Flourless AND dairy-free peanut butter cookies, I should say. These cookies are a great option for my gluten-free and dairy-free friends, but I love them just because they’re just so incredibly easy. These peanut butter cookies are rich, soft, and perfectly salty-sweet. And because they’re so easy to make (no mixer required), I bet they’d be a fun weekend project to make with the kids!

What’s in Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies?

Flourless peanut butter cookies have been around for a while and the concept is simple: peanut butter + egg + sugar bakes into a tasty, sweet, and soft cookie. Most flourless peanut butter cookies use peanut butter-like JIF or Peter Pan, which has a fairly solid texture at room temperature. I prefer natural peanut butter, which is a little runnier, so I had to adjust the formula a bit to help the cookies keep their shape.

To account for the softer, almost liquid-like, texture of natural peanut butter, I substituted some of the regular sugar in the cookie for powdered sugar. Powdered sugar has an incredible thickening property that worked perfectly for helping these cookies hold their shape despite the soft peanut butter.

Can I Use Other Nut and Seed Butters?

While I haven’t tried other nut butters in this recipe, I would expect them to work so long as they have a similar texture to the natural peanut butter used here. Almond butter sounds great, as does sunflower butter. I bet tahini might even be interesting! Just keep in mind that if your nut butter has added sugar, you may want to reduce the sugar in the recipe below.

You may also need to adjust the amount of powdered sugar depending on the viscosity of your nut butter to make sure the dough has the correct texture.

What Else Can I Add?

These peanut butter cookies would be so fun to add some mix-ins or toppings! I originally planned to drizzle a little melted chocolate over my cookies (after they’re cooled), but realized too late that I was out. You could also mix in some chocolate chips, nuts, or crushed pretzels into the dough.

How to Make Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies – Step by Step Photos

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add one cup natural peanut butter, ¾ cup granulated sugar, ⅔ cup powdered sugar, 1 large egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, and ½ teaspoon baking powder to a bowl. The dough will be easier to mix together if the peanut butter is not chilled.

Mix these ingredients together until they form a cohesive dough that is firm enough to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Divide the dough into twelve pieces, roll each one into a ball, then flatten slightly. Use a fork to make a cross hatch pattern in the top of each cookie.

I like to bake the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet to make cleanup super fast and easy. Make sure to space the cookies a couple of inches apart, as they will grow a bit as they bake!

Bake the cookies in a preheated 350ºF oven for 12 minutes. Let the baked cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes so they can firm up before using a spatula to transfer to a wire rack (they’ll be super soft when hot).

After allowing the cookies to cool completely, store in an air-tight container at room temperature for about a week, or they can be frozen for a few months!

Try These Other Cookie Recipes:

• Chocolate Molasses Cookies
• Cinnamon Pecan Sandies
• Snickerdoodles for Two
• Homemade Rice Krispie Treats

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