3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
on Aug 11, 2019, Updated May 13, 2023
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3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies are perfect for young and not-so-young alike. If you’re learning how to bake, these classic peanut butter cookies are 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. Either way, this is one of our most popular peanut butter recipes!
About these
I’m declaring this easy peanut butter cookie recipe to be a miracle. They are filled with peanut butter flavor and simple enough for a kid to make. And you only need three ingredients! No wonder these flourless peanut butter cookies are Peter Pan’s favorite cookie for dunking. He’s a smart guy!
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 – Use your favorite commercial peanut butter. Creamy or crunchy peanut butter both work for this easy cookie recipe. It’s a matter of personal preference and for me; I like a little crunch!
For best results, do not use 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 1/2 the sugar the recipe with great results.
For the Egg: Use an extra-large egg for this recipe, if you have some.
Expert Baking Tip: When baking cookies, it is always best to use a room temperature egg. 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
(Full directions in the recipe card below.)
The best peanut butter cookies are also the easiest to make. These great cookies will prove my point!
1. Start by mixing all three ingredients in a large bowl. Use a stand mixer or an electric mixer if you have one for less work.
- Stir until smooth.
2. Use a cookie scoop to place 1-inch cookie dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
3. Use a drinking glass to flatten the cookies a bit and then make a hash mark (cross-hatch pattern) with the tines of a 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 Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies – 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, add some extra ingredients to these homemade peanut butter cookies and make these 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.
- Substitute chunky peanut butter for the creamy type. (I like the extra crunch in every bite!)
- We like to add a little vanilla, as shown in the recipe video.
You can use brown sugar to give these an extra golden brown finish!
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 recipes for kids in the past. Some of them 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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3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 1/2 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How long to bake this, I don’t want to mess these up. Thanks , Marie Goodson
Thanks for this important question! Bake for about 12 minutes and then allow to rest for a minute or two on the baking sheet, before transferring to cooling rack. These peanut butter cookies will not spread and in the unlikely case of any leftovers, be sure to store them in an air-tight container.
I love a good 3 ingredient recipe, but I would never have guessed you could make cookies from peanut butter, sugar and just one egg! I’m definitely trying this… at least I always have the ingredients at home.
These are my favorite cookies, just in time for fall!
Thanks, Derek. We hope you’ll give them a try and sure appreciate you stopping by Platter Talk!
THREE ingredients?! that’s amazing! they came out so perfect. Could be seriously dangerous at my house.
Live dangerously, Kylee! You can’t go wrong with this cookie recipe. Thanks so much for dropping by Platter Talk.
By far my favorite pb cookie recipe!
I make them into PB sandwich cookies!! They don’t last long in this house.
What a delicious and decadent idea, Cheryl! Thanks for commenting and thanks for reading Platter Talk.
I can’t wait until my little guy is able to help in the kitchen – these are perfect easy, beginner cookies.
I can’t wait for him to be old enough either, Julie! You two will have such a great time together in the kitchen; I promise. Thanks so much for stopping by Platter Talk.
How simple is that recipe to a) have the ingredients and b) to remember! I must make a batch, although we never have enough PB as I have a habit of spooning it directly from the jar!
I have the same habit, Helen. Which is one of the reasons we usually have at least three jars of the stuff in our pantry! Thank you for commenting on this Platter Talk recipe!
Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorites – I love this 3 ingredient version, but I could seriously get into trouble with these. I wouldn’t want to share because I’d eat them all with a tall glass of cold milk 🙂
Lol
Strange, but when I try to Pin I get 3 other recipe pics?
This short list of ingredients is crazy. I want to make them too! Dave is a HUGE peanut butter cookie monster so this has been Pinned. Great pics of the kids too. 🙂
My cousin-in-law, whose culinary judgements I regard as second only to The Barefoot Contessa, recommended these to me. I haven’t yet tried them, but clearly I should!
Do it!! They are amazing!
I’ve got to agree with her on this one!