Three ingredients, a few minutes, and one bowl are all you need for flavorful, warm 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies! You will absolutely love how easy and tasty these flourless peanut butter cookies are.
This recipe is a little bit of a miracle! First because it has so few ingredients, and second because it’s so DELICIOUS! Just 3 simple things create the most wonderful, comforting, classic 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies you’ll ever try. They’re naturally flourless and free of gluten and dairy, so it’s a perfect treat for friends with dairy or wheat allergies!
We also love that this is an easy peanut butter cookie recipe that little kids can help with. The ingredients and measurements are simple and forgiving, it only requires one bowl, and no mixer is needed!
Ingredients in 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
You know the last day before you make a trip to the grocery store, when the kitchen feels pretty empty but you’re still craving something sweet and homemade? That’s when this recipe swoops in to save the day! You only need 3 things, and it’s so simple that you can probably memorize it right away:
- 1 cup of peanut butter - We liked using all-natural peanut butter! Many recipes suggest using a more processed brand, but we had great success with natural. Smooth peanut butter from a newly opened jar works best!
- ½ cup light brown sugar - The molasses in brown sugar gives amazing flavor to these cookies, making it a better option than white granulated sugar! Most recipes call for a whole cup of white sugar, we think ½ cup gives these peanut butter cookies just the right sweetness.
- 1 egg
Mix it all together, shape the dough into balls, and flatten them with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. That’s it!
Nut-Free 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
To make a nut-free peanut butter cookie, substitute sunflower butter for the peanut butter. You could also easily use cashew or almond butter if that’s what you have in the pantry!
Variations on a Simple Peanut Butter Cookie
We did a little experimenting with our pan of cookies! We had to see just what would make the best peanut butter cookies.
- We made a couple with chocolate chips on top
- Some got a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar
- A few got a sprinkle of sugar
- We left some rolled into balls, not flattened
- We left some without toppings and flattened them into a traditional peanut butter cookie shape
The best one? Surprisingly, the plain ones that stayed in a ball! They had the best, moist texture that we really enjoyed. Of course, you can’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter, but the plain cookies really let the peanut butter flavor shine and in our opinion they were the best ones.
How Long to Bake 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Be sure NOT to over-bake the cookies! Take them out of the oven before they turn golden. Remember that they’ll bake for a little bit on the pan, and you want the middles to remain soft.
How to Store Peanut Butter Cookies
Keep any leftover homemade peanut butter cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You could also pop them in the freezer for a delicious frozen cookie treat!
More Peanut Butter Recipes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Tart
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Chocolate & Peanut Butter Salted Mousse
- Peanut Butter Banana Vegan Hot Chocolate
DID YOU LIKE OUR PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE RECIPE?
If you enjoyed this recipe, it would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe? Do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.
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3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 15 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Three ingredients, a few minutes, and one bowl are all you need for flavorful, warm 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies! You will absolutely love how easy and tasty these flourless peanut butter cookies are.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup all-natural peanut butter, preferably from a newly opened and well stirred jar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Line one large baking sheet with parchment paper
- In a bowl add all the ingredients and mix well with a spoon.
- You'll need to mix everything really well for a minute or two until it becomes a smooth dough. The more you mix the smoother the dough.
- Take 1 ½ tablespoons of cookie dough and roll into a ball. We used a 1 ½ tablespoon ice cream scoop. Flatten each ball with a fork making a criss cross pattern. You can also leave the cookies balls. ( See Notes)
- Place the cookies in the prepared baling sheet.
- Bake for 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before handling them.
Notes
- You can sprinkle some sugar, cinnamon sugar or add some chocolate chips to the cookies if you like some variations.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 12
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 135
- Sugar: 8.9
- Sodium: 9.7
- Fat: 9.2
- Saturated Fat: 1.9
- Unsaturated Fat: 7
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 11.1
- Fiber: .9
- Protein: 4.2
- Cholesterol: 0
Cindy
These cookies are delicious and Sooo easy to make!!!! Adding chocolate chips was a great idea. The only problem is controlling how many you eat!!
Vicky & Ruth
Ha, ha that’s so true!
Hanna Quana
These were sooo easy to make and so good! I used crunchy PB and put mini choc. chips in. It was difficult not to eat them all. Making another batch later!! Yum!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you! Enjoy!
a woman called Sam
How long to bake the balls
Vicky & Ruth
Bake the balls for 12 minutes, the same as the cookies. Enjoy!
Raquel
The best, easiest, and most delicious cookies! I highly recommend making them!
Vicky & Ruth
We love quick, easy, and delicious recipes too! Thank you!
Gita Freed
I just made these cookies and put some chocolate ganache on top. Yummy! Another winner from Ruth & Vicky!
Vicky & Ruth
AAW! Thank you so much! That sounds delicious!
anita raymond
I love your recipes, especially when they have an "exotic" touch. I get your recipes every day - almost - and never know what to expect. Thane you so much!
Vicky and Ruth
AWW! Thank you so much!
Rebeca
Thank you Ruth and Vicky.
The cookies are delicious and soooo easy to make 🙂
Ronnie
These cookies are delicious and sooo easy to make! I love them.
JUDY STERN
Would these work with a flax egg substitute?
Vicky and Ruth
Honestly, we don't know. We may try to experiment with that. Let us know if you try it before we do!
Susan Nathan
I can't wait to make these -- anything with peanut butter is the best and I love that there are only 3 ingredients -- less for me to mess up:). Thanks again for another amazing recipe!
Vicky and Ruth
Thank you Susan!
Pearl Bailes
Would it work to use tahini in place of the peanut butter?
Vicky and Ruth
You could probably replace tahini for the peanut butter. Just make sure you stir the cookie mixture well until it thickness enough to scoop. The more you stir the tahini mixture the more it will thicken.
Pearl Bailes
Update: I replaced the peanut butter with tahini and the resulting cookies were terrific. I used an electric mixer to blend the ingredients. I made the cookies somewhat smaller than the recipe suggests, and I left them unflattened. They were even more delicious the next day. Thanks for a great recipe!
Vicky and Ruth
Great variation! Thank you for sharing!
Elaine
Delicious, will make again! Only yielded 11 cookie balls if I used just over 1 tablespoon each. Not sure what happened there. Otherwise, very good, super easy and fast.. Thank you!
Vicky and Ruth
We are so glad you loved the cookies. Not sure what happened with the yield either. Maybe it varies depending on how runny or thick the penaut butter is.