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Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Incredibly easy with a delightful peanut butter flavor, these cookies can be elevated an extra notch with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt before baking. For added decadence, consider dipping half the cookie in white or dark chocolate–or simply add chocolate chips.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup less 2 tablespoons (224g) smooth or crunchy peanut butter*
  • 1 large egg
  • ¾ cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (use ⅛ teaspoon if using table salt)
  • Optional: flaky sea salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg, and then stir in the brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the peanut butter and stir to thoroughly incorporate. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes (longer – even up to a few days – is fine) so that it’s firm enough to scoop.
  2. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. I use medium ice cream scoop or about 2½ tablespoons (42g), filling and leveling off each scoop. This produces 10 large, perfectly shaped cookies. There is no need to flatten – the cookies will spread a little bit when baking – although you may lightly press with a fork if you like the criss-cross design. Sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt, if using, just before baking.
  3. Bake for 15 minutes, give or take a minute or two depending on oven and color of baking sheet (dark-coated sheets bake faster than light ones) or until just cooked through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. The cookies will firm up as they cool.
  4. Storage: The cookies may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days or so, and they may be refrigerated to maintain freshness even longer. The cookies freeze well, too.

Notes

*I prefer regular, creamy peanut butter for this recipe. Natural peanut butter will work, but the resulting texture can be a bit more crumbly.

*If you don’t have a kitchen scale to weigh the peanut butter, simply go slightly scant on the cup measurement. If doubling the recipe, you’ll need 1¾ peanut butter, which conveniently, is the amount in a 16-ounce (454g) jar of Jif.

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