Addictive 5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
What do you make when you realize you need to bring something for a potluck, one hour before you have to leave, and the potluck’s theme is “5 ingredients or less”??
Easy answer: you make these deliciously addictive and insanely easy 5-ingredient peanut butter cookies!
(Also…do we need potluck themes?? Talk amongst yourselves.)
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There are quite a few different types of peanut butter cookies. These are my favorite kind…a little crispy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, intensely peanut buttery, sweet, but with a nice hit of salty.
Oh, and did I mention that they’re naturally gluten-free and dairy-free?? Yeah, you’re welcome.
These peanut butter cookies can be as easygoing or as perfectionist as you want. I was in a super hurry when making them the first time, so stirred them together in a few minutes while the oven pre-heated, and baked them right away.
If you’re wanting an even more perfect texture and the beautiful little striations and shape that you see for my “before the bake” pics, then the dough will definitely benefit from chilling if you have time. In fact, putting them in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking can go a long way (either before or after scooping).
You can also make the dough in advance and either refrigerate it for a couple days, or freeze it even longer. If you’re freezing it, I’d definitely go ahead and scoop it onto parchment paper on a baking sheet. Then once frozen, put them into a ziploc for easier storage if it’ll be longer than a day or two. You can bake them right from the freezer.
Could you scoop the dough and freeze it, and then bake one or two at a time for yourself?? Yes, yes you can.
How to whip up these 5-ingredient peanut butter cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the light brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Really whisk it, give it at least a solid minute of whisking. The texture will change and become glossy and thick.
Whisk in the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sea salt, then the peanut butter until smooth and completely incorporated; you shouldn’t be able to see any ribbons of peanut butter.
If you’d like to get those pretty striations across the top of the cookies, chill the dough by freezing it in its bowl for 15 minutes before scooping it onto the cookie sheet. If you’re not obsessed with these markings, you can scoop it right away (I’m always in a hurry so usually skip the chilling).
Scoop or spoon the dough into balls onto the lined pan (a #16 or #40 scoop is good, but it’s up to you how exact you want to be). If you want a tall final cookie, place the tray back in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. If you don’t care, bake right away.
Sprinkle the dough balls lightly with flaky sea salt (I use Maldon for all sorts of sprinkling needs).
Bake. If you have smaller cookies, it will take probably 13 to 15 minutes, and for larger cookies 18 to 20 minutes. I personally like mine a little underdone. When finished, cookies should be golden at edges.
Once you remove from the oven, they’ll need to set on the sheet for a minute or two before they can be lifted intact to a cooling rack. You really want them to cool all the way before eating (the texture is way better…crisp outside, soft inside).
This recipe makes 12-15 larger cookies for me (this is technically a half batch of the original), while a smaller scoop will yield more cookies.
Adapted very slightly from Smitten Kitchen
Other super easy cookie recipes you’ll love:
- Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies (Levain Bakery Copycat)
- The Best Dark Chocolate Tahini Cookies (GF, Vegan, Nut-Free)
- Easy & Awesome Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies (Vegan & Nut-Free)
- Brown Butter Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- Melt-In-Your-Mouth Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies
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5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies (GF, DF)
These super easy 5-ingredient peanut butter cookies are super delicious, and naturally gluten-free and dairy-free. You can whip them up in just a few minutes and have them totally ready for unexpected company in just over a half hour!
Ingredients
- Scant 1 cup (technically 7/8 cup, or 168 grams) of light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Scant 1 cup (technically 7/8 cup or 225 grams) of smooth peanut butter (see notes)
- Sprinkle of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (unless your peanut butter is really salty)
- Flaky sea salt, to finish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the light brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Really whisk it, give it at least a solid minute of whisking.
- Whisk in the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt, then the peanut butter until smooth and completely incorporated; you shouldn’t be able to see any ribbons of peanut butter.
- If you’d like to get those pretty striations across the top of the cookies, chill the dough by freezing it in its bowl for 15 minutes before scooping it onto the cookie sheet. If you’re not obsessed with these markings, you can scoop it right away (I'm always in a hurry so usually skip the chilling).
- Scoop or spoon the dough into balls onto the lined pan (a #16 or #40 scoop is good, but it's up to you how exact you want to be). If you want a tall final cookie, place the tray back in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. If you don't care, bake right away.
- Sprinkle the dough balls lightly with flaky sea salt, then bake. If you have smaller cookies, it will take probably 13 to 15 minutes, and for larger cookies 18 to 20 minutes. I personally like mine a little underdone. When finished, cookies should be golden at edges.
- Once you remove from the oven, they’ll need to set on the sheet for a minute or two before they can be lifted intact to a cooling rack. You really want them to cool all the way before eating (the texture is way better...crisp outside, soft inside).
Notes
- You can make this with all-natural peanut butter but it's usually much more oily and so the cookies won't hold shape as well. A more processed, smooth, thick one like Skippy will give better textural results.
- You can definitely make the dough in advance and either refrigerate it for a couple days, or even freeze it longer. In either case (especially freezing), I'd definitely go ahead and scoop it onto the sheet. If you freeze, you can freeze them on the sheet and then put them into a ziploc for easier storage. You can bake them right from the freezer.
- I realize that my addition of a sprinkle of cinnamon takes this technically over 5 ingredients, but at least one of them is "salt" so I feel like some grace is warranted...
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