Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Written by joythebaker on April 21, 2009 – 5:55 pm -
This I Used To Believe
I believed that if I wore a stretched out paperclip across my front teeth I would be one of the cool kids with a retainer. It turns our that retainers only seem cool when you don’t actually have to wear one.
I believed that if I sunk down in my chair low enough in Honors Algebra, I wouldn’t be called on the answer questions that I didn’t have answers to. I didn’t have answers to any… aaany of the questions. In reality, that posture was like a giant, neon, blinking arrow pointed right in my direction.
I believed that if I stayed up all night chewing gum, I was bound to get the part of Violet Beauregarde in the sixth grade performance of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. That part went to my best friend Lindsay. What does it say about me if I still think about that from time to time?
I believed that Dylan would never leave Brenda on Beverly Hills, 90210. Um… remember what happened in the pool? With Kelly!? Brenda’s best friend!? Yea… so that didn’t work out.
I believed that really good cookies simply had to have at least a few cups of all-purpose flour flour in them. These Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies changed my mind. Seriously. I know you’re thinking They’re better than you think. Way way better. These are great!
This post was inspired by last weeks episode of This American Life which, in turn, was inspired by the international essay project, This I Believe. Yaaaaay for public radio!
Believe me when I say that these cookies will surprise you. They’re exactly everything I wanted from a peanut butter cookie, without the flour. With only four ingredients (5 if you add the chocolate) I had perfectly chewy and flavorful peanut butter cookies on my table. With a glass of cold milk… my goodness… swoon! Trust me. Try them!
These cookies aren’t the type that you throw in your purse for an afternoon snack. Because they don’t have flour, they’re just a bit more delicate. If you use all-natural peanut butter, you’re cookies will hold up a bit better than if you use the fake stuff. K?
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
The Gourmet Cookbook
makes about two dozen cookies
1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar (1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar)
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes. Roll into walnut sized balls and create a cris-cross pattern with a fork. If you’d like, add a few chocolate pieces to the top of the cookies. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer to… your mouth.
Tags: Cookies, easy, flourless, gluten free, peanut butter, recipe
Posted in Cookies, In the Kitchen, Recipes, Snacks | 175 Comments »
Joy,
Your amazingly delicious cookie recipes have inspired me. I have tried about 4 or 5 of your cookies so far and have yet to be let down. Thank you for sharing your baking and insight with us. I have started my own baking tradition of making cookies every week, and I created a blog to capture my adventure. I promise you will be seeing many of your own recipes echoed there in the near future.
Thanks for this recipe! I am making them right now to bring down to my future mother in law for her birthday!
Great recipe. I tried the cookies and they were absolutely divine!!
I made these for my roommates last night- they were a hit! Thanks for the great recipe!
Whoa, I’m surprised all these people haven’t seen this flourless PB cookie recipe yet. It’s everywhere–even Paula has it on her FoodNetwork site.
That being said, it’s worth sharing. Thanks for sharing the cute post, Joy!
Thanks for sharing! I had a flourless PB cookie recipe but this one turned out better. Keep the flourless posts coming – your gluten free readers appreciate it!
[...] couple of days ago, I saw this post on Joy the Baker’s website. And normally, I DETEST peanut butter cookies but I had to [...]
I was bored yesterday which always leads to searching around for things to bake. I came across this post and not only did the cookie sound intriguing but you also invoked the name of my one true obsession, TAL, so I gave these a try. Crazy yummy and easy. Thanks!
[...] I laid down on the couch and in line with the day, I couldn’t fall asleep to save my life. A recipe I’d seen on the lovely food blog, Joy The Baker popped into my mind and I decided to bake [...]
These sounds heavenly!
Sounds like a winner to me! Since I prefer flourless cake to regular, I will probably like these better than the typical version too! Can’t wait to try!
Tried these with non-natural peanut butter (Skippy chunky)– still yummy!!!
[...] getting into the pb&j combo so when I saw a recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies over at Joy the Baker I knew what needed to happen. It didn’t hurt that I had some fresh peanut butter from Miss [...]
[...] found this recipe on Bonne Vivante, who found it on Joy the Baker, who found it in The Gourmet Cook Book (pass it [...]
I’ve made peanut butter cookies (normal flour-full ones) w/ sunflower butter from Trader Joe’s before b/c I had a co-worker allergic to PB. They tasted awesome!
I just made these using 2/3 cup PB and 1/3 cup Nutella. Words cannot describe how good they are. I chilled the dough, then rolled it in balls and dipped the tops in sugar, which made making the hatch marks much easier ….I believe all-Nutella wouldn’t work, though ….
Just made these tonight and they are delicious! I followed the recipe as it was provided and they were amazing. Definitely needed the tall glass of milk for sure. I added mini chocolate chips on half the cookie dough. I will try for variations in the future but am glad to have a quick and easy cookie recipe to whip up any time! Thanks! I love your site and visit it daily looking for the next mouth-watering treat. Keep it up!
Ooh, these look divine. Thanks for posting them!
For the PB&J lovers out there —
I’ve made a PB&J cookie before for my kids – but this looked so much easier. I admit – I had to add 1/2 c oatmeal on the theory that oatmeal makes everything healthy – and these are for an event at my son’s school, so healthy is good. For the PB&J twist – I just roll the dough in balls and instead of smashing with the fork, use my thumb to make an indentation for the jelly. Then a little scoop of jelly (we used Trader Joe’s low sugar blueberry because that’s what we had) in the indent and bake as usual.
Very cute & very delish. And my daughter had so much fun rolling the dough and spooning in the jam.
I absolutely love your blog! and your pictures are beautifully taken! i made these cookies and EVERYONE LOVED them! THANK YOU!
I tried the recipe and liked it. Very sweet cookies and hard to stop eating.
i just found you through eat, make, read. these cookies look fabulous and i love your public radio tribute post, it made me laugh. i think it’s okay that you still think about violet. i still think about things like that
my friends and I made these for years in grade school, in the late 50’s to early 60’s .old recipe indeed!!
[...] here’s the recipe via Joy the Baker (via the Gourmet [...]
i made these today. the dough was crumbley. it rolled together well. but again fell apart a bit when pressing with the fork. after cooled for a bit, they hold together. and they taste delicious.
This is the way to make pb cookies! These cookies are deadly but go down way too fast!
I just tried this out with cashew butter…absolutely delicious!! And I absolutely love your blog
[...] via [...]
mmmmm these are baking in the oven right now! 3 minutes left, i can barely stand it, i’m drooling!
I’ve been trying to figure out what to make my mom for mother’s day and I think this is it! I’m going to try them with sunflower seed butter though since she’s allergic to nuts (and gluten and chocolate… it’s a hard life).
Thank you for another drool worthy recipe. Your blog always brings a smile to my face and a rumble from my stomach.
Happy spring!
I absolutly love them!!! I came back to my home country (france) and wanted to make my family discover some american flavors, it was just the perfect treat
I added some chocolate chips to the dough yamiiiiiiiiiii ( yeah i’m crazy about chocolate i know…as my principal addiction it could be worse!)
Your blog is great by the way, i keep on reading it for month, in the shaddow, but that was too much this time i had to say something, keep on doing what you do, it’s just perfect! (and nerver oh never let the butter down ah ah, as a french i know what i’m talking about!)
Take care of yourself and our stomac ;p
I’ve already made two batches of these cookies. The first batch, I used 1 full cup of sugar but had to use almost all pourable light brown sugar because that was all I had on hand. The cookies were delicious but a touch too sweet for me. For the second batch, I used 2/3 cup sugar, this time using 1/3 cup regular sugar and 1/3 cup pourable light brown sugar. They came out perfect. I gave these cookies as a gift to both my mom and mother-in-law and they loved them! Thanks for posting the recipe.
we are doing the gluten-free thing at our house and this recipe shall be our rescue cookie-love my peanut butter. I think i will probably include it in my peanut butter and jelly cooking class at Central market if that is ok
I made these with macadamia butter because I’m not too keen on peanuts & they were yummy!
I wish I could quit my job & take up a bakers apprenticeship *sigh*
Thanks Joy
Just made these-delicious and SO easy. And held up better than I thought they would. Thanks Joy!
Just whipped up a batch – how easy was that? Cannot believe how good these are, I want to phone up all my friends and tell them! These cookies had a perfect crunchy texture, I just can’t get over the fact they are just peanut butter and egg – magic!!
Just baked these last night for the first time … they are wonderful and so easy to make ! I sprinkled on some mini semi-sweet chocolate chips on top of them to make them entice my chocolate loving girls
I’m going to experiment with different types of nut butters next time … and possibly with agave nectar in lieu of sugar …
wow, I just made these and I am so impressed considering they haven’t any flour or butter. I’ll post to my blog in the next week or so.
thanks
I’m a teacher & always looking for a little afternoon pick me up to serve with tea at my classes. This looks perfect, ‘cept for all the sugar.
Has anyone substituted stevia or something else for all or part of the sugar? Definitely can’t wait to try them!
[...] Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies from Joy the Baker [...]
[...] Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies from the very awesome Joy the Baker. [...]
I have been waiting for a MONTH to be able to make these cookies. All the stars have aligned: my peanut-allergy boyfriend is out of town for three days, i’m moving apartments and need to get rid of excess food before saturday, i just finished the box of chocolates my mom sent me and i’m in need of a new sweet treat…i can almost smell the peanut buttery goodness already!
i just tried one cookie right now mmm delicious this is my first time making them and i think they rock i will make them often
How did you EVER come up with something this amazingly delicious and easy?????? these cookies are great and wonderful and so wonderfully fast to make, i wonder why i didnt know about them before! and
FLOURLESS? wow, wow, wow! i am happy to have this recipe and me and my sister julia will deffinetly make these many, many more times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Totally ruined. Nothing to do with your ’simple’ recipe but my own stupidity:
Error 1: Tried making some cookies without the egg. This produced nice looking cookies which were a nice tasting crumbly mess.
Error 2: Halve the peanut butter and sugar but use a whole egg for the rest of the cookies. This Produced a splodgy mess, which could have turned out okay if I didn’t overcook them – I stopped cooking when I smelled burning…it was too late.
Error 3: Disheartened by this dual disaster, I placed a cookie straight in mouth and burned my tongue.
Easy as 1-2-3.
: S
OOHH I have made these before and they are irresistable!
[...] Peanut Butter Cookies From The Gourmet Cookbook, via Joy The Baker Makes about 1 ½ to 2 dozen [...]
Here in Canada, this recipe is on the back of the Kraft peanut butter jar. How awesome ay? But i agree with joy, this recipe is not for the lunchbox joys.
I’m wondering…do you ever make peanut butter cookies with honey? my best friend can’t eat sugar.
[...] for those of you who are looking for a gluten free cookie, Joy the Baker has got you covered with Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies . My favourite peanut butter cookie is actually a triple threat. It contains peanut butter, [...]