4-ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

flourless peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips

Sometimes, when it really and truly is the very last thing I should be doing – when I’m tired and overwhelmed, when the kitchen sink brims with a day’s worth of dishes, baskets of laundry beckon, and children need help with homework — I turn my back on it all and find refuge in baking a batch of cookies.

That’s exactly what it was like this afternoon when preparations for the school week needed to be underway and a filet of salmon and bag of dried lentils had to be cooked into dinner. But instead, I gathered ingredients to make something sweet and nurturing and totally unnecessary, putting practical tasks aside.

A Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie

Lucky for my to-do list, this is a four-ingredient cookie that takes less than five minutes to stir into a batter. It’s also just two sheet pans worth, so one go-round in the oven. The cookies were inspired by a recipe in Real Simple that I simplified further by knocking out three ingredients and cutting the batch in half. It could have been pared down to a three-ingredient cookie, only I had to add chocolate (Peanut butter without chocolate?   Sacrilege.).

I suppose there could be worse distractions from life’s chores than baking: I could be heavily into online gambling.

Or there could be better ones: I could be writing grants to fund a small charity.

Baking as Therapy

But baking cookies it is. And today, it calmed me, made my kitchen smell heavenly, and resulted in a stack of homemade flourless peanut butter cookies for school lunches and after school treats.

And now I can get back to the business of getting ready for the week, and turning salmon and lentils into dinner….maybe with a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie for dessert.

Flourless peanut butter cookies

4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

A sweet, gluten-free, peanutty treat studded with dark chocolate chips. All you need is four little ingredients and just a bit of time to get the job of baking them done.
Course Dessert
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2 dozen
Calories 123 kcal
Author Katie Morford

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsweetened, salted creamy peanut butter
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar or coconut sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup dark chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheet with parchment paper, silpats, or coat with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl, put the peanut butter, brown sugar, and egg. Use a rubber spatula to mash and stir the ingredients into a smooth batter. Add the chocolate, and stir again until evenly distributed.
  3. Pinch up a tablespoon of dough and roll in the palms of your hands into a smooth ball. Cover each baking sheet with 12 balls. Press a fork firmly into the dough, first in one direction, and then the opposite direction. If the dough crumbles a bit, just patch it back together.
  4. Bake until the cookies brown slightly and you start to see a hint of a darker rim around the cookie, 10 to 12 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven and cool. Store in an air-tight container.

Inspired by Real Simple magazine’s Peanut Butter Cookies

 

 

 

Comments

03.25.2013 at6:52 AM #

yunah

finally! no salt? vanilla?

03.25.2013 at6:52 AM #

Katie Morford

The peanut butter is salted…just realized I need to specify that. I’m sure a little vanilla would do nicely, but isn’t necessary.

03.25.2013 at7:18 AM #

Leslie

Peanut butter and chocolate are my desert island foods — totally trying these! 🙂

03.25.2013 at7:18 AM #

Katie Morford

Desert island foods….love that.

03.25.2013 at9:18 AM #

gina

Sounds fabulous for my gluten sensitive daughter as well. Thanks Katie.

03.25.2013 at9:18 AM #

Katie Morford

yes…a good one for the gluten-free-ers

03.25.2013 at9:25 AM #

Gaby

I’m 100% with you 🙂 Sometimes baking cookies is the best medicine for a stressful day.

03.25.2013 at12:07 PM #

Robin

Looks good. And it looks simple enough for a kid to make. I like that.

03.25.2013 at12:07 PM #

Katie Morford

Definitely easy enough for kids…and they like rolling it into balls and making the marks with a fork.

03.25.2013 at1:58 PM #

Joy @ Baking-Joy

These look delicious, I’ve been wanting to make flourless peanut butter cookies for a while now 🙂

03.25.2013 at9:42 PM #

Hari Chandana

Looks absolutely delicious and tempting.. First time here.. Happy to follow your space 🙂

03.25.2013 at9:42 PM #

Katie Morford

Welcome! Look forward to visiting yours as well!

03.27.2013 at10:13 AM #

Lisa | With Style and Grace

yes! these cookies sound awesome.

03.27.2013 at10:13 AM #

Katie Morford

Thanks Lisa!

03.27.2013 at11:29 AM #

Pam

Just made these with chunky (because it was all I had in the house) and they are delicious!

03.27.2013 at11:29 AM #

Katie Morford

Glad to know it works well with chunky. I was also thinking of adding peanuts to the batter.

03.27.2013 at12:03 PM #

Kate

I love these kind of cookies!

04.03.2013 at4:12 PM #

Nikki

I just made these with sunflower seed butter so my nut-allergy husband could eat them. I added two tablespoons of Graham flour and used mini-chocolate chips because I was worried the runnier texture of the sunflower seed butter wouldn’t hold together as well. The texture was just right! Yum.

04.03.2013 at4:12 PM #

Katie Morford

Nice to know these can work with sunflower seed butter, too! Thanks for sharing.

05.05.2013 at8:10 PM #

April

10 to 12 minutes is much too long. Mine were almost burnt after 8 mins. Other than that…quick and delicious!

05.05.2013 at8:10 PM #

Katie Morford

Thanks April…appreciate the input.

05.11.2013 at3:13 PM #

Tiffany

I am about to make these right now they sound so great!

05.11.2013 at3:50 PM #

Tiffany

Well, I made them and they taste amazing! My boyfriend and I love them! I left mine in for 8 minutes and they are real soft and gooey which is how I like my cookies. They also cook on the pan still after you take them out just like any cookie does. I transferd them to a plate right away and the second batch I am making I am going to cook a little longer so I have the best of both worlds. Either way you cook it they taste so good thank you for sharing!

05.11.2013 at3:50 PM #

Katie Morford

You are so sweet to report back…and a testament to how quick they are to make !

05.19.2013 at8:21 PM #

Sara

Found this recipe via google when I needed a quick pick me up. In the oven in under 5 minutes and done within 15 total! Perfect and delicious. Thanks!!

05.19.2013 at8:21 PM #

Katie Morford

Great to hear. So easy!

05.21.2013 at4:57 PM #

Allison

Just made these at high altitude, about 7,000 ft. They came out great! I just put another cookie sheet underneath and baked for 10 minutes.

05.21.2013 at4:57 PM #

Katie Morford

Tested at altitude….good to know they work! Thanks for sharing.

05.22.2013 at5:04 AM #

Ashley

These were far too sweet for my liking. I made a second batch with 1/2 cup brown sugar and they didn’t set up quite right with my alteration.

05.22.2013 at5:04 AM #

Katie Morford

Hi Ashley

Appreciate you giving it a second go-round…but I guess with so few ingredients, the sugar plays an important role in the texture and structure of the cookie.

01.02.2014 at10:38 PM #

George

What if you use unsalted peanut butter? How much salt would you add?

01.02.2014 at10:38 PM #

Katie Morford

I’d probably just add a pinch of salt.

04.21.2014 at1:58 PM #

Dottie

Does it matter if you use natural peanut butter

04.21.2014 at1:58 PM #

Katie Morford

Hi Dottie, I use unsweetened peanut butter for this. If you use sweetened, you may want to adjust the amount of sugar somewhat.
–Katie

03.24.2021 at8:34 AM #

Kara

I made these last night and they are fantastic. Followed your directions and they turned out perfectly. Quick question- I used brown sugar. Is coconut sugar healthier? Does it effect glucose levels, sugar cravings etc different? Is there an argument for why I should use that sugar? I’m trying to lower my sugar intake. Thanks!

03.24.2021 at8:34 AM #

Katie Morford

Glad you liked the cookies. As for coconut sugar, the glycemic index is lower than brown sugar, but as to how much lower is debatable. It’s also quite a bit more expensive. I generally think of all sugars in sort of the same way, enjoying them in moderation (and in wonderful cookies like this one 🙂

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