I have passed by this 4 ingredient cookie in my cookie cookbook for years, and have never tried it. I was AMAZED at the results. Not only is it simple, and not only does it require only 4 ingredients, but the result was a moist, fudgey cookie that I could eat a million of. The best part of all– no butter! A great thing to make for people with a gluten or dairy allergy. 🙂 My daughter loved these!
INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup of creamy peanut butter
1 Cup of granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
DIRECTIONS:Preheat oven to 325°. Cream all ingredients in a mixer. Roll into one inch balls, flatten lightly with a fork, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes and cool on cookie sheet until completely cool.
Rumbly in my Tumbly 
I just tested these. They're definitely a breakfast cookie. YUM. You and Tonya's blogs are transforming me into someone who bakes. 🙂
So glad you liked them!
not exactly dairy free if you are using an egg! Have you tried it with an egg substitute?
You could try a few egg substitutes but one I would defiantly try since the egg is there for levening and binding is flax meal. One tbsp of flax ground plus 2.5 tbsp water allow to sit for a little bit (5-8 min). Or you could go with arrow root egg, soy flour egg, or equal parts vinegar and baking soda 1 tsp of vinegar and 1 tsp water mix and add to batter right (don’t add anymore baking soda if you use this method) away.
egg is not dairy..chickens vs cows.
Instead of the egg I use 1/4 cup of applesauce. I also add a few Enjoy mini chocolate chips( dairy free). This is a very good cookie and it’s one that the entire family loves!
Eggs are not dairy as they do not come from a cow.
Anonymous, you are incorrect. Eggs are an animal byproduct, but they are not a dairy product. Signed, Shannon- former vegan
Ditto, Shannon. Eggs are not dairy.
Momma loves Oreos- Thank you, and thanks for visiting!
Can you tell me if they melt in your mouth or are they granular in texture
Anonymous- they are not grainy in texture at all, the baking takes all of the graininess out of the sugar. They are very similar in texture to a regular peanut butter cookie, maybe a little softer.
Mmm..Yummy! They look great. I completely tried to take the cookies off the sheet impediately after taking them out of the oven (old habits die hard!) But the second batch came out beautifully!! Thanks for the recipe.
I have also been guilty of taking hot cookies right off the cookie sheet. 🙂 I'm so glad you like them.
These were great! I think my son may have a dairy allergy so we've both been without dairy for a while and I was craving cookies like a mad woman! These hit the spot! Thanks for the recipe!
Lisa, so glad these helped with your craving. Thanks for commenting!
can you use stevia in place of the sugar?
I don't think it would work- it's a really delicate texture balance. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out.
Mmmmmm. Our family is phasing out gluten and this was a welcome treat! Thanks for the recipe!
JenHahn, so glad you enjoyed these. They are my stand by for when my niece and nephew with celiacs disease are over. Thanks for visiting!
Non-GFer’s love this recipe too! Add other items too, chips, nuts, even did jam fingerprint cookies for a PB&J. (if ya can that is)
I used 1/4 cup “nectresse” in place of the sugar and they are yummy.
I was wondering how many this recipe makes? Thanks!
Hi Roxanne, it should make about two dozen, depending on the size of your cookies. Enjoy!
Does this dough freeze well?
Hi linh, I have never tried it, I think it would probably freeze just fine, but it would be interesting to see, since there is no flour in there holding things together. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. Thanks for visiting!
I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical about these cookies but they are so delicious! I used chunky peanut butter (a fave in our house) and the crunchy peanuts and chewy cookie compliment each other so well! I did freeze some dough, made the cookies all the way upto pushing them down with the fork and will update as soon as I test bake them. Thanks for the recipe!
Update: The frozen dough baked up very well! Just add a minute or two to the baking time. Love this!
Has anyone made the with agave syrup instead of sugar? We are trying very hard to eliminate as much white sugar from our diets as possible
Please read up on Agave syrup. I have found that it’s not really a good substitute.
my friend made these for me using coconut sugar and they were so good I asked her for the recipe …which I how I ended up reading your comment 😀
i have to make pb cookies each time the guys got to camp.
simple recipe 1 cup peanut butter , 1 cup sugar 2 tbsp water bake at 350 for 12 minutes melt in your mouth
Just water? No egg? Hmmm….there’s a dear lady in my church group with four kiddos with multiple food allergies. I always feel so badly for them at our pot luck gatherings. They usually end up with meat and plain salad or fruit. I bet they could eat these if there’s no egg!
T.J., I’m afraid there is an egg. 😦
Do you think applesauce would work okay as an egg substitute? I know you said the batter is delicate, but I’m curious :).
I doubt your cookies would hold together, but you could always give it a try!
Thanks lady! I might just have to. I’ll report back if they turn out. 🙂
Thank you for these …have a grandson that is now gluten free looking forward to making these for him.
Hi Shannon! I just wanted to let you know that I’m featuring this amazing recipe in my post 102 Gluten Free Cookie Recipies. You are more than welcome to share this amazing resource with your readers or link to this post if you’d like! Thanks so much for the inspiration! Here’s the url: 102 Gluten Free Cookie Recipies
These are so good. I did them with brown sugar and add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips. Yum!
How much does this yield?
Depending on size, about a dozen cookies.
Has anyone tried xylitol? It looks and behaves like sugar but does not invoke the insulin response. It can be substituted measure for measure i.e. 1c=1c
Has anyone tried adding granola, fruits, nuts to these? I bet they’d make a great breakfast bar. I’m sure the kids (teens) would love to experiment. I shall try it and report back. Thanks for the recipe…..and there are plenty of substitutes for sugar. One I like to use is a low glycemic sweetner (don’t have the bottle) and it is gluten free.
I made these this evening and we loved them! I substituted the refined sugar with coconut sugar and they were amazing! What a great treat for our allergy sensitive house. Thanks for sharing!
Just made these last night and they were phenomenal!!! I’ve taken dairy out of my diet so these fit the bill just right. Even my husband who still eats dairy said these are his favorite peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made. I used chunky peanut butter and also did half sugar and half brown sugar. I will definitely be making these regularly!
just made these last night and they were AMAZING! Looking forward to making another batch.
I substituted one cup of white sugar with 1/2 cup of golden brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. I will try using a whole cup of brown sugar next time.
Phew! Just made these. Waiting for them to cool, but they look amazing! Great recipe. Only took 15 minutes total from start to finish 🙂
Made these today for guests – one of which is GF. The cookies were a big hit! My guests couldn’t believe they were gluten and dairy free. I plan to use brown sugar as someone else suggested next time I make them. Thank you for sharing.
Is it possible to use pea butter? My son has a peanut allergy as well. I so miss peanut butter.
I’ve never tried that. If you do, please let us know how they turn out.
So instead of pea butter, I tried sun butter. It came out perfectly. Amazing. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!!
Have you tried organic sun butter? The color might turn a little funny but they will still taste great or how about one of the other but butters like almond or cashew?
I can’t have sugar — but can have local honey…would honey work?
I have never tried this recipe without sugar, but if you do try it with honey please let me know how it turns out!
Honey does not work 😦
Erin, what a bummer! Thank you for updating
Do you know if we can sub Splenda for the sugar in the recipe??
I’ve never tried this with Splenda. If you do, please let us know how they turn out!
Can you use egg substitue and splenda? Thanks.
I really think you would need the egg to hold out together. I am thinking that maybe you could use Ener-G egg replacer, but I’ve never tried it. I think you really need real sugar to keep the texture right, so I’m not sure about splenda. If you try these, please let me know how they turn out.
I made these with Stevia in the Raw and it was a no-go. The artificial flavor totally took over the peanut butter. I love the recipe as is, but also like the idea of trying it with some brown sugar. Thanks!
Super easy and very tasty. I love they are gluten & dairy free. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
So glad you liked these. Thanks for the comment!
Made it with turbinado sugar and chia seed gel in place of eggs and it worked pretty well 🙂
Thanks for the info! Glad you enjoyed!
It’s dairy free but not vegan!
You’re correct! That’s why I don’t have vegan in the title. 🙂
how many does that make?
This recipe makes about a dozen – 18 cookies, depending on how big you make them.
We just made these for a friend that just got diagnosed with celiac disease. We were shocked at how easy these were. Super yummy too! Thanks for sharing this great recipe with us.👍
What is I leave out baking soda? does it make the cookie hard in texture?
Baking soda makes the cookie light and causes it to puff like a cookie.
Needed a recipe that is gluten, dairy AND egg-free. I doubled this recipe and substituted the egg with a whole ripe banana (if I made the original recipe amount I would have used 1/2 banana.) I used one 16 oz. jar of crunchy peanut butter. Then I put some strawberry jam in the centers (like Thumbprints) and baked. A little messy, but REALLY good for an experiement! Thank you!
Yum! Love thumbprints! Great idea.
Has anyone tried to make these with almond butter? I saw that someone did sunbutter and it worked so I’m thinking it would be an easy and successful swap!
The picture is deceiving. They will not come out like the picture.
Or maybe yours just didn’t? I make these all the time, they come out the same each time. 🙂
Mine have always looked like the picture. Love them with mini chocolate chips
This cookies taste great and are sooooo easy to make! Gluten and Dairy free! Love! You do need to wait for the cookies to completely before you eat as they are very soft when they first come out of the oven. After they cool, they can be handle easily.
Second time making them and i keep getting dry crumbly cookies even after extra pb…what am i doing wrong lol
I can’t imagine why that would be! Are you measuring accurately? Could be from overbaking? These cookies will be SUPER soft when they come out of the oven, you actually need to let them cool to be able to pick them up or they’ll fall apart.
I make these for my son’s girlfriend, who is gluten, dairy, and corn free. She Loves them! Thank you for this very easy recipe!