I am in love!!! These cookies are soooo peanut buttery and soooo easy to make! A child could make them! There's only four main ingredients, so the emphasis is really on the peanut butter here. So if you LOVE peanut butter this is an easy and delicious way to satisfy your craving and your sweet tooth :D You won't even notice they're gluten and dairy free, they're so damn good!
The original recipe, which I modified, is from: https://www.oven.ly/recipes/salted-peanut-butter
The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar (162 g)
1 large egg, at room temperature (50-55 g)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (1.4 g)
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. smooth peanut butter (220 g)
Topping: flakey salt (optional)
Directions:
Blend together the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla until completely combined.
Add the peanut butter and mix well, making sure it is mixed very well. If you want to add chocolate chips, chopped peanuts etc. now would be a good time.
Stick the bowl mixture in the freezer for 15 minutes, this makes it easier to scoop.
Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350°F.
Use a large spoon or an ice cream scoop to scoop 8 cookies (each will be about 2 oz. or 50 g) onto the baking sheet, spacing them at least 2 inches apart.
Optional: Add a light sprinkle of flakey/coarse sea salt on top.
Optional: Freeze the cookie dough on the tray for another 15 minutes before baking.
Bake for 18 minutes (no fan) for cookies with browned edges and slightly gooey center, or longer for more crispy dry cookies.
Makes 8 medium cookies. They get more firm and cookie-like as they cool. They taste great the next day!
Note: I've tried this recipe with dark brown sugar too (see pictures below) but the peanut butter flavor was weaker. So I definitely recommend light brown sugar.
Here I show how I made a half-batch (I also made some with dark brown sugar):
The ingredients I used.
Before mixing the egg, vanilla, and brown sugar together.
After mixing the egg, vanilla, and brown sugar together.
Then add the peanut butter.
The cookie dough is mixed! Now chill it before scooping.
I used a 2 oz. ice cream scoop to scoop the cookies, but you can use a spoon or wet hands.
Scoop onto a prepared tray and sprinkle with salt (optional). Then you can chill it again before baking.
After chilling and before baking (top is dark brown sugar, bottom is the light brown sugar I recommend).
After baking. They're so round and gorgeous!
After baking let them cool.
Light brown sugar on the left is super sweet and peanut buttery. The dark brown sugar on the right is still good, but I think the extra molasses distracts from the peanut butter flavor.
Inside look at the dark brown sugar version.