3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies are perfect for young and not-so-young alike. If you’re learning how to bake, this an ideal place to start.
Or maybe you’re just learning how to dunk cookies, which comes more naturally to some than others. Remember: Practice makes perfect!
About these
I’m declaring this easy peanut butter cookie recipe to be a miracle. They are simple enough for a kid to make and as good as any cookie you will every dunk. And all they take are three ingredients!
New to baking? Learn how to make cookies from our own in-house professional chef, CIA-trained Chef Kat.
Make these simple dessert treat in just 20 minutes!
Ingredients and notes
For the Peanut Butter – Creamy or crunchy both work for this easy cookie recipe.
Do not use natural natural peanut butter for this recipe. This makes the cookies crumbly and they won’t turn out well.
For the Sugar Use white or turbinado sugar like we do in this version. Many readers have reported using ½ the sugar the recipe with great results.
For the Egg: When baking cookies, it’s always best to use egg that are at room temperature. This will allow the cookies to bake more evenly. Follow this link to learn how to quickly get eggs to room temperature!
How to make them
1. Start by mixing all three ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Stir until smooth.
2. Use a cookie scoop to place 1-inch balls of dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
3. Use a drinking glass to flatten the cookies a bit and then make a hashtag pattern with a table fork.
4. Bake at 350°F in a pre-heated oven for 12 minutes.
5. After 12 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and allow to rest on baking sheet for at least two more minutes.
6. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
Variations and Substitutions
To Make These Crispy – Follow the directions and baking times as shown in the recipe below.
To Make Them Soft – Reduce baking time to 9 or 10 minutes. Press them only lightly with the drinking glass, before marking them with a fork (they will be thicker).
To Make Them Chewy – Press them a little thinner with the drinking glass, before marking them with the fork.
This peanut butter cookie recipe can make crispy, chewy, or soft peanut butter cookies.
As with all recipes, make this one your own!
- Add some chocolate chips to the mix.
- Frost these with some decadent Nutella.
- Take a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and make a sandwich cookie.
- We like to add a little vanilla, as shown in the recipe video.
An easy cookie recipe for kids
With just three ingredients, these peanut butter cookies are a good way to teach kids how to bake.
We’ve featured our boys in many recipe for kids in the past. Some of the include:
They are great cooks and bakers, and two of our six boys are thinking they want to go into the culinary field. No big surprise here.
This is such an easy peanut butter cookie recipe for kids; it seems like a natural choice for whenever they are in the mood to bake, which is pretty often!
Similar recipes
Here are a few of our other favorite easy cookies recipes that our kids love:
Common recipe questions
Yes, these are great make-ahead cookies. Keeping in line with the “3” theme going on here, you can put make this recipe up to 3 days ahead of time and store in an airtight container until ready to dunk.
You can freeze these cookies for up to 3 months. Just thaw them out to room temperature before serving.
Make This Irresistible Quick Dessert
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📖 Recipe
3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Stir the ingredients together until smooth.
- Scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. (Roll into 1″ balls with your hands, if you do not have a scoop.)
- Press down with the back of a fork and then press again from the opposite direction, to form the criss-cross pattern on top
- Bake for 12 minutes and allow to rest on baking sheet, 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
Video
Notes
- Follow the directions and baking times as we outline above.
- Reduce baking time to 9 or 10 minutes.
- Press them only lightly with the drinking glass, before marking them with a fork (they will be thicker).
- Press them a little thinner with the drinking glass, before marking them with the fork.
