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! 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 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.
Margaret
I commented on these when I made them in April. Easy recipe and tastes great. My son was over and craving something sweet like a cookie. I suggested these and once he checked the traffic for him to go home, he decided he would wait for the cookies. He, my husband and my daughter-in-law just consumed 12 cookies between the 3 of them! This time I added mini chocolate chips to 1/2 the batter. Thanks for a great recipe.
Dan from Platter Talk
Awesome additions, Margaret; chocolate chips sound amazing with these cookies!
Averil
I started to make these cookies, I added an egg and a cup of sugar, then I l left it like that overnight. The egg whites and the sugar hardened, so I had to heat it up. I heated it up too much and the sugar boiled up and KABOOM, it exploded. I added the peanut butter and mixed it up, but it didn't look right so I added chocolate chips. The chocolate melted in and I tasted a bit of the batter and it was AMAZING! I'm letting it cool a bit right now before I put it in the oven. I can't wait for the results!
Myra
😆 😆 too funny. Something simple, so complicated
Catherine
I just love how simple these are to make and I've been craving these for some time now. I think I will whip up a batch this evening!
Marisa Franca
I used to make these cookies years ago! I completely forgot about them. My kids loved them and I know the grandsons would too. Thank you for reminding me about them. I can't wait to make them.
Leslie Gallardo
This 🍪 are so easy ti make and delicious!
Am not a big fan of PB...but oh my this cookies!!
Love'em😊
The only thing i change was Instead of one whole cup of sugar i did 1/4 of brown and 1/4 regular sugar with some choco chips
I will definitely make again
Thanks!
Veena Azmanov
I've made so many different types of peanut butter cookies but I tell you this classic version is still the top three for me. Just three ingredients! Can't beat it.
Jyothi (Jo)
Everything about this cookie is amazing! These looks so good, and I love how very easy they are.
Lauren Vavala @ DeliciousLittleBites
SO easy, so delicious! I love that these are gluten free and low in carbs too!
Claudia Lamascolo
I just love easy recipes like this one and peanut butter is a favorite cookie for both my sons they will love them!
joyce
I've been making these for the last three years, since finding them on a different blog in 2015. They're SOOOO good, and I love how very easy they are. I share them with my minister's family, and four of his eight (all bio) children are gluten intolerant, so this recipe is perfect for all of us to enjoy without having to get expensive GF flour. His wife is terribly allergic to MSG, too, so having something so simple that his family can see is safe for them means a lot to all of us...as well as letting his 11 year old daughter make them (she loves to bake!)
Dan from Platter Talk
Thanks for the great feedback, Joyce! We love this easy cookie recipe as well!
Eldaka
I found this recipe on Pinterest. I had all the ingredients already on hand, so easy to make and mist importantly, Delicious!
Dan from Platter Talk
Wonderful, Eldaka!!!
Kate
I must’ve done something seriously wrong. I doubled the recipe so it ended up being 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of peanut butter, two eggs. It became a very hard greasy mess that did not bake well at all. Did I miss something in the recipe?
Dan from Platter Talk
Hi Kate, Thanks for the question. I've never made a double batch of this 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe but I can't imagine what went wrong with your version. Since there are only 3 ingredients, I'm thinking it was the peanut butter that did you wrong. Both eggs and granulated sugar are pretty consistent variables, but peanut butter can vary from brand to brand and wheter it's natural with the oil well incorporated throughout etc. If you take a look at the recipe video, you will see exactly how this simple recipe should look throught the brief preparation process. We hope you find success making these easy cookies and please let us know if and howe you resolve this issue. Thanks again for reading Platter Talk!
Dixie Honzell
I have the same problem. No way can you scoop these out onto the parchment paper. More like pour them out. So what happened. And I didn't double the recipe.
Dan from Platter Talk
Hi Dixie, I can't for the life of me imagine what the issue is that's causing you to have problems with this simple recipe. I wish I could be there while you are making them. If any of our other readers have thoughts on this, please help us out here.
Cookymomster
Low fat and/or some generic brands don’t work well in this recipe because the fat and moisture contents are not consistent. That might be the problem, especially because there are only three ingredients.