happening? I tried reducing the temp slightly on the second batch, but still burnt bottoms:(
Can I use light peanut butter?
I don’t have to eat gluten free but I have made these 4 times already. They are delicious and everyone that tastes them loves them. Thank you for a great and easy go to recipe!
We keep making these.
They are SO GOOD.
I used all-natural peanut butter but poured out the oil first. I can’t say how this works making these cookies by hand, but using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment the “dough” came together beautifully and baked well. Making such a healthy cookie with processed peanut butter seams like a shame.
Thanks for the recipe – I eat these all the time in NYC and am so glad to now be making them at home – they are addicting and delicious – not to mention nutritious!
What a mess. I made them exactly as described and they came out all flat and run together.
I just tried these (literally, the last tray is still warm) and thought I’d add my results. Since I used Wellsley Farms organic creamy pb and it’s nothing but peanuts and salt, I thought I’d be clever and dig up the really solid layer at the bottom of the jar. This led to a dough that set up so hard that little bits would break off as I was scooping it. The cookies barely swelled in baking, and certainly did not spread. My guess is that the fat ratio was way off. The cookies still taste good. They’re crunchy on the outside rather than crisp, but chewy/soft on the interior. I find them a little too sweet, but they’re so intensely peanutty that I think it’s probably necessary. I needed a pint of milk to wash down one cookie (#50 scoop).
The next time I try this, I won’t be so worried about how thin everything looks before it’s stirred together, and I won’t be so “clever” about digging up the bottom of the jar. I think that will solve my problem.
Deb, I must admit I was skeptical but followed your recipe to the letter. They are hands down the best cookies I’ve ever had. We are fighting over the last couple. I will make them again very soon. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
These were amazing! I think I gained two pounds instantly. The consistency of the batter was like playdough for me (I have a 2 and 3 year old, so very familiar), I guess it depends what peanut butter you use. I used less sugar than called for (mostly because I ran out), and they were still amazing. Delicious! I love your website btw!
Thanks for the great, easy recipe. It seems that because it is so simple, one must be very precise on certain details. Here are some of my mistakes and things I wil do differently next time:
1 I wasn’t paying attention to the directions and mixed the sugar with peanut butter rather than sugar with eggs which I think caused more graininess than I would have likd. Next time I will mix as instructed and maybe a little more mixing until some of the sugar dissolves.
2 I used the recommended skippy and found the final product much too sweet. Next time I will use a natural, no-stir peanut butter (i.e. unsweetened but no oil separation.) I will also add a pinch or two of salt to the batter. Oh and I originally did a small sprinkle right on top of the cookie domes but they could’ve used more salt and a more even sprinkling across the surface.
3 I’m pretty sure I undercooked this batch. I put the remaining cookies back in the oven the next day and found the texture much more pleasing and as Deb described with the crisp exterior/soft insides.
4 I don’t have a cookie scoop so couldn’t attempt the cute striations so I just rolled the dough into balls immediately after mixing, then put those in the freezer for 30 mins. That didn’t seem to be long enough as some of the balls flattened while baking,, so next time I will leave in freezer for 45min-1hr.
5 Lastly, maybe I’m just not much of a pure PB person and am more like Deb’s Alex in that these are so much better with chocolate!! On the cookies I rebaked the following day I melted some 60% dark chocolate, then sprinkled more flaky salt on top of that. Oh my, did that change the game for me. Next time, I will mix maybe even darker chocolate chunks into the batter, which will also help balance sweetness.
What did I do wrong!!?
I tried making these and they flopped! I don’t know what I did ~ I followed the instructions exactly ~ wasn’t like play doe though ~ it was very soupy! So I put it in freezer thinking that might firm it up….but nope ~ so I added a bit more peanut butter but it really didn’t make a difference :-(
For anyone considering using dark brown sugar, I have made these five times since the posting. For the first four batches, I followed the recipe exactly and there were amazing. Tonight, I only had around 200 grams of light brown sugar so I used dark brown for the rest. They spread a lot more, the striations didn’t work as well, and they really are just different. Maybe others have been successful, but only light brown from now on for me.
For the record of the natural peanut-butter camp: I used 1 3/4 c of Trader Joe’s creamy salted natural peanut butter and 2 T of flour to stiffen the dough up a bit, then chilled them in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking; they turned out gorgeous, tender, and dome-y, like Deb’s. Which, as we all know, is THE GOAL.
These have great taste and texture – thanks so much for posting. The only issue I had was that the bottoms got way too dark. I cut back the baking time for the 2nd pan and it was better but next time I think I’ll cut back on the temperature and watch them much closer. Yum!
Ok so like the previous person, the bottoms of my first batch were too dark. I decreased the temp to 325 and that helped. I do have an oven thermometer so I know it isn’t the oven. I love peanut butter cookies but I don’t know what I would call these. I used TJ’s peanut butter and the batter was like play doh. My scoops didn’t seem to melt/spread at all. I wonder if it’s something I did or the ingredients. I tried to whisk the peanut butter by hand but it was tough given it was natural with the oil separation. I put it in the kitchen aid as well to make sure it was thoroughly mixed. There aren’t many steps to mess it up. I guess I can try again with Jiff but these were disappointing.
PB recipes are my favorite! There’s just so much you can do with it.
Hi Deb! I’m a long time reader of yours and this is the first time I’m commenting on a post. I loved this recipe, it’s a bit hit among my gluten sensitive friends! It comes out perfect whenever I make them. I wanted to make them again today and just found out that I was out of peanut butter, so I felt a little bit experimental and used smooth Speculoos (450gr) of it. We’ll see the outcome in a few minutes, so far they held their shape in the oven. Thank you for this recipe!
I have made 4 batches of these so far. My 3yr old son is dairy free and these are perfect for him. I have added dark chocolate chips to a portion of the batter and they are excellent that way as well!
SUPER surprised people are having issues with these! Really was the most simple thing I have EVER made and they turned out great! I only chilled the dough post mixing. Freezer, scoop, bake. I thought for SURE they would spread, but they kept their shape and were FABU! Our 16mo approves.
This was my first SK flop. The cookies are super oily/greasy. There was oily swimming around on the cookie sheet when I pulled them from the oven and each time you touch one your fingers are slimy. I get all the oil in the PB but am not seeing this as a common problem. Anyone have any suggestions what happened? Thanks!
I have been making these for years, I discovered them after I was diagnosed with Celiac. JIF peanut butter works the best for these cookies. I have tried Skippy, but butters, and even nutella, but I always come back to JIF.
Just made these with organic natural peanut butter and they are intense! Like another commenter wrote they are plenty sweet with natural peanut butter. Followed your tips about putting them in the fridge before scooping and freezing before baking — and they turned out just like the pictures! I didn’t however get the crispy outer edges so I’m guessing that’s because there was no margarine or hydrogenated oils in the peanut butter. Thanks for posting and testing this recipe :)
I just made these and followed your tips about putting them in the freezer but they fell flat :( This is the first time I haven’t had any luck with a recipe from you (even though I know this isn’t from you). I bet they’ll still taste great though.
Ok, so I just took the second batch out of the oven…. they kept the dome shape better. Maybe the first batch was too crowded on the tray or I didn’t freeze them enough. They do taste delicious though!
Love these–so good! Made them once with peanut butter and once with Sunbutter (for allergic friends) and both were great! I made the dough a day ahead both times and it was not stiff out of the fridge. A very forgiving recipe.
Made these last night. Will now make them forevermore and will suggest the recipe to everyone I know. Thank you!!
Whoa. These are like a dream come true. I will never eat a peanut butter cookie with flour again. I have made these twice– once for NYE when I had to scoop and stick them right in the oven and then again this weekend when I made the batter the night before and left it in the fridge overnight. Putting them directly in the oven produced much more spread while baking. They were bigger and flatter with very little dome but omg the taste was dynamite. Rave reviews all around and a nice way to ring in the new year. This weekend when I made them they produced the most heavenly dome which was definitely better because of the ability to sink your teeth into a pillow of peanut buttery amazingness that is the center of this cookie. My only issue (and perhaps this is just my oven) is that this batch cooked much much faster. They were done in 10 minutes. Not sure if it was the fact that they were in the fridge overnight or what. Luckily I caught them (because I am a paranoid baker when it comes to time in the oven) and they were perfect. Like, friends who are meh about peanut butter were suddenly addicted to these cookies and could not stop grabbing for just one more. THANK YOU for this recipe!!
I made these last night with natural peanut butter and they turned out heavenly. They didn’t spread very much on the cookie sheet, so I’d suggest lightly flattening them out. There’s nothing wrong with them if you don’t do this, but they pretty much just stay in the shape that you placed them on the baking sheet with. I put a chocolate disc on top of half of the cookies, and this made them even more irresistible. I can’t wait to make these again to use up some more peanut butter!
These turned out sooooooo delicious!!! I made them for my husband who’s a pb fan and obviously he loved them, but I did too and I don’t like peanut butter!!! And so easy to do! A definite repeat!
i keep making these dang things and i cant seem to figure out why im so addicted. they are heavenly. and i dont even really like cookies….!
Oh. My. God. seriously, Deb, why?! These are HIGHLY addictive. I made them today with crunchy peanut butter. No dome shape, alas, but trust me, nobody complained about that in my household :)). Also, if you spread some Nutella between two of these cookies… evil. Simply evil. :))
I always grew up on a peanut butter cookie that was similar. Going to have to try yours. Mine was just
1 cup sugar
1 cup Peanut butter
1 egg
Making things about what they are not is a really easy way for me (severely lactose intolerant) to see if I’m going to actually be able to eat a recipe..and I thus support the inclusion of x-free in the title. But I also support this recipe, and I’m going to make them this week, because they look amazing.
Loved reading the back-story! I have a very similar recipe for peanut butter choc chip cookies, that we absolutely adore! Although we have no need at all to leave any ingredients out, these cookies are by far my favourite. ;)
I didn’t really believe these could be that good. They are! I know it’s annoying when people post how they changed recipes (It was not a choice, I HAD to make these as soon as you posted on instagram, and it’s what I had in the kitchen). I used 50/50 cashew butter and peanut butter. And, and maple sea salt on top. OMG, YUM! And Katerina…nutella between? Sounds devine.
I made these last night and they came out great. I used natural peanut butter and they held their shape fine.
I got a little creative on the second batch and put a thumbprint full of Stonewall Kitchen Blueberry jam in them. PB & J cookies!!
Fantastic recipe. Perfect gluten free cookie. Had great height and was delicious. Super easy as well. Wish all baking recipes were this easy. I also loved that all ingredients are pantry staples.
I know I’m late to the party here, but I had to contribute the following findings: I’ve made these now with home food-processor made Almond, Pecan, Macadamia, and Walnut Butters (as well as chunky and creamy store-bought Peanut), and all turned out fantastically. For me and those I’ve used as guinea-pigs, Pecan is the king – they taste almost like Pecan Pie in cookie-form. In all cases, I added 50-70g of chopped, roasted nuts. In many cases, I’ve added Zante currants or Raisins (Zante in the Peanut butter was reminiscent of PB&J, phenomenal). I added chopped semisweet chocolate to the Walnut variety and those were positively slammin’ as well. It seems hard to screw these up, frankly, and I’m so enamored with the texture that other cookies now come off as inferior; I feel sorry for those with nut allergies. Lastly, I have found chilling anything to be entirely unnecessary; I get plenty of loft.
James — We appreciate your research! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks James! I did 2c hazelnuts- favor was amazing but no dome-ing. I will try by weight next time, thanks for the info!
I’m a long time reader and have loved many of your recipes. Am I missing something or is there not a way to “favorite” a recipe? I would love to have my own collection of faves.
Thanks for everything, Mandy
Hi Mandy — Thanks. No, there’s no way to favorite recipes at this time. (Sorry!)
Eventually they are just all favorites!!!
really yummy!
Not sure if ease/speed of these cookies is in the tags but it should be. My daughter is in her bat mitzvah year and as a part of the program we are required to bring desserts for the oneg table and every Saturday morning when there is a service, I wake up and think “aaackkk, I forgot again!” These are just right for this sort of event and occasion, when time and resources are limited, and yet the result is so distinctive. I have to admit that I do like a little crumble in my cookie and I had a hard time getting that the first 3-4 times I made this recipe so (I know it kind of defeats part of the purpose but…) I added 1/2 c. gluten free flour (Trader Joe’s brand, rice & potato, I think) today. The cookies turned out excellent and, point being, I think this recipe is fairly malleable/forgiving and an easy default to the question “What should I bring?” As always, thanks Deb!
These are delicious! I made them with raw dark brown sugar and the a Earth Balance coconut oil peanut spread. The added layering of the coconut flavor is amazing! I was looking for the perfect recipe for this particular peanut butter, thanks Deb!
Although these cookies looked very nice, we found them so sweet, that we had to throw them away. No one wanted them after the first bite. This is the first recipe I’ve tried of yours that I didn’t absolutely love, so personal taste–not the recipe is to blame.
Australians — the Aldi “American” peanut butter works best, or speculaas butter if you want a different flavour. We have tried the various store brand peanut butters, Kraft, and a few fancy ones, and the Aldi one reigns supreme.
First time making these – I was Skeptical about the lack of ingredients. What a great recipe! I had tall domed cookies with great texture! My substitution of dark brown sugar made them richer and sweeter than I suspect the LBS variety would be. Other alterations and details:
-Stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
-Dark brown sugar (richer cookie flavor I suspect)
-Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
-Ice Cream Scoop to form balls (worked perfectly)
-Trader Joes “Cypriot Pyramid” flaky sea salt on top
-15 min freezer
-baked for about 17 min
Results: Happy friends/coworkers and an awesome cookie!
Thanks, Deb!
Thank you for posting such a simple cookie recipe. This is now my ‘go to’ peanut butter cookie recipe and even my son’s colleagues at work plead with him to ask me to bake so they can enjoy every week. And I haven’t even met them! I often use 1/2 demerara brown sugar and 1/2 light brown sugar and then there are little crunchy sugary bits in every bite. Your chocolate banana bread is my team’s favourite right now. And I have shared your recipe with several team members. The only addition I make is 1 tsp instant expresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavour. Thank you for such a wonderful website – you have allowed us readers to share your life and your kitchen adventures.
Any changes or recommendations for high altitude?
Yes on the “defined by what they are not” category! I’ve been vegetarian for almost 10 years now and dishes that are ___-free are just disappointing replicas, I want a dish that speaks for itself!
Wow! My 4yr old and I just made these (minus the sea salt) while his brother napped. They are delicious! We’ve both eaten three already (oops). We bake a ton in this house, and he was amazed at the small number of ingredients. Definitely a keeper. Thanks!
I’m trying to figure what I’m doing wrong. They taste great. Addicting actually. But mine are not staying in that pretty dome shape like in your picture. And they also spread a tad. Can you help troubleshoot?
What kind of peanut butter did you use? Any specific kind of sugar?
Made these in under 30 minutes (including baking time) and people raved about them for a whole afternoon. So delicious, so few ingredients.
I’m 100% done with these 3-ingredient miracle cookies – clearly an internet fad that doesn’t live up to the hype. I’ve tried a few kinds and I thought for sure if Smitten Kitchen did them, the formula must be solid. But I measured very precisely by weight and still ended up with a crumbly mess. Never again! Stick to the old classic style PB cookies if you don’t want to end up pitching a bowl of crumbly dough across your kitchen :)
It’s not a fad, I’ve had the original cookies from Ovenly, and made this recipe several times, and they’re fantastic. My friends are obsessed with them. Maybe it’s your altitude? The cookies have never come out crumbly for me – -quite the opposite.
I’d suggest scooping out the number of cookies you want on a baking sheet and freezing them for at least 30 minutes, more is better. Then bake them 16-18 min small cookie, 20-22 large. Also, it’s a pound of brown sugar and 1 16oz jar of PB, makes the whole shooting match easier, and the little extra sugar doesn’t really change the taste, nor the consistency. Good luck.
These were so easy to whip up. I reduced the sugar by 60g. Its worth placing the dough in the freezer, they came out of the oven looking perfect. Most of all, they tasted wonderful!
I made these with 365 brand Unsweetened Peanut Butter (a natural peanut butter) and they came out great! They were still plenty sweet, this recipe has a lot of sugar, and the texture was fine. I imagine they would have been smoother with a more conventional peanut butter, but I don’t think a little texture was a bad thing for these cookies.
Deb, would these cookies freeze well after they’re baked?
They were so delicious fresh, but I prefer to bake when I have the time and then freeze/defrost. I wonder if they would be as fantastic if I freeze them.
I froze some unbaked and they baked up very well.
Chava, did you freeze cookie after baked? I would much rather freeze after than have to cook/bake again. I’m wondering if they freeze well after baked.
I’ve frozen them and they were still great.
I used all natural peanut butter that I blended in the Vitamix before making the dough – perfect consistency and no texture issues! Also, I subbed coconut sugar for the brown sugar and homemade vanilla extract (made using your recipe). These are delicious, and I’ll be making them frequently!
I love using coconut sugar! Thanks for testing that!
These are the best cookies ever ever ever!! wonderfully simple and fun to make with kids and pretty foolproof.
I just finished eating one of these divine soft centered and still warm peanut buttery pieces of yum! Amazing, would never have imagined that they could be so good without all the “typical” baking ingredients!
Delicious, easy, perfect PB cookies! Followed the recipe to the letter (including using Skippy) and it worked out great. Made about 20 cookies — took approx. 16 minutes to bake.
These are nice! I think I prefer the traditional crumbly sort of pb cookies but these certainly will get gobbled up tout de suite :)
Delicious! Ate one straight out of the oven, then one after cooling. I agree, the textures are great after cooling.
These are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had, let alone made. My only challenge (as is the case with any dough that’s somewhat dark in color) was telling when they were done. I overbaked one sheet of them. But seriously, still amazing even overdone. I want to make these all the time.
Deb: So I finally made these — and when I say “finally”, I mean I only caught up to them on reading your blog about a month ago. I had been meaning to try them since then, although the last ovenly cookies I tried to make turned out horribly (the vegan chocolate chip that everyone else thought were sooooo good). Anyway, I finally made them because I had a potluck and had procrastinated until the day before. So I thought about how easy they were supposed to be (and realized that there was no butter, so no creaming!! Yeah!!) Of course I had to individualize the recipe (that is I had to use what I had around being thrifty and of course being like Deb’s family, I had to add chocolate).
So just in case someone else is a slow as me, I used extra crunchy peanut butter. I found that I had to add more peanut butter because of that (if you think about it extra crunchy has a bunch of peanut chunks in it and they take up room). If you want peanut chunks therefore, you might want to go with the Skippy (as stated in the recipe instructions) and then add the peanut chunks. I also added Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips and had no problems. I didn’t try to make cute domes or striations and I don’t have a scoop, so they looked like ugly chocolate chip cookies. They did spread and also they got a little overbaked on the bottom. :( They absolutely took no time to make and were easy peasy!! This is really rotton of you Deb, as now I will probably make them a lot!!
I ate a few out of the oven (no, stop that, I said a few!!) but didn’t think much of them. When my roommate came home I offered her one (about 1 hr post baking) and she just thought they were great. I took them with me to work and the one thing I noticed there was that they smelled exorbitantly of peanuts — and I do mean exorbitant!! It was wonderful! Then I took them to my pot luck and (as usually happens) was asked by the people I was sitting with what I brought. So I told them that I had brought the peanut butter cookies. They asked in surprise, “Those are home-made?!!” And I said “yes”. Everyone at my table tried them and couldn’t believe how great they were. “Were” is the operative word as my cookies disappeared faster than anyone else’s dessert (and there were some super fantastic desserts there). Most people asked for “my” recipe and I told them about your site Deb. So now you may have 20 — 30 new fans from Montana!!!
Thank you so much for the recipe!!
So delicious and easy to make. I love the fact that I only have to grab one thing from the store (PB) when I need to make them in a hurry. I made several batches last year when this was first posted and have made about 6 batches in the last week for holiday parties and gifts using both a #24 and #30 scoop (baking about 18 minutes). I agree with Ann that it can be a challenge to tell when they’re done, I leave mine a bit darker than those in Deb’s photos but I like a firmer center.
I’ve successfully used all natural peanut butter, I don’t notice a difference in the shape compared to those in the photos. I’ve never actually tried this recipe with processed peanut butter so I could be missing out on something even more fantastic (hard to imagine).
I’ve also been adding chopped bits of 70% chocolate to some batches for variety. Try it if you want even more of a peanut butter cup experience. You won’t regret it.
I made these today. OMG is all I can say, really. They are spectacular!! (My dough came out pretty firm, there was no need to chill or freeze, just scooped it on the tray, and ta-daaa: lovely dome shaped cookies. Perfect)…ooops, I did say a bit more ;)))
These were easy to make and delicious to eat! I made the recipe exactly as written (even with the Skippy). I’m usually a terrible baker, so I appreciate how thorough you are in your details. Thanks!
If freezing the dough balls to bake later, should you salt the tops first…before freezing?
After. Salt melts away in the freezer.
I made these delightful cookies on the weekend.
They did not bake up like the domed cookies I was expecting…but flat like diner pancakes. I was worried until I bit into a cooled cookie and it melted in my mouth.
To get the cookies to look like the ones above I probably could have mixed the batter a bit better (tricky to tell when brown is incorporated into brown) and put the scooped dough in the freezer longer than 15 minutes.
But.. I would bake them again regardless!
Thanks Deb. I whipped these up and baked them ahead of popping the chicken (well, turkey) meatballs a la Smitten Kitchen in the oven for dinner. Half the mixture yielded 8 goodly, chunky cookies which were an excellent, crispy, slightly gooey centred dessert. I <3 Smitten Kitchen dinners, thank you!
PS: We’re absolutely crunchy peanut butter lovers in our house, and the mere presence of smooth caused mock horror in my OH. He retracted as soon as he tried one though, and there may have been a little ecstatic eye-rolling too 😀. Thanks again!
So I never really got why people are such freaks for PB. I don’t hate it, I just think I had way too many PB sandwiches growing up. Then I made these for xmas as gifts a couple years ago. They are the best PB cookies I have ever had and I actually make them for myself instead of just giving them away. I am currently freezing a batch of these wonders before my spring semester starts so I have some in reserve. I’m seriously considering making another because I don’t know how long 30 cookies will last in this house.
I agree. I normally can take or leave peanut butter, but these are scrumptuous. I have been making them with crunchy peanut butter and chocolate chips. I am wondering what almond butter or cashew butter would be like. . .
These were soooooo good. Love that they’re GF. I used natural peanut butter and subbed coconut sugar for the sweetener. They were perfect.
Just made these cookies after having left over hazelnuts from another recipe. I started with 2c whole hazelnuts and whizzed up my own hazelnut butter, then added remaining ingredients figuring what-the-heck?! Holy Moly are they good!!!
I mean, flat as a first pancake but even with that (feature? I can barely call it an error) the texture was still crisp-chewy goodness! OMG, really just an amazing result, other worldly kind of flavor. I’ll definitely make again.
btw- caught your video for carbonara- so fun to see you and your darling little one. Thanks for all your effort!
Good catch! I hadn’t even realized it was up yet. I’m glad these were a hit and adore hazelnuts; this is great advice.
I made these yesterday and there were absolute perfection. They burned a bit on the bottom, so next time I will cook for a shorter amount of time and maybe use my Silpat instead of parchment to line the tray. If you have any PB obsessives in your life, you must make these
I tried these with flax meal instead of egg, due to an allergy, and they were delicious. Thanks so much for this recipe!
How much flax meal did you use?
Hey Deb…I’ve made these multiple times and they’ve become a huge favorite o the whole family.
However, this time I doubled it and things went haywire. Double checked our math…No problem. But the dough was extremely oily (nope, we didn’t use natural peanut butter), and looked dark and weirdly crumbly.
They baked OK but oozed oil out of them onto the parchment. It also seemed to take a lot longer to bake them.
Any thoughts?
So weird. Definitely not warmer or anything in your kitchen that could maybe lead to the peanut butter splitting?
Weird I’ve tripled the recipe with no issue 🤔
Bummer hopefully they still tasted good??
Perf! I have a jar of specculos that I thought would make me eat more bread but it didn’t work. I’ll just have some cookies instead! Will report back.
Good God! MAKE THESE COOKIES!!! Outrageously delicious. The smell of them baking in the oven had people in my apartment building knocking on my door. Incredible. I made them exactly as instructed and would not change a thing.
This is a fantastic recipe–definitely a crowd pleaser. Last night, I experimented by adding some chocolate chips & some finely crumbled cooked bacon–delicious!
Bloomin’ fantastic !
I was tempted to search online after sampling similar in a coffee shop in the Lake District in England .
Loved the way you talked through the ins & outs of which peanut butter to use etc
Thanks !
I ALWAYS APPREACIATE YOUR NOTES ON THE RECIPE. THANK YOU.
Don’t make these with Nutella. They taste great but completely flattened out. I wish I could attach a picture, it’s quite funny. My house smells amazing though!
Can you use cookie butter with this recipes? I have some using peanut butter in the oven and they smell so good.
I am doubtful; it’s quite different in structure from a nut butter. You might try swapping out a tablespoon or two of peanut butter with it?
This is what I DiD do… bought the Skippy in the perfect size jar… worth it. Measured ingredients on the scale… worth it. Put dough in freezer. This is what I DiDnot do ( not on purpose … too many plates in the air…). Let the eggs come to room temp.. for 5 secs… beat the room temp eggs with the sugar first… yeah, it alll went in together for a good beating. Did not stir while in freezer…scooped out and popped in oven … one pan missed out on salt… the other made it just fine and even got to chill in freezer while pan 1 baked. The results??? I’m sure I will HAVE to make this again soon to do it all by the “rules”…. but they seemed to be multitask proof. I’m still amazed that these few ingredients actually did this… but not surprised that it came through you!
Followed directions to a tee and these came out flat as a pancake…they’re so delicious I don’t care, but I’m trying to troubleshoot for aesthetics. I’m at altitude (10,000 ft), do you think that could have flattened them??
Just made a batch of these cookies and flavor-wise they are as good as Ovenly’s. But sadly, they didn’t have the height, texture, or striations of Ovenly’s cookies. I suspect they freeze their batter for much longer before baking.
Smaller scoop sizes (as suggested in Deb’s recipe) might also bake a bit better — since this would allow the inside of the cookie to cook with less risk of burning the bottoms.
I did use the #40 scoop and froze for the 15 minutes recommended. They looked exactly like the pics.
Divine! I made this using smuckers creamy natural peanut butter and it worked like a charm! I definitely recommend freezing for 15 minutes before baking! Yum!
I have loved every recipe I’ve ever made from your site (many recipes), but I was a bit skeptical that this cookie was as good as all the hype. You know what I am going to say…it is, and then some. My daughter made them and was raving about them. I had them on my mind and woke up 1/2 hour early one day. I immediately thought “I can make those cookies before work”. Measured, mixed, scooped, and put in freezer. Showered. Baked. Brought to work. Devoured. Made exactly as recipe instructed and they were perfect. I can see myself mixing up a batch or two to freeze and bake off as needed. Genius – thanks, Deb!
How can 5 ingredients taste so good???!? I made these before work this morning, because I forgot I was supposed to bring something in for a lunchtime meeting. Aside from some high-altitude adjustments (+25F oven temp and slightly shorter time), I followed the recipe exactly. Perfectly beautiful and amazingly delicious results!! Folks at the meeting were raving and have had 4 people ask for the recipe already! Thanks again for another fantastic post!
I made these with mini eggs and they were amazing!
Reduced the sugar to 300g to leave room sweetness wise for the candy shells and did not regret it
…It’s taking a lot of willpower not to shove the ones I said I’d bring home to my parents straight into my face.
Baking these for an outdoor bake sale – will these keep in warm weather? Should I keep them in a cooler?
Planning to bake these for a warm outdoor event, and worried they will melt. Will they hold their own or should I keep in a cooler?
They’ll hold their own, absolutely. They’re crisp on the outside.
Thanks!!! One more question – dark instead of light brown sugar? Yeah or nay?
I have only used light brown sugar. Dark brown sugar would technically have a higher molasses content, which could make it more wet and therefore prone to spreading. I checked the comments and of, say, 6 people who say they’ve used dark brown sugar, 4 say it worked great and 2 felt their cookies spread more or too much, so I’d proceed with caution.
Ok so I baked these today. I did a tray of small and a tray of big. I froze the big before baking but not the small. Neither kept a dome shape, they all flattened out. It’s an absolutely delicious cookie, the recipe is a keeper for sure. I think the big ones taste better as they retained a slightly gooey PB interior which the small ones did not. Of course this could just be a function of my cooking time!
What kind of peanut butter did you use? Wondering if this was the culprit.
I purchased regular Skippy :)
I’m obsessed with this recipe. I LOVE baking, but I have Celiac Sprue, so I generally can’t enjoy what I’ve baked. I certainly will make gluten free baked goods, but they are never as good as the real deal, so I don’t like to subject those who actually process gluten to GF adapted recipes when they can have delicious gluten-ful treats.
I was skeptical about these cookies despite never uncovering a bad recipe on your site- I mean… 4 ingredients?!
Anyway- I love them and regular people are shocked when they learn they’re gluten free because they are SO. DARN. GOOD.
I thank you immensely for this gem of a recipe.
My waistline, however, does not.
I actually used crunchy peanut butter because I have no patience and needed a cookie, worked great! They did not stay near as puffy as the recipe photos but I am freezing the last batch longer to see if that helps. Regardless of puff, they are delicious and super easy.
I made these this afternoon, and they were extremely simple. They turned out great – very peanut buttery.
I know that I’m very late to this party, but I just made this with Kraft All-Natural Smooth peanut butter and they worked perfectly. I found that the all-natural peanut butter at room temperature was incredibly easy to whisk in (compared to how I imagine it would be to use thicker, processed style) and then firmed up beautifully in the freezer. I did use both freeze-steps – once for 15 minutes before scooping and another 15+ after – and the cookies maintained their domed-shape even at my Canadian altitude!
Hi Deb – if I freeze scooped cookies to bake later, do I need to bake longer? I absolutely adore these cookies and have made them several times….but have no self control. Hoping that baking a few at a time might slow me down!
Cheers
Mich
Usually for me it’s maybe 2 to 3 extra minutes, but that’s it.
Made the dough yesterday, chilled it overnight in the refrigerator and baked today. I don’t keep brown sugar on hand so I used granulated sugar (reduced to 245g) and added 2T molasses. I also added 2T of peanut flour to my dough to get the Play-Doh consistency mentioned in the recipe. I used Trader Joe’s unsalted, all natural chunky PB (nothing but peanuts) and these cookies turned out great! I rolled the dough into small balls and they did not spread. I froze these and will pack them for hikes–great trail food!
These were amazing!! I added a touch of vanilla bean along with the vanilla and they were so Good! I froze the dough before I scooped it and used a 16 scoop. I also froze the dough after I scooped it and it lost a little of the height but as big as they were it didn’t matter. I would highly recommend making these ASAP! Best peanut butter cookies EVER! Perfectly crisp on the outside, unbelievably chewy and moist inside!
Loved these the first round when I followed the recipe exactly. Then tried with natural peanut butter – the texture was definitely weird and no one in my family ate them except for me. I will go for them again with commercial PB, but cut the sugar a bit. They are very sweet.
Will these turn out if I use a smaller scoop? I’m not a fan of large cookies (odd, I know). Thanks!
Yes but be careful not to overbake them. I generally prefer smaller cookies too but the smaller the cookie, the narrower the “just right” baking time range is.
This is basically the cookie recipe that has been on the back of Kraft peanut butter jars forever. They end bake up fluffy from the eggs but yet chewy and soft. Yes Kraft sells peanut butter in Canada which isn’t available in the US for some reason!
Hi, Deb. When directions say, “beat / mix until smooth,” and one of those ingredients is sugar, are you supposed to beat until the sugar is completely dissolved and there’s no more granules?
No, just until the mixture looks even, i.e. no pockets of unmixed anything.
Oh. My. Word. These are just as fabulous as you described. I became obsessed with making them yesterday, and made these instead of dinner. Excellent trade, by the way. I just love reading your posts every day. I can’t wait to see what crazy business you’ve come up with!!!
I just made these with jagged chunks of Lindt 70% chocolate mixed through the dough. Mouth wateringly profound.
Holy cow. These are good. They came out even better than I expected. I used natural creamy peanut butter from Costco with no problems. My cookies came out domed and did not spread. I did freeze the dough for the recommended times. I measured the peanut butter in a glass Pyrex liquid measuring cup, maybe those who’ve had problems have measured the pb in dry measuring cups? I used a tablespoon cookie scoop and made 34 cookies. I baked them for 16 minutes, maybe could’ve gone a minute less but I didn’t want them to be too doughy in the center. Once cool, these have a delightful texture…crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. I dipped the bottoms of the cookies in dark chocolate, placed them back on the (cooled) parchment/baking sheet and set it in the freezer for 15 minutes. I highly recommend dipping them in chocolate. These cookies are delicious as written but the addition of dark chocolate takes them over the top. Will be making these again and again! Thanks for sharing, Deb!
These are delicious! Made mine with dark brown sugar (IMHO, dark brown yields a better depth of flavor), Jif PB (less sweet that Skippy), pure vanilla extract as well as vanilla bean paste, and flaked Himalayan pink salt on top. (Also topped some with coarse vanilla sea salt). Chilled the dough in the fridge to set up, then scooped (yield: 20 cookies) onto 2 parchment lined sheet pans, then popped in freezer for 15-20 mins. 20 mins baking time (rotating sheets half way through). Allowed to cool as suggested. LOVE the texture of these! (but wish I did try them slightly warm….next time. Definitely a keeper recipe (no one would believe they are gluten free!) Huge ‘THANK YOU’ to Ovenly for creating the recipe and another thank you to SmittenKitchen for bringing it to my attention!
I added a tablespoon of molasses and used dark brown sugar–much more complex flavor and still super easy!
Amazing!!! Flawless
Hi Deb,
Could you add white chocolate chunks to these? Just trying to figure out changes in ratios etc.
Please look into coming to Hodges & Figgis bookshop in Dublin on your next book tour!!
Thanks,
Meg
I’ve made these cookies twice and have been thinking about dipping the cooled cookies into some melted chocolate the next time.
@Kristi I coat the bottom of the cookies with dark chocolate once they are cooled – delish! That small addition sends these over the top. Can also drizzle the tops with dark chocolate. I’ve done both – makes them look oh so pretty!
@Megan I think you could add chocolate chips with no issues. However, white chocolate is very sweet. Dark chocolate chips/chunks would be a better choice to balance the sweetness inherent in this cookie.
I think you could add them without making any changes. Would love to make it to Dublin this time! Will have to see if they let me … ;)
These are as delicious as everyone says. For those seeking a more natural PB approach, I found that using the Just Fresh Direct no-stir natural peanut butter yielded great results (in general it’s the best Skippy substitute I’ve found, but it contains cane syrup, palm oil and molasses). I also threw on a chopped dark chocolate bar, and will be upping that to 1.5 chocolate bars next time :)
Also, the cookies that rested more like 20-25 minutes in the freezer had a much better shape than the ones who were only in the freezer for 15.
Thanks, Deb, for another winner.
Just made these and followed the recipe exactly… perfect! This was my first time making flourless PB cookies and they are so delicious! The only note I’d make is that mine baked up quite a bit faster than the recipe predicted. I have yet to be disappointed by any of the recipes on this blog and I’ve made MANY!
Just to add my $.02 to the light brown sugar/dark brown sugar conversation, I’ve been making them with 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar after having run out of the light brown sugar making an earlier batch, and the result is (dare I say it) even closer to my ideal of cookie perfection than the ones with all light brown sugar. They’re just a hint sweeter and more moist, but still retain their shape. I guess it’s a bit fussy, and kind of defeats the whole three-ingredient premise, but it’s now the mandatory version of this recipe in my household.
Hope to see you in Pasadena in November, Deb! Thank you so much for all you do. Your collections of quick and budget recipes, in particular, saved me a lot of grief (and money) trying to feed myself in a shared kitchen during grad school.
Hi – I have made these cookies several times and they are AMAZING! People constantly ask me for them. However, I’ve found that the bottoms tend to burn, even though I freeze the dough. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Try a lower temperature (-25 degrees) if they’re singeing on the bottoms before they’re correctly baked throughout. Glad you’re enjoying them.
this sounds crazy but i was actually able to make them as cut-out cookies (star shaped)!
1) i sandwiched the dough between 2 sheets of saran wrap, rolled it flat to about 1/2″ and froze it flat for ~1hr
2) i cut out my shapes and spaced them out on my baking pan, then stuck the pan in the freezer again for ~1hr. you really have to work fast and try not to touch the dough that much when you’re stamping out your shapes, otherwise the dough gets sticky and loses shape
final result: delicious! kept their shape, though will warn the cookies didn’t rise as much this way
After many many many attempts at making these cookies (I mean, three ingredients, come on!) I finally cracked the problem of getting those dome shapes. Although very tasty, my cookies always ended up flattening. I thought it was the oven, freezing/chilling the dough, so I made variation after variation. Turns out I wasn’t incorporating the brown sugar and eggs enough in the first step. Hand whisking just didn’t do the trick, but a hand mixer did. Finally, I have those lovely domed shaped beauties!
These are lovely cookies for a group with diverse food restrictions. I have a dairy-free person and a gluten free person and trying to find homemade snacks that are sweet is a challenge. They gobbled these up. Just finished my second batch – I baked half and froze and hid the rest for another day.
These are the best peanut butter cookies I have ever had.
Just made these – so good! I cut sugar down to 200g and used raw sugar (no brown sugar where I live). I also chopped a bar of 90% Lindt and added that. Peanut butter, dark chocoolate and salt!!!
Kids love them, I will make again.
These cookies did not disappoint! They’re super easy and super tasty. I reduced the brown sugar about 1/4 cup because I ran out and they still taste great. Although I’m also not a fan of overly sweet desserts, I don’t think the cookie would’ve been too sweet even with the amount of sugar called for. I also added some chopped walnuts just to use them up from my freezer. I wish I had some chocolate to put in them too, based on what other people are saying. I find myself wishing I could find a chocolate chip in a few bites, but oh well, next time! Thanks for another awesome recipe Deb!
I wonder what I did wrong? Mine were flat and crunchy, although still delicious. Could it be that I used dark brown sugar? That’s all I had…
I use dark brown sugar with no issues. My thought is you baked them too long. These are done when the edges start to brown. The cookies will look underdone but they are not. The will set as they cool and be soft on the inside.
Maybe you didn’t put them in the freezer for long enough?
I am completely blown away! I had my doubts with so few ingredients but they are definitely not missing anything. I used Dakatine all natural peanut butter, used only 250g insted of 355g of light brown sugar, and chilled the dough in the fridge before scooping into 1 Tbsp balls that I cooked for 20 minutes at 180°C (356°F). They did not spread and had a lovely dome shape with marked tops. Perfection. Next time I will only use 200g sugar because they were sweeter than I am used to, but this was a grand success!
Let me be the cautionary tale: Followed all directions except whisk by hand. I used the kitchen aid because it’s sort of new to me and I was excited. Everything looked beautiful and I added one last drop of peanut butter and *BOOM* the beautiful cohesive dough separated into a million greasy bits. I baked them anyway (measured by the large end of a melon baller) after 15 min freezer time (after which there was a pool of liquid in bottom of bowl (oil, egg?)). Burned bottoms both rounds with reduced time and temperature on second try (12 min at 315F). I over-mixed and over-baked it seems. Any ideas? I’m jealous of y’all!
Me too, I think it’s the mixer. Had a feeling the hand mixing was necessary, should have followed my instinct!
Saw this warning to late. Used an electric whisk and the same thing happened.
These were sadly a disappointment. I followed the recipe exactly (including freezing) except used dark instead of light brown sugar because I always use them interchangeably. The dough was delicious and the cookies look perfect (got the striations!), but they have no taste at all. It’s the strangest thing. Maybe they needed salt in the dough in addition to on top?
These are tasty, and I love the simplicity. I cannot even imagine baking these with that much sugar though. First I tried this recipe with 1 cup of coconut sugar. Still way too sweet! Next I used only 1/2 cup coconut sugar with the rest of the recipe as is. Perfect! Yummy out of the oven but best the next day when chilled.
OMG these are amazing and so easy! A huge hit at the Christmas party. Will totally make these again.
I made these and was pretty pleased with them. They’re incredibly easy to make and better than most peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had. I’m wondering if I overbaked mine a little, because their bottoms are dark brown and crispy, but the centers are still soft. I do like the contrast in texture this creates but you can taste just a tiny suggestion of burntness from the bottom… they looked too soft to take out when I checked them a couple minutes earlier, though.
These are so easy to make and they are the most delicious cookie! I have forwarded this recipe more times than I can count. Just trying your chewy oatmeal for the first time (just about to put them in the oven) and I can’t wait to eat one!
Just made them a second time. Chopped up a chocolate bar and folded it in. This is some next level deliciousness.
These are absolutely delicious! Bit of a learning curve with bake time; they definitely seem underdone when the pan comes out. But after a couple minutes cooling, they magically turn into cookies! Seriously, these blow away any other peanut butter cookie I’ve ever had. And they make great road trip fare – fuel for the miles, and gluten-free to boot. Cheers!
I made these with only 1.25 cups of sugar, and next time I would use even less. I mixed chocolate chips into half the dough…incredible. Thank you – these cookies are not a gimmick!
I love peanut butter cookies. I love peanut butter anything and I must say, this nails it as far as peanut butter cookies go. DO NOT use cheap peanut butter! I usually salt the cookies right out of the over and as directed, patience is the key. Thanks!
I’ve made these cookies probably 5 times this winter and everyone LOVES them. My ice cream scoop must be larger because it makes about 2 pans and takes about 22 minutes to cook. Seriously the best peanut butter cookies ever and happens to be something my GF husband can enjoy!
Excellent cookies! I did take the advice of Deb and commenters and froze the dough, then the scooped unbaked cookies. Yes, that’s a bit of a pain, but it worked out great. The dough cooked up nicely — a bit flatter than Deb’s photo but not pancake-flat. Everyone who ate them liked them. I made them for a friend who’s eating gluten-free, but she announced that “I hate peanut butter cookies,” and she wouldn’t touch them. Oh well so much for good intentions…
Ok. I made these. Batter was perfect. Scooped out lovely. I BURNED THEM!! After fully cooling, I carefully cut the burnt bottoms off and served them. DELISH! (I used Laura Scudders natural peanut butter.). Great recipe Deb!
I made these to share at a dance festival this weekend, thinking it would be fun to break out some cookies at the end of the evening for a bunch of starving dancers. I shared some in the car on the way up and the driver politely insisted that they be left in the car to eat on the way home instead. Which I did, and he finished off the entire tin by the end of the weekend. Total keeper recipe!
Has anyone actually baked these with all natural peanut butter and what was the result?? Thnx!
Many people have and have commented that it works just fine — it’s not a recipe that necessarily hinges on the more processed stuff.
I only use natural almond or peanut butter for these and it’s amazing. I tried convention peanut butter once but didn’t enjoy them nearly as much. I don’t adjust the sugar or anything. I’ve been making these in one version or another for about 15 years and they’re always a hit.
Wow… These are ridiculously rich and delicious. I made with dark brown sugar and Adam’s natural creamy peanut butter because that’s what I had. They came out great. I used a 1/8th cup measuring scoop to make the cookies. I followed the freezing instructions as well.
Have you tried to use brown Swerve for this to make them Leto friendly?
These are AMAZING!! And bound to impress
I don’t normally comment as everything I’ve made from SK has turned out great but these are not only show stoppers but take about 3 min to whip up with a mixing bowl and a scale you can just tare in between each ingredient in the bowl and stir at one time (doing it all at once has not caused any issues for me)
I also skip the pre-chill as these take long enough with the freeze + baking steps
My notes:
I prefer to use a slightly bigger scoop as they are more spread (about the size of your hand), soft and fudgey and stay soft for days 😍😍
I also use dark brown sugar and half crunchy half creamy pb topped with Maldon salt before freezing and they have the perfect crunchy texture
Side note, brand does affect the texture, I’ve had the best results with jif creamy + jif extra crunchy and don’t do all crunchy pb as they come out too dry 👍
The slightly large cookies take min 20-24 min to bake
I have not had luck freezing this dough nor baked cookies so it’s best to chill until you freeze just for the 15-20 min before baking
I made these with Justin’s Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, otherwise followed the recipe exactly, for a non-kitniyot kosher le pesach option. They were amazing, the only dessert on the table that got totally eaten. They spread a little more than Deb’s, but that may have been because I chilled the dough in the fridge (who has that kind of space in the freezer??). Texture and taste were terrific, just a slightly flatter cookie.
Deb, could that egg be substituted with something to easily make these Vegan…??? And if so, would anything else have to change…???
Did you ever try to make them vegan?
Need a Nutella version of these!
Made these last night to take around a friend’s who shares my PB addiction. They are AMAZING. Perfectly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. And still crunchy the morning after, which I find is often not the case with chewy cookies. And so simple! Thankfully I read to the end of your recipe and did not make the mistake of making only half a batch. Baked up exactly 27. 24 hours later there are 12 left. Oops.
PS: i did use about 80 grams of crunchy peanut butter as I ran out of smooth.
These are fantastic. One note, if you don’t own a cookie scoop (I don’t) but still want that “domed” effect, you just merely scoop out about a heaping tablespoon, then place the dough on your palm and gently roll into a ball, just like you were making a meatball. Place the ball on the parchment paper and gently press in the salt. Because of the high oil content, the dough does not stick to your hands. Old school but it totally works!
So as soon as I came across this recipe I really wanted to try it. I followed the recipe to T. Got the pretty striations, used 1 tbsp cookie scoop, but when I baked it for 13 mins on 350, the cookie burnt at the bottom and the inside was wet. It kept the shape though. Then I tried 325 for 15 mins, it didn’t burn at the bottom like the first time (was still on a little darker side), but the inside still came out wet. Yes, I did let it rest for 10 or so mins before breaking in half to see the inside. Now I am thinking to bake it for 18 mins (maybe) at 300. Any suggestions/ideas?
18 mins at 300 – still wet!! Help, please!!
I have a few suggestions.
First, is your batter too wet? The batter should be REALLY thick. I have found that weighing the ingredients (rather than relying on measuring cups) yields the perfect ratio. Also, I furiously whisk the eggs with the brown sugar until the mix is lighter in color. Usually 2 mins of whisking is required. Then I add in the other ingredients.
Second, are you baking on parchment paper? Parchment will protect the cookie bottoms.
Third, what rack are you baking on? Middle of the oven is best.
Fourth, check your oven temp with an oven thermometer as it may run “hot”. In my oven, 350 degrees for 10 – 12 mins for the small-sized cookies (rotating pans halfway through) yields the perfect cookie texture when cooled (crispy edges, tender middle). If your oven runs hot, then 325 for longer (18 mins) may work better. You could bake one cookie at a time until you find the winning oven temp/time.
Good luck!
Hi Nissa- did you ever work this out? Mine are very dark on the bottom as well. Thanks.
Made these tonight. Embarrassingly easy for how perfectly they turned out. Thanks for another winning recipe, Deb. Your recipes are always so reliable!
I used one cup of light brown sugar and 3/4 cup cocoa powder. Not as sweet, and with a delicate chocolate hint. I also popped a single hazelnut on top, and they are totally adorable!
Deb, am I doing something wrong if the oil in the peanut butter separates after mixing? It’s pooling a bit. Not sure how to avoid that.
They are lovely just the same btw.
Thank you.
What kind of peanut butter are you using?
I had the same with Skippy smooth. I added one more bit of PB to my gorgeous dough and it splintered into a mass of greasy bits in a pool of liquid. I figured it was because I used the kitchen aid (low and brief).
That’s such a shame. I always use Skippy and hadn’t experience this. I wish I knew what made it split.
This is one of my favorite PB cookie recipes. I make them smaller as suggested above and get about 32-34 cookies from a batch. We love to gently add a Hershey kiss on top when they come out of the oven. Bake sale and gifting favorite!
I’ve made these but added peanut butter chocolate chips and delivered almonds to the top of each cookie. So good!!!
These were really good paired with the chocolate pudding. I used 235 grams of dark brown sugar and natural peanut butter. I also kept the dough in the fridge overnight and baked them fresh for a party.
I too had made the 3-4 ingredient cookies before. I liked them well enough as a gluten free version and for their intense peanut flavor, but these are even better! I forgot the sea salt so sprinkled it on after (worked ok). Also, I added mini chocolate chips to half the dough. Options = double yum.
Hi Deb! Is it possible to add oats to this recipe? I love them as is, but would like to make them a little heartier as a snack for my kids. Thanks!
I would only do it if swapping some by weight an equal weight of flour but to be honest, I’m not confident it’s the best move here as there are so few ingredients that tweaking one can change a lot. That said, I’m sure they will not go uneaten, regardless of what you do.
Deb you mentioned subbing oats for an equal amount of flour but these cookies don’t have flour! What else could I sub out to add oats? Thanks!
Sorry, I just wouldn’t here. I don’t think they need it.
You suggest swapping out “an equal weight if flour” to add oats, but the recipe as written has no flour. Is this why people are seeing the dough separate? Is flour the missing ingredient?
Right! No, there’s no flour, I just forgot. Dough separation is almost always due to natural peanut butter or the ingredients getting too warm. I use Skippy here.
I’ve made these twice. Followed you freezing and scoop size instructions precisely. My oven is definitely at the correct temp. The cookies are delicious, but they flatten out. Before they go in, they look exactly like yours and are ice cold from the freezer. Why would mine flatten out? P.S. The first time I used Skippy and second time Jif. No difference in the results.
These are great. I made them as the recipe stated, including the two 15 minute freezer times. I had #40 scoop and cooked cookies for 18 minutes as I was aiming to get the color in the photo. I’ll try less cooking time next time and see which I like better. Now, the 2nd day, cookies just as good, but I think I’ll use a little less sugar next time, and add some mini chocolate chips and/or nuts.
These cookies were really good. Thanks for the recipe, Deb! I found that the sugar didn’t melt after baking – so i could really feel the crunch of the sugar when I bit into the cookies. Did anyone else have the same experience? How can I make sure the sugar melts into the dough next time?
I made these cookies once and they were amazing, but the second time i tried they were extremely oily. any advice how to get rid of the oil and preventing it from happening again?
I had the same problem. First time was amazing, but second time was an oily mess before I even got the dough in the freezer. It was worse upon baking. The only thing that was different was the PB might’ve been a bit warmer and the eggs colder, but not by much. It’s a head scratcher, for sure. I threw it all out, as the oil was burning in the oven.
I have made this before and they came out absolutely amazing and I want to make them right now but only have extra large eggs, how will this affect the recipe? Hopefully you’ll be able to answer soon, I really need a sweet treat and these are to die for!
I typically use XL eggs. Recipe works just fine!
Awesome! Thank you!
I typically use XL eggs. Works just fine!
These are absolutely wonderful. I made them exactly as written but only had 4 ounces of white chocolate (instead of 6) and they were still superb.
It’s Tara again. Eep! I left my comment for the wrong recipe. I made the oatmeal cookies with white chocolate .
For anyone who used PB without added sugar, did you need to adjust the brown sugar in the recipe?
Hi Deb,
I’ve made these a couple of times. They are The Best peanut butter cookies EVER. I use your suggested freezing the dough before baking but they still seem to flatten significantly. Just wondering if you have any other suggestions about keeping the rounded tops….?
Thanks!
Peanut allergies at my house. Any thoughts about almond butter cookies here?
I don’t see any comments from people who have done it in full, but here are a couple people who mention it:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/#comment-824914
https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/#comment-825108
I have made the Ovenly cookies with natural peanut butter and with Skippy. There is a world of difference. The color and texture of the Skippy based cookies are far superior. The natural peanut butter ones were just “okay” by comparison. This is not the time to be a purist.
Mine are in the oven. They look and smell amazing
Thank you x ❤️
I’m so excited about this recipe but never eat icing sugar peanut butter so I’d definitely use natural pb and skip the sugar. Would this recipe work with stevia?
Nobody else has mentioned using it here, so I’m not positive.
I have made these cookies many, many times and they are always a huge hit. Super easy, super quick, and everyone loves them. Be sure to use coarse-grain or flaky sea salt because a fine grain will just melt into the cookie. Don’t make them too big, either, because they’re real calorie bombs.
These are great! But my family requires chocolate with their peanut butter. Would mini chips slump the batter? Or maybe adding some chocolate shavings and swirling them through?
When the cookies are cool, I dip the bottoms in dark chocolate. I also add a drizzle of chocolate and more flaked sea salt on top. Yum!
I haven’t done it but I think a bunch of people in the comments have — do a word search for “chocolate” — I’d link to the comments but there were 88 mentions!
These were a big hit, and so easy to make. Mine had a little sugar grit to them, which I didn’t mind, but I’m wondering if there is a way to smooth them out a little. My brown sugar was rock solid and I had to nuke it a few times to scrape off enough (not a baker), so that may have been the problem. Maybe if I let the sugar/egg mix dissolve for a bit before adding the pb it might melt the sugar more? Regardless, these are amazing and going in the family cookbook. Perfect Christmas party cookies!
Hey Deb, can I make these with any less sugar? I love peanut butter and I love these cookies but I’d love to get my peanut butter fix a little bit drier!
So my usual warning is that first, I only made these as shown above. My hunch is that they’ll still work with adjustments but they may not look like the ones you see here, i.e. tall, domed, soft-centered etc. When a recipe has so few ingredients, changing one can have a much bigger impact than, say, reducing the sugar in a cake with 12 ingredients. That said, a couple people mention reducing the sugar, some successfully, some with problems:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/#comment-1133251
https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/10/salted-peanut-butter-cookies/#comment-1049930
This is probably the first time I haven’t absolutely loved a recipe from Smitten Kitchen but these didn’t end up being my favorite. The cook dough tasted delicious and was quick to whip up but I was rather disappointed once the cookies were baked. They were much too sugary when warm but were better once they cooled. It may have been that I used a random jar of sugar filled, processed peanut butter instead of a natural, no sugar added peanut butter.
I’ve made these many times. So easy and very tasty!
Lately, I’ve put them in my cookie press. They come out beautifully.
I just finished making these. The consistency was perfect but a tad too sweet for my taste! I will reduce the sugar next time!
I just finished making these! The constancy was perfect but a tad too sweet for my taste. I would reduce the sugar!
After making these the first time according to the recipe, I made them again using 3/4 cup of sugar and adding 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips. Since I prefer less sweet desserts, that’s the version I’ll make from now on. These are so easy to stir together when a last-minute dessert is needed.
Has anyone added chocolate chips to the recipe?
I didn’t see your message before posting mine — I did just this! While chocolate is delicious on its own, I didn’t feel they integrated into the cookie very much (you have chewy peanut meringue surrounding chocolate morsels), and I think I would prefer uninterrupted peanut butter meringue / cookie.
I used supermarket generic milk chocolate chips — maybe a higher quality of chocolate would yield different results!
Mini chocolate chips, every single time—they’re perfect!
+1 for simplicity, and I love how easily the mix came out of the scoop (I was using a regular tablespoon). My bit of tinkering was by adding a handful of chocolate chips — I would advise against this, as the chips didn’t seem to melt! I also only had dark brown sugar, so used that 1:1, and the cookies came out fine.
I can’t find the answer to this and want to make these urgently – is it processed, unsweetened peanut butter? or just regular sweetened, processed peanut butter?
Regular sweetened peanut butter. I use Jif since it is less sweet than Skippy.
i love this recipe. the texture of the batter looks so perfectly creamy. and my peanut butter loving son with celiac can eat them since they are flourless. Yay!
Beautifully chewy. My cookie scoop made the striations on only one side of the cookies, but they looked great anyway.
Made them at the same time as regular standard PB cookies and brought both to work. These were gone quickly, long before the others.
Does this recipe make 26-28 recipes or do I have to double it? Your comment of halving the recipe is throwing me off!
This recipe made exactly 26 cookies for me using a scoop that was smaller than 1/4 cup (not sure how big it was exactly).
Super yummy, though my PB was runny and I ended up with a more lace-like cookie. I topped half of them with this morning’s bacon crumbles AND the salt. Yay!
These are AWESOMELY delicious. My pregnant partner is currently accusing me of denying our unborn child food for taking an alleged extra nibble off of a shared one, they’re THAT good!
winner!
Fantastic cookies. I disobeyed the instructions and blended the peanut butter and sugar first, then added eggs and vanilla. Also did not freeze, but did refrigerate – briefly – the batter before baking. Delicious and they look so homey and great. I was in doubt about the flaked salt (I used Maldon) so left it off a few of the cookies. REGRET. Never doubt SK.
I made these and followed the recipe exactly. The texture was just like please, I used #40 cookie scoop and put them in the freezer for 20-25 minutes. After baking them for 10 minutes they are flat as a pancake. What did I do wrong?? :(
I have a love for these cookies that borders on obsession. Added a cup of chocolate chips which is never a bad idea. Using a 16.3 oz jar of Skippy and not having to measure out 1 3/4 cups of sticky peanut butter is genius. I plan to make them again, and again, and again!
Been wondering about adding chocolate chips – thanks for testing that for me!
Oh my gosh, these are little bites of heaven. Pure and simple heaven. I think I just found my new go to peanut butter cookie recipe. I also halved the recipe because my peanut butter supplies were low, but I will be making a full batch of these again real soon!
I’m curious as to why a rimmed baking sheet is specified – would a rimless sheet alter the way the cookies bake?
I have made these several times, always using rimless non-stick cookie sheets and they come out great. Not sure anybody makes them any more, but these are the kind that have a layer of air in between two sheets of metal. Think they used to be called cushion-aire. Hard to find now but I love them.
Anyone every try gluing the bottoms together with preserves?
No but I once made ice cream sandwiches with them & tart cherry jam. It was epic but very sweet.
I just made these yesterday, for my brother’s birthday. He’s doing Keto, so I made one batch with Swerve brown sugar-substitute, and another with dark brown sugar (because I’m not doing Keto.) The ones with the sugar-substitute actually did a better job holding the rounded shape, though they were lumpier. The one’s with real sugar deflated as soon as I took them out of the oven (but still tasted amazing.)
If I had to make them with the sugar substitute again, I would see if I could use less sugar. They were a lot sweeter, bordering on too sweet, then the regular ones.
The first time I made these, I was very careful to do everything, including freezing steps. They came out awesome, with the salt topping visible and domed like the photos. I just made them again with more haste, and noticed most came out flatter and the salt was barely visible this time. Only the last 3 cookies that I scooped were domed. The only thing I could think would cause this difference is that I did fuller, denser scoops on the last 3, because I was trying to finish off the batter. I think slightly longer freezing time helps too. I cut the brown sugar to 1.25 cups both times, but seems from other comments, this doesn’t affect the outcome. So I would suggest experimenting with density of each scoop. I think they taste great no matter the shape!
At the request of my sweetie, who has a few dietary needs, I made these with Teddy Natural PB (smooth) and they came out great! The two important tips are BLEND and CHILL. Blending made the PB nice and smooth, but in a strong blender like the Vitamix (and room temp Teddy, which is runny), the PB got too warm to make the nice domed and striated shape beloved by our Deb. So I chilled them in the bowl for much longer than recommended (an hour, and I could have done more) to get a better, homogenized dough consistency and prevent oil from leaking out. I then froze the scooped cookies (smaller size) to almost frozen and baked them from there – it took about 18 minutes from near-frozen to perfectly baked in my oven (YMMV, and next time I will chill the dough even longer before scooping, for maximum loft). They were FANTASTIC and I will be using the natural stuff from now on!
What about a chocolate chip or two?
Do you think this would work with sunflower seed butter for people with peanut and treenut allergies? Thanks!
This answer is 3 years too late and I just made them with sunflower butter and they turned out great (taste like sun nut butter which is not for everyone, but what else would I expect?!)
A friend made this for me after I recently gave up gluten (not by choice) and they are FABULOUS (like “moment of silence” good)! I just made my first batch and they’re still on the cookie sheet. If you haven’t made them yet, you’re in for a treat. They’re super easy to make and are the peanut butter equivalent of fudgy texture-wise. I may reduce the sugar, but wanted to make the recipe as written first. Thanks for sharing it!
I’m sitting here eating #2 and I have to say these are the best peanut butter cookies I have *ever* had.
without a doubt, easy to prepare and oh my goodness unquestionably delicious! it was like eating peanut butter, but so much more delightful and seemly than doing so spoon by spoon from the jar. i used natural jif, as it was what i had in the pantry, but honestly don’t see any reason to operate differently next time!
Hi all! I am new to baking and I have a question. I just made these (followed the recipe exactly including both freeze sessions) and they taste delicious but the insides look undercooked. They are darker than the outside and look what I would usually describe as wet. The outsides are nice and golden and crisp but I’m worried they are unsafe to eat. Any advice is very much appreciated, thank you!
Hi, Liz. I can tell you from baking these myself and from having them at a bakery that they are somewhat moist on the inside and a shade darker. They may be more or less oily depending on the peanut butter used. As for food safety, in this recipe it’s just the eggs, so as long as you followed the directions, I think they should be fine. Happy eating!
Made these delicious cookies earlier this week. My entire family loved them. I used skippy natural peanut butter and it worked just fine, plus I added two larger dark chocolate chunks in the middle of each scoop. Will definitely make them again!
I made the batter and put it in the refrigerator. I plan to bake on 2 days. Do I take it out of the refrigerator, then scoop, then Putin freezer for 15 minutes? Also, what is the best way to store these when made?
Yes, you could do that. OR, scoop them out onto a lined cookie sheet and pop into the freezer. Once frozen, store in a freezer bag. When ready to bake, take whatever amount of frozen cookies out of this freezer and put on your lined baking sheet. Let sit for five minutes before sprinkling generously with flaked sea salt and popping into your preheated oven.
Since there are only two of us, when I make up a batch, I only bake off what we will eat over a couple of days and freeze the rest for later. Works perfectly!
I made these and they came out great … exactly as the recipe said. I have a question or two: I used creamy Skippy and it worked perfectly. Could I use chunky Skippy or add nuts the next time? If so, do I need to adjust the recipe at all? How for either one? Thanks!
I have made these with a 15 oz jar of crunchy Jif and added another 1/2 cup of creamy Jif to make up for the lost PB in the crunchy jar due to the nuts. I found this combo to work better than using a creamy jar of PB and adding in chopped peanuts.
These are now a family favorite! I tried them with flax eggs to make them vegan and they are delicious! The cookies are a bit more crumbly than the egg version, but they are just as wonderful!
I never buy anything but natural chunky peanut butter (the exact opposite of what you call for in the recipe, I know), but it does produce the play doh like consistency you talk about, and the results were delicious! I made another adjustment by putting a single chocolate chunk in the middle of each before sprinkling the salt on top. Everyone was mad about these cookies. I’m baking more right now!
Oh wow. These cookies were magic!
These cookies won me the golden spoon (first place) at our office baking contest. And I am a cook, not a baker! Ridiculously good.
These look a-ma-zing! Just can’t resist some salty peanut butter goodness! Looks like my weekend baking is sorted! :)
These were a) super fast and easy to throw together, b) perfect for putting a smile on my wheat-free friend, and c) omg so good! A friend of mine gave birth to her son about a month after my daughter was born and since then our families have a standing Sunday dinner together. Our kids get a chance to play and we all get a chance to talk to other adults (who knew this was a such a hard thing to get!). I decided to throw these together at the last minute one Sunday evening with my little one crawling at my feet (I’m a glutton for punishment, what can I say?). They were delicious and my friend was THRILLED to have a cookie she could eat.
Like CSERREZE, I also followed the instructions and they ended up flat. The odd thing is, I’ve made the recipe many times, and even with the same oven and they used to come out just like Deb’s. I chilled the dough for 15 minutes before popping them in the oven. Any ideas?
Speaking of comments on recipes. I make this recipe regularly, I have used natural peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, and chocolate-hazelnut butter. I have never used the processed Jiff/Skippy peanut butter. I love this recipe, but with the natural peanut butters you really do need to freeze the portioned-out cookies before baking so they better hold their shape. I also found that the natural nut butters need a slightly smaller cookie, or they cook too unevenly. The bottoms may caramelize and start to burn before the domed center-top is even cooked.
Made these with my 3 year old – such an easy recipe to make with kids! I’ve made these many times too and always use “natural” or chunky peanut butter, I actually prefer it this way. And shape comes out just fine IMO.
Love these! The second time I made them I added a bar of chopped dark chocolate which obviously made them extra yum!
I go to this recipe repeatedly! So good.
These are the most adult PB cookies I have ever had! I get rave reviews when I bake them, and the salt on top – the best kind of sprinkles! I have to say, they only turn out when I bake them at sea level. They crumble or totally flatten when I bake them at high altitude! Not sure how to fix that, but I am at sea level now so no problem!
Thanks, Rebecca! What is your altitude at “high altitude?” We live at 1550’ and didn’t have a problem, so presume you are higher at altitude. Agree this is a terrific recipe. I took them to a business meeting and they were a hit!
I love your site and the “I Made This” tab feature! Well, what I made may not qualify as this recipe, but it was still delicious! I wanted to get rid of a jar of almond butter (natural and quite runny) because it’s just too sweet, so I substituted almond butter for the peanut butter. Then I used just 1 cup of (dark, course) brown sugar because I thought the almond butter plus full sugar would make cookies too sweet. The dough was really gooey and oily, and even though I froze it both before and after forming, the cookies did not hold their peak shape but turned out like regular cookies. Definitely let them cool, overnight is better! Perfect! …except I wanted them to be prettier for a Christmas cookie tray — oh, guess I can’t take and share them now! Thanks for the recipe!
deb – i’ve made these and they are delicious! this time tho, when i froze them, they didn’t freeze solid – still a little soft and hard to load into freezer bags. do you have any thoughts about why this happened? i didn’t adjust the recipe at all. thanks!
I presume it’s because the fat in peanut butter doesn’t freeze solid, but I’m not positive.
I made these EXACTLY as written (except I skipped freezing them because I have NO room in my freezer (who has that much space in their freezer? Come teach me your ways!) and I was just testing it out to see what the fuss was about). It was so easy and fast I’ll be making these regularly! My family loved them! I already bought another container of peanut butter for my next batch. A few of the cookies I practically rolled in the salt for myself because I love salty cookies and I’ll do it again next time. Next time I’ll probably clean out some freeze space to test out freezing them. These are definitely worth making!
Snowed in and this seems like a doable recipe with a 16 month old to wrangle. Question is I only have dark brown sugar. Should I use a combo of dark brown and white sugars so it isn’t too moist, as previously mentioned? Thanks!
I only use dark brown sugar and they come out great!
I think I forgot to rate this in my last comment, please add rating of 5 stars.
Great cookie– we pressed Hersey kisses into the middle right after taking them out of the oven and they were a hit at our holiday party!
hello! Silly question I’m sure, are you suggesting that sugar should be reduced if using the skippy peanut butter? Or, just letting us know wha the sugar is in skippy so if using something else you can adjust the sugar up or down?
Thank you much and happiest of holidays!
I use Skippy here; I use the sugar as listed.
Hey y’all! I’ve made these with almond butter, also with coconut sugar when I was out of brown sugar – fabulous! Coconut sugar gives a deeper flavor than light brown sugar. The texture is great – chewy and soft at the same time. I don’t think you could screw up something so simple, no matter the sugar or nut butter combo.
Forgot to say: I always reduce the amount of sugar – I find most recipes to be too sweet – and they are still plenty sweet! I reduced this by about 1/2 cup.
Is “light brown sugar” the same as “golden sugar”?
No, or I don’t think so. Here it’s sold in bags and is somewhat damp.
Could you add chocolate chips?
Will chunky skippy work?
What about adding chocolate chips?
When I make these I use smooth 1 3/4 cups creamy Jif and add in 3/4 cup chopped peanuts. You can use chunky peanut butter BUT you will need to add additional creamy peanut butter to make up the difference of the peanuts in the chunky version in order to get the cookie texture correct. How much? It depends as each chunky version of peanut butter contains a different ratio of peanuts to smooth peanut butter.
I just made these. So easy and delicious. I did not freeze them at all. Turned out great!
Everyone loves these, quick easy and delicious. More often than not, I take a big ole hunk of dark chocolate and chop it up in big shards and toss it in the mix- dude 🙀
FWIW my report on making these with freshly ground peanut butter and rapadura (aka panela) (and egg and vanilla and salt as directed): I baked half the batch without chilling. They were tall and fluffy and a little too dark on the bottom. They tasted like sugar, not peanut butter. I baked the other half after chilling and I flattened them with a spatula (because I don’t like tall fluffy cookies). Cooked for less time, still slightly too dark on the bottom, but a really nice chewy texture. Either way, too strong a taste of sugar for me. I wonder if with natural peanut butter, plain white granulated sugar would let more of the peanut butter taste come through? I think for my personal tastes I’ll stick with old fashioned flour and butter based peanut butter cookies.
Baking is a science. When you make substitutions in baked recipes, it’s important to note the difference those subs have. So here’s a couple of thoughts. I find fresh nut butters to be very bland especially if the nuts are not roasted and salted prior to grinding. Also, freshly ground nut butters are much drier than commercial nut butters. In addition, by swapping out brown sugar with rapadura, your version of this recipe became even DRIER since rapadura lacks the moisture that brown sugar has due to the molasses that brown sugar contains. The dryness in your batter is evident in the fluffiness that your cookies exhibited as moisture would have made them rich and dense as they are when using commercial peanut butter and brown sugar. I also think you may have baked them too long – hence the brown bottoms. In order to even begin to achieve the proper texture, your recipe version would require additional fat (oil) as well as molasses added. (I actually add an additional TBLSP of molasses to my version and I also use dark brown sugar since this yields a rich, deep flavor). On a side note, I find that whisking the eggs and sugar together quite aggressively until the mixture lightens in color (about 2 minutes) yields a better overall result. And IMHO, chilling the dough is a must prior to baking.
I made these with natural chunky peanut butter and they were delicious, especially with added dark chocolate chunks.
I made these on Sunday and they were absolutely fantastic! Four ingredients for a glorious PB cookie? I am so thrilled :D Thanks Deb!
Hi Deb! I just made these and they are delicious! However, they almost look unbaked in the center. Is that how they are supposed to come out? I even baked them a little longer than you say. Thanks!
Yes, that is correct.
I had already purchased 100% natural, one ingredient peanut butter before reading all of the comments. I can’t have cane sugar, so I used 1 1/4 c. coconut sugar and 1/4c. maple sugar. Dough was quickly chilled in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. I didn’t want to waste all of these ingredients, so I only put 4 smaller size cookies on the first tray. Two were left mounded and two were flattened with a fork, in the traditional criss cross pattern. I moved my parchment from my insulated cookie sheet to a pan with low sides, just in case everything ran everywhere! The bottoms were burnt at 12 minutes, the center of the mounded cookies wasn’t quite cooked through.
Next try- parchment went back on the insulated cookie sheet because they didn’t spread, other than a small oil slick around each cookie. Higher placement in oven to get bottoms away from the heat source, although the insulated tray would have probably taken care of this. Added three chocolate chips to each after salting. 14 minutes to perfection!
Well done! She who perseveres, gets to eat the spoils!! 👍🏻 😊
Guess I’m in the minority. I was excited to try these after all the glowing review. I made them this afternoon and we enjoyed them but prefer JoAnne Chang Flour PB cookies more. I made the bigger version, put them in the freezer before scooping and after and they came out more shiny than those in the photos. They were dark brown on the edges and bottom so I definitely needed to take them out. The centers were definitely gooey. I’m glad I tried them but they won’t be part of my regular rotation and they definitely weren’t to die for.
oh. my. god!! I made these a year ago and loved them so much I couldn’t make them again–they are CRACK. Now I finally made them again, mostly to give away, but still managed to eat half of them myself. The main reason I’m writing is to say that 1) I’ve been making my own peanut butter for decades, by simply throwing store-bought roasted peanuts in my food processor, so I really appreciated the gram weights–I just put in that amount of whole peanuts to make the peanut butter, and it worked out great. and 2) I had no eggs in the house so I decided to go vegan and try my chia seed powder as a substitute, and it came out great! One Tbs chia seed powder + 3 tbs water, then add the sugar. Came out just as chewy and delicious as the original. I vow I shall not make these again for another year!
Silly question but should you form balls first before freezing?
Yes
Yum. I made these today. I kept the dough in the fridge for about an hour, then scooped and froze. They kept their shape pretty well and were delicious. SO peanut buttery. Oh, I test some with milk chocolate chips shoved inside. SO GOOD.
Amazing. Don’t know why I waited so long. On the other hand, they are a much-needed, so sweet quarantine treat. Made as written, turned out perfect. The salt is essential.
Hello Deb!
Question. Can I make these with demerara (not soft brown sugar)? I am out of the normal stuff and love this recipe!
Do you have white sugar and molasses? You can make your own brown sugar.
These are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted, and so easy! I had to make a few adjustments and they still came out amazing. I substituted Swerve brown sugar for 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and substituted homemade cashew butter (whizzed up mid bake since I didn’t realize my husband had already gotten into the peanut butter jar) for 1/2 cup of the peanut butter. I didn’t freeze the first batch but I did the second, and you should definitely include the freezer time. The ones that chilled before baking came out much chewier and richer.
Made two batches to compare. One as per this recipe. The second with TJ organic, unsalted chunky PB, oat flour (freshly grounded from old-fashion rolled oats), and reduced sugar by 1/2 cup. Replaced 2Tbsp of the PB with oat flour, stirred and let sit an hour to stabilize the oil separation. Refrigerated doughs overnight and used a small ice cream scoop.
Results? Both recipes resulted cookies like your photos. The original recipe was too sweet and creamy for my taste. The chunky recipe was perfect for me, a slightly sweet / salty roasted peanut taste. I tend to favor cookies that are crispy rather than soft and chewy.
As always, let your personal taste be the judge. Food is not a consensus.
Could I add chocolate chips to these? I love your peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe and to me, everything is better with chocolate!
Hi,
I made these today. They were awesome, crunchy outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I was so pleased. But once I put them in a container, the crispness was gone. Has this ever happened to you? Maybe because I love in a troubadour country. Or because of the lack of flour?
I didn’t like these. I like a cakey peanut butter cookie. These didn’t taste like a cookie to me. Sorry.
Recently made these cookies, after reading rave reviews all over the Internet. Appreciated the few extra directions added in here, but sadly my cookies did not keep the shape at all. Just ended up with flat very normal looking cookies!
Otherwise tasty peanut butter cookies, a bit sweet for me personally, but a handy gluten free cookie recipe to have!
Hi Deb, I tried making these but the dough was really oily. After chilling the dough, my hand was completely covered in oil from the Skippy creamy Peanut butter. When i tried to shape it into balls. I tried baking nonetheless and the cookies were just baking in a puddle of oil. Did i do something wrong? Anyone had the same experience?
I am absolutely obsessed with these cookies. How can something so simple be so addictively good? Thank you!
Love these! I’ve made them many times with natural peanut butter. Also, tried half tahini, but I didn’t really notice the difference.
I use natural PB too, and they turned out just like the photos! I was using cold eggs and cold PB, so maybe that’s why they worked? I didn’t chill the dough at all. I don’t know, but they’re my new fave PB cookie!
I’ve made this now weekly for at least 6 months after reading it here, thank you oh so much!! I’ve tried the peanut butter, au natural, and it didn’t cook up as good, no idea why.
Also make it easy when listing the ingredients – 1 pound of brown sugar and a 16 oz jar of PB. Thanks again!!
I made these from the ovenly recipe a couple of weeks ago and while they tasted amazing, mine deflated because I didn’t do the prescooping freeze that you suggest here, and thus the texture wasn’t as amazing as what you describe, I will try it again with that note. Thanks!
i don’t have light brown sugar for some reason. i do have dark brown sugar. would there be much of a difference?
It should work fine here
made these today and oh my god they are the chewiest, need-a-glass-of-milk-iest pb cookies i’ve ever had. thanks, deb!
Do you think it’s necessary to wait for the eggs to come to room temp if I’m going to stick the dough in the fridge before scooping?
Hi Lauren, this one is about chemistry. When the egg is cold the Yolk doesn’t mix with the White as well. A little trick, put the egg in Warm water, and it’s good to go in about 10 minutes. Good luck!!
Thanks for the answer!
This recipe is a gem! I made these yesterday for dessert and they were so so easy. I used natural peanut butter from trader joe’s and it seized up nicely to make a good dough. I took the note about refrigerating the dough prior to baking and put it back in the fridge between batches. They came out perfect and are the only peanut butter cookie I’ve ever liked! They’re delicious.
One question: I have made it a habit to freeze balls of cookie dough and bake them as I want them (it’s just me and my spouse at home so eating a whole batch of cookies is kind of a thing that happens). Would that work with this?
I keep them in the Freezer and cook a few 5 days a week … great for Diabetics, no Flour!!!
Question – my whole batch melted almost completely flat. I tried freezing the try and they still came out flat 😞
Any suggestions? I love to try these cookies again.
What kind of peanut butter did you use?
Skippy or Jif has worked best, and the ‘regular’ type. I tried a ‘natural’ version as it was the only thing in-house and it came out terrible. I also only cook a ‘frozen’ cookie … I make them then freeze, cook 4-5 times a week in a toaster oven. Hope this helps!
I made these just as the recipe called and they were AMAZING!! I also added cacao nibs (which worked great, for they didn’t add extra sugar) and they were divine.
These cookies are wonderful, and thank you so much for your valuable tips! Even with double chilling, my cookies still never turn out as tall and prettily striated as the Ovenly ones I get at the cafe, though. I’m positive they must have some extra secret.
I don’t think I’ve ever had the ‘dome’ look, they’re always flattened somewhat … not like a chocolate chip, but not domed. That’s ok, I love them and with no flour Carbs this Diabetic loves them!!
Delicious cookies! The coarse-grained sea salt makes the real difference, just perfect!
I was skeptical about the three ingredients turning into a cookie but this recipe turned out very nicely. I used a small cookie scoop and ended up with about 30 cookies. I used the Kirkland natural peanut butter from Costco with good results – striations on the top without any time in the freezer and a play-doh consistency after mixing. Since I saw a comment or two about altitude, I live at 7,000 feet and these turned out perky for me without any adjustments/issues. Thank you for sharing this great recipe, Deb. Nice to have an easy cookie recipe on hand.
how do you think these would be with a chocolate kiss set a top like the classic holiday cookie?
I think it would be delicious
I’ve found they’re not as good, nor is regular Peter Pan which was the only option another time I was out of PB. It’s not a hard recipe to follow, but follow it you should … it’s worth it!!!
Worth experimenting with … I tried cocoa powder and that was a bust
I did these as peanut butter blossoms and am freaking ecstatic about them: rolled them in one-inch balls, baked for 11 minutes at 350 before pulling them out and popping on the Hershey’s Kiss, then put them back in for two minutes. So, so good—everything I’ve ever loved about peanut butter blossoms but better.
These are absolutely insane. Best peanut butter cookie I’ve ever had easily- it seems impossible, but somehow it isn’t! I put hershey kisses on mine to make them PB blossoms and scooped them small. Chilled 10 minutes in freezer before scooping but did not freeze the tray, and they turned out perfectly.
Hi Deb, I’d like to put a Hershey’s kiss right in the middle when they come out of the oven. How do you think it would come out? I wasn’t sure if that would work with this flourless cookie. Can’t wait to make them!
This has been my staple PB cookie for years… Great for gluten free friends! I don’t freeze the dough, I just mix it and throw it in. However, I cook these to just barely done-so they are chewy and soft!
Also, I just tried this recipe with a flax egg to make it GF/vegan, and it worked great!
These are absolutely amazing. Unlike any peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted. Gluten and dairy free to boot, not that it’s a deal breaker for me one way or the other as long as it tastes good. These are great. A nice yield and fabulous flavor. Go for it if you haven’t already!!
Just finished making these and although I froze the dough and then the dough balls they did not remain “mounded” when baked. That said, they are delicious and always get rave reviews so who cares!
These were amazing and so easy! Everyone raved about them. Thank you!
I made these again today. Perfection! I make this cookie recipe more than any other, and I’ll never make another peanut butter cookie. They come out amazing every time.
I’ve made these before and they were delicious. I had a jar of ‘natural’ peanut butter that I had to use up and thought I’d give these cookies a try with that. After making them, I’d recommend not making these with natural peanut butter. If you’re on the fence or thinking about using natural peanut butter, think again. The taste is good, but they flattened out like pancakes. Huge plate size pancakes (I did the 1/4 cup cookie). Just my opinion, but I thought I’d share. Maybe if I had frozen them for longer, it might have worked…
I spread out the dough for a thinner, crisper cookie and halved the cooking time. Delicious!
Perfect for my g-f friends and family too.
These would be great to make with an 8 and 5 1/2 yr old. When they ask if they would be even better with chocolate chips, I respond ………….,..? ? ??
These are going into the compost. The recipe works, but these aren’t very good. They are too sweet and I mostly tasted the brown sugar. I missed the chew and substance of a “real” PB cookie. I’m genuinely surprised people love these. My husband pronounced them “okay”. And the sugar amount, yikes. Nearly twice as much as other recipes.
Chrissy, the amount of sugar also sounded a bit too much for me and – intuitively – I used less (about 1/2 cup less, maybe more). This worked well for me as I like to serve this type of cookies with coffee. The sweetness complements well with the bitterness of an espresso.
The perfect sould food to make on a foggy October morning. I added some high-quality chocolate chips (72%) to the dough and coffee salt on top (Kara mentioned Espresso salt in an earlier comment, sounded good to me as I don’t have many ideas how to use the coffee salt otherwise) and it worked great for me. The right treat for an afternoon coffee break amidst a busy work day.
Have you tried adding chocolate chips to this peanut butter cookie recipe? Kind of a reverse peanut butter cup.
I made these cookies today for a GF friend. They truly are amazing! I don’t usually bake GF, but I felt like she always missed out. This recipe makes the most glorious PB cookies! Crispy on the outside, soft/chewy insides. Super easy! I used an ice cream scoop, made a dozen bakery sized cookies. Chilled the dough after scooping and still got nice little ridges. Try these! You won’t be sorry
Made the safe sauce with storebought pumpkin ravioli and it was so good!! I had no walnuts, so swapped in pecans and it worked.
Just made these again for the first time in years. 5 stars for sure! I weighed the sugar and PB (and used the cheapest store brand PB, I kinda love it a lot more than any so-called “natural” PB and will not apologize), given a few commenters said they had weird experiences with the batter splitting or not being quite right. You don’t need eggs at room temp – I added mine right in from the fridge with no issues. I did find the batter was soft enough that it needed the fridge for 20 mins before dropping the cookies on the sheet. Lastly, I added a solid amount of semi-sweet chocolate wafers and would never dream of making them without!
These cookies spread quite a bit for me too, despite chilling the dough before scooping for 15 minutes, and then chilling after scooping for another 15 minutes. They look more like ‘normal’ cookies instead of little cookie domes. Very tasty though! Would consider freezing them next time before baking.
Bottom line: Use an electric hand mixer. I think I reverted to the original Ovenly recipe while following yours. The first change I made was to use an electric hand mixer, because I know I’m a lazy hand mixer. As I beat the peanut butter into the dough, the texture kept changing, even after the peanut butter was well mixed in. In a minute or so, I had perfect playdough textured cookie dough that I could scoop and bake without any chilling whatsoever, little ripples on the top and all, no spreading in the oven. So, I recommend using an electric mixer. I’m sure you could achieve the same texture eventually by hand, but you’d be worn out.
I’ll test it … mine rarely look like their pics but who cares, they’re the BEST!
So fantastic! We mixed in a cup of chocolate chips and were not the least bit sorry.
Somehow part of a bowl of batter got left in the fridge overnight uncovered and when we used what was left the cookies seemed to retain their shape a bit more and have an even better contrast between the slightly crusty outside and warm soft inside. We were (miraculously) able to leave the bowl in there for several days and felt like each batch of cookies we made was better than the one before.
Could I roll these into balls to bake & then push Hershey kiss into them when they come out? I bought a ton of kisses for my son’s school valentines, but he was stingy so we have tons leftover.
I haven’t done this but expect it to work.
just wondering about your take on what i have heard more and more about regarding cookies…24-36 hours (or more) batter in the fridge to “meld” the ingredients before baking???
It depends on the cookies. These don’t need it.
Yum!! Exactly as promised (and I was so impatient I didn’t chill or freeze the dough at any point lol). I literally got her newsletter today and ran out to get the ingredients to make. Woman on a mission!!
Firm on the outside and perfectly gooey on inside. Totally tasted like peanut butter cups. So easy to make. I did cut sugar a bit (just under 1.5 cup of brown sugar) and also sprinkled a few dark choc mini chips on top as a few people were considering. My only concern is that I’m going to keep eating them …!!!
I made these with tahini and a half teaspoon of Diamond kosher salt (since tahini is unsalted) and they are incredible, they taste just like halva!
brilliant!
Which tahini brand did you use? :)
I just made these cookies using Smuckers creamy natural peanut butter, and they had the beautiful, mounded shape, and amazing almost fudge texture. I don’t know if it’s the brand of peanut butter, or the fact that we keep it in the fridge after the initial stirring of the jar after opening (this keeps it from separating). I did not chill the dough after mixing. So natural PB lovers…you can use it, because it works. :)
I made these for someone who is GF and dairy free. SO GOOD! I was very impressed. I used a 1/8 cup to scoop them and had to smoosh them down a bit. They did not spread at all for me.
You do not have to be a peanut butter fan to love these. I didn’t grow up eating peanut butter and it’s not one of my favourite things. I only had a jar in my pantry as a “just in case” for guests. And your standard cookie with the fork marks? Not for me thanks. And then I made these cookies! They have me “standing on a soap box” proclaiming everyone must try! Not wrong to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream either.
Deb, I have made these cookies several times. My first attempt was the most successful because the dome shaped held. I strictly followed your recipe and instructions. The people with whom I shared the cookies called them “peanut butter crack” so … I guess that means the cookies were good. I thought they were pretty darned good! After my first attempt, I have never been able to achieve the same dome shape. I am baffled since I am still following your recipe and instructions. My friends still call the cookies “PB crack”, even if they are flatter. I feel the dome shape is important to the taste and visual appeal of this cookie. What suggestion would you make to help achieve the dome shape? Love your website and your recipes!
I have had great success using natural peanut butter and adding an egg white. Works great! Love these cookies!
I’ve made these twice now and my yield is about 10 lower than the recipe states. Im using the smaller scoop. I can’t figure out what I’m doing differently.
Also excited to report they did hold their dome shape. I did both freezings as suggested. Reading the comments section before trying a recipe is generally helpful but can also make you really paranoid
These are my favorite peanut butter cookies. I recently saw the note on the bottom about the type of peanut butter. I use Costco’s organic peanut butter –just Valencia peanuts and sea salt, nothing else. I only use 1 cup of brown sugar. I mix thoroughly and then put the mix in the freezer for 10 minutes, take it out stir again, then another 10 minutes. They come out perfect every time with less sugar, but still the best!
I made these for my book club to accommodate some gluten free friends, but now they are a staple in my home. I use really cheap extra crunchy PB (using a little extra than the recipe calls for), and dark chocolate chips if I have them. With a generous sprinkle of sea salt, they are THE BOMB. Book club decided they are to be served at every meeting!
Whatever I don’t bake at the time I roll into a log and put it in the freezer to slice and bake whenever they call my name.
Just made these for the second time except used a 1/4 cup cookies scoop because I wanted them to be FAT! They spread a bit more than I would have liked despite freezing the dough and the scooped cookies. No matter. They tasted INCREDIBLE and you’re so right – similar to the center of a peanut butter cup only BETTER! Topped with homemade vanilla bean flake salt. Divine!!!
Can you make them with crunchy peanut butter?
I always use crunchy, and add a bit more than the recipe calls for. What I don’t bake right away, I roll into a log and keep in the freezer for slice and bake whenever we want them.
This is hands down the best peanut butter cookie I’ve ever had!
I made this when I found them on your site in the spring and they were delicious! We’ve been trying to eat a bit better lately but these would still be a good treat when we need it! Less sugar and carbs than most snacks and desserts but still so yummy! Thank you!
So you think they would work with tahini as well?
I’ve definitely seen many versions online with tahini — I’d Google around and look at reviews — they definitely look flatter as tahini is more liquid/oily but I am sure they’re delicious.
I think this may be the first smittenkitchen.com recipe that I don’t love. They looked nice and the texture was soft and chewy in the middle and crispy on the sides like Deb said they would be. They were a bit eggy for me and I missed the flour to give them more texture. I normally use oat flour with a bit of baking powder for rise and I prefer that method over this one.
I came here to update this (in case anyone ever makes it this far down in the comments and cares). I love these cookies the longer they sit!! I did wait for them to cool completely before tasting them the first day, but I guess they just need to sit? They were so much better the next day, and I’m still eating them a week later and they’re so good!
Also, I went heavy on the flaky salt on top before baking and that was a good decision.
I made these 3 days ago and we LOVED them! I made one batch with sprinkled fior’ di sale that my sister bought when she lived in Italy for 3 years–yummy! The 2nd batch had no salt because my husband has salt restrictions. Both were delish! I wasn’t sure if I needed to “flatten” the ball of dough (after I froze them 15 mins.), then baked them, so I did this with the tines of a fork vertical, then horizontal. Like a tic-tac-toe pattern. (Honestly, my mother did this with molasses cookies.) But I discovered they were crumbly after baking them. Should I leave the “mound” intact? Yes, it rose up high as you suggested. Just wanted to clarify. I LOVE ALL OF YOUR RECIPES!!! Thank you so much!!!
They mix together very quickly (I added dark chocolate chips). I froze the batter for around 15 minutes and then 45 for the second batch. Neither batch domed — they both flattened in the oven — but it didn’t bother me. These are still the best PB cookies I’ve ever made. Thank you.
I dabbed a little goat cheese on top of one before giving to my wife last night. Now she is weak in the knees.
If you keep mixing after adding the peanut butter, it does become like play doh. Using stand mixer with whisk attachment instead of by hand makes it easier of course! I’ve been making these from ovenly blog for awhile and it took me a bunch of times to realize I needed to keep going. Though honestly not sure it matters because the cookies are amazing without mixing that stage as long as you chill the dough before and/or after scooping. It’s a fool proof recipe.
Sometimes I add crumbled dehydrated strawberries and skip the salt on top to make PBJ cookies. The tartness of the berries of the berries really balances out the richness of the peanut butter.
I make these so often and always a huge hit. Lately I’ve been putting some surprise raspberry jam in the middle just to mix it up a bit. i have yet to figure out a good way to get the jam in the middle. I scoop the cookies and then pipe some jam into the middle. It’s a bit hit and miss as to how much i end up with in each cookie. Any thoughts? Thank you :)
I have made these cookies truly countless times over the years. We always have peanut butter in the house so I can make them on a whim and be eating delicious cookies 30 minutes later. A perfect recipe!!
Does anyone know how long these cookies last? Are they best on the first day?
They are most definitely NOT best on the first day; they got better every day after that! I would say best when they’ve had a couple of days to settle. I was eating them for 2 weeks (stored in an airtight container) and they were so delicious!
Great to know, I’ll make them today to use on the weekend. Thank you!
Oh man these are guuuuudd
Curious if anyone’s tried making these with a Cuisinart. I’ve used them in the past to emulsify tahini, and thought perhaps they’d make mixing them with natural peanut butters easier.
I absolutely adore these cookies. The flavor and texture are phenomenal. Thank you for sharing them with us! My husband requests them all the time, too.
These cookies were so easy and delicious. Used homemade(hm) peanut butter and gilded the lily with 62% chocolate chunks. Also topped with hm smoked pink Himalayan sea salt. The trick to using hm peanut butter is to slightly overprocess it so it stays silky.
Update: second batch reduced sugar to 1&1/2C, chopped 3 oz. BS choc chunks finer & yielded 30 cookies. Just as delicious with lot of requests for recipe. One commenter mentioned not having brown sugar. When that happens here, I mix granulated sugar with a little molasses until it’s the right color.
I just made these and with my own planned (reduced fat pb) and unplanned (only had dark brown sugar, then ran out of enough to make the double batch I was already into so used a bit of white and added a Tblsp of molasses ) substitutions they turned out delicious. They look NOTHING like Deb’s here — bc of reduced fat pb and despite multiple stats in the freezer they are super thin. However, now I’m envisioning them to be ice cream sandwiches (w maybe banana chocolate chip ice cream, and wouldn’t it be amazing to then roll the sandwich in crispy bacon crumbles….). YUM!
Every other Smitten Kitchen recipe I’ve tried has been amazing, but these cookies are just way too sweet.
I made these today with Trader Joe’s creamy no-salt Valencia PB, it has no sugar or salt added, the ingredients are just peanuts. Threw in the whole jar since the label said it was 454 g. I mixed everything in my stand mixer (whisk attachment in beginning then switched to paddle attachment for blending PB in). I didn’t do the freezing step, and just used my 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out fairly large balls of dough onto the sheet (with Silpat). My cookies baked for 19 minutes – they didn’t spread or flatten at all, although oil did leak out during baking (but didn’t burn). I did move the sheet to the top rack for the last minute or two so the bottoms wouldn’t burn. The dough was quite dark and greasy before going in the oven, so it was hard to tell when to take them out, I just guessed. These are quite delicious! The texture is almost mochi-like, they’re chewy but…bouncy? Hard to describe, but different than a normal PB cookie. I think because of the PB I used, it’s not that sweet, even with all of that brown sugar. It almost tastes more like a peanut-flavor shortbread or a tahini flavor, rather than sweet peanut butter flavor. Definitely don’t skimp on the salt on top – it is so good! I have half of the batter waiting in the fridge to bake off tomorrow, this is a great easy cookie recipe, perfect for hungry kids after school!
I have made the salted peanut butter cookies twice. I CAN NOT get the cookie to maintain the shape you show. I have mixed the ingredients correctly, have put the dough in the freezer for 15 minutes, even roll the dough into balls and froze them again for several hours…what do I get? Flat cookies! Now they taste great, but I want the little balls! Could it be because I don’t use a scoop??
Barb I never could either, and I’ve been making them since the beginning of the Pandemic … but WHO CARES, these Cookies are one of the Family’s Fav’s!! Just eat em and enjoy!
What kind of peanut butter are you using?
I think using a scoop is key. I made them for the 1st time this past week, used an ice cream scoop, ended up with lovely domed, striated cookies.
These cookies are legit. Add to their list of amazing attributes: they freeze well.
I buttered their bottoms with melted dark chocolate ~ just a thin layer ~ and OMG. I’m not gluten free, but I will make these again and again.
I am reading the recipe and am a little confused. Are you saying for best results to freeze the dough in the bowl for 15 minutes, then scoop and freeze for another 15 minutes? Don’t understand why you would need to freeze twice but this will be my first attempt and want to get the best results. Thank you!
Just made these again for the umpteenth time. It is a terrific, delicious recipe! I just wanted to add that I always make them with Skippy crunchy peanut butter which has ~20% peanuts (I looked it up), so I use a slightly generous 2 c. of crunchy peanut butter to maintain the right ratio of peanut butter in the dough. I chill the dough in the bowl, scoop and bake. I get beautifully striated, domed cookies every time. But with extra crunch from the peanut pieces. So, so good!
Made these for the first time yesterday. Everyone loved them, even my non-peanut butter loving husband. He said they are the like the best part of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! I ate a couple this morning with raspberry jelly on them–mmmmm. p.s. don’t skip the flaky salt
These have replace my recipe for peanut butter blossoms. So good! I just press a hershey kiss into the top after baking and before sprinkling salt.
Great tip! My kids were asking for pb blossoms but I never love the base cookie.
I make these on repeat for my GF fam. Add choc chips on request of one son. Chilling the dough cannot be emphasized enough.
Natural PB eaters, beware! I just made these for some dairy-free friends, using natural peanut butter (Trader Joe’s salted creamy, to be exact). I’ve had excellent results using the same peanut butter to make my most favorite PB cookies, Deb’s Peanut Butter Cookies (https://smittenkitchen.com/2007/12/peanut-butter-cookies/). However, here I made a major error by also using my Kitchenaid to mix – after just a few seconds, the peanut butter split badly, leaving me with a dense glob of dough in a puddle of oil. I ended up adding about 1/2 cup flour and a bit of baking powder, then chilling in the fridge for about an hour, to try to salvage them, but the end results were pretty disappointing. I would try this recipe again with processed PB if I ever find myself with some, but will probably go back to Deb’s fantastic Chocolate Olive Oil cake if I need another vegan/dairy-free treat in the future.
I just made these again, and shared them with several gf people, and they all love them. I will try to remember to only do the smaller size next time—the large is delicious, but so rich, it’s a little bit much for us.
I used 1 jar of Trader Joe’s salted crunchy natural peanut butter (blue label), and it was great. Thanks!
Hi there. Re salted peanut butter cookies! Are you SURE that’s the right qty of peanut butter? It seemed over the top when I was mixing it up. Followed recipe very precisely (freezer etc) and they are crazy flat have been baking 30 minutes and still not near done : /. Kind of what I’d expect if they were 100% peanut butter ! ps LOVE your site
I didn’t love these cookies. I followed all measurements and instructions and ingredients were all fresh. It just isn’t the peanut butter cookie for me. I tasted the egg (weirdly, subtly) and I’m glad I only made a half a batch. They’re not bad, they’re just not my preference and I wouldn’t make them again.
Fantastic! Followed the suggestion to chill dough 15 minutes before scooping (#40) then chilled again for 15 minutes prior to baking. Forgot to sprinkle with salt, still delicious!
I’m shocked honestly. I also thought that cookies without flour would just taste like sugar and peanut butter. But somehow it’s magic! These are super easy and super delicious. I made with natural PB and it worked out fine. But definitely put the bowl in the freezer before scooping. Thank you!