These flourless cookies are a quick fix and packed with big peanut butter flavor. They’re soft-baked for your ultimate snacking pleasure!
Hello! I hope everyone reading this is doing well and feeling fine. I’m still baking on the practical side, trying to conserve and stretch ingredients, although yesterday’s post might make you think differently. However, the was created weeks ago when my kitchen life was different. Now it feels like an extravagance to have enough butter to whip up a big batch of buttercream frosting!
Until life gets back to normal (and it will!), I’m leaning into easy recipes that rely on fewer ingredients, and that give us happiness and comfort. These cookies fit that description.
Oatmeal is an ingredient that you can always find in my pantry. It’s a wonderful replacement for flour in this recipe. I used old-fashioned rolled oats, which gives the baked cookies chewy texture. If you only have quick-cooking oats, those will work too, but the cookies will be slightly softer.
Eggs have been scarce, but this dough uses only uses 1, which I think is a pretty good trade-off for 1 1/2 dozen cookies. I considered halving this recipe, but then thought better of it. 18 cookies disappear pretty fast in my house (especially peanut butter cookies!). But if you’re not keen on baking a whole batch, then the dough freezes beautifully. Freeze half for later and your future self will thank you.
Portion the cookies using a if you have one, or if you don’t, the amount of dough per cookie is about 4 teaspoons (4 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon). Roll cookies into balls and then flatten with your palm or the bottom of a cup or bowl.
10 minutes of oven time will yield a soft-baked cookie with set edges and a soft middle. Fresh from the oven they’ll be too soft to transfer to a cooling rack, so allow them to cool on the pan.
This is such an easy little weekend bake with big payoff! Keep them in a zip-top bag with the air removed, or in an air-tight container and they’ll last all week.
Yields 18 cookies
If you’re avoiding gluten, be sure to use oats and baking chips clearly labeled “gluten-free”.
1 cup (270g) smooth/creamy peanut butter (shelf-stable)
3/4 cup (160g) brown sugar, tightly packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (75g) old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup (55g) semisweet chocolate chips, plus more for garnish
Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the peanut butter and brown sugar. Mix well on medium speed until creamy. Beat in the egg; mix in the vanilla extract.
To the creamed mixture, add the oats, baking soda and baking powder. Beat on low speed until crumbly; mixture will be thick. Use a rubber spatula to fully incorporate the ingredients into the mixture. Fold in 1/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips.
Portion the dough using a cookie scoop (4 teaspoons, or 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon), roll into balls between your palms, and transfer to the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with your palm or the bottom of a cup or bowl. Dot tops of cookies with 3-4 additional chocolate chips.
Bake for 10 minutes and cool completely on the pans. Transfer cookies to an air-tight container, or a zip-top bag with the air removed.
Freeze cookies: After dough is rolled into balls, transfer them on the cookie sheet to the freezer. When the dough is frozen, transfer them to a zip-top bag with the air removed and return to the freezer. Thaw and flatten before baking as directed.
