Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
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Made with just five ingredients, these flourless peanut butter cookies are thick and chewy, packed with peanut butter flavor, and finished with a sprinkle of sea salt.
It’s hard to believe you can make such a good PB cookie without any flour or butter, but this flourless peanut butter cookie recipe from Ovenly really works. The cookies are thick and puffy with chewy centers, intense peanut butter flavor, and a sprinkle of sea salt to balance the sweetness. They taste a little like the inside of a Reese’s peanut butter cup—in the best possible way.
They’re also incredibly simple to make: whisk together brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla, stir in the peanut butter, scoop, chill, and bake. As a bonus, they’re naturally gluten- and dairy-free.
“This peanut butter cookie recipe is so good—delicious and packed with peanut butter flavor! I would eat the whole tray if it were socially acceptable.”
What You’ll Need To Make Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Creamy Peanut Butter: Use a smooth commercial peanut butter, such as Jif or Skippy. Natural peanut butter can separate and has a different consistency, so I don’t recommend it here.
- Light Brown Sugar: Sweetens the cookies and contributes to their soft, chewy texture and caramel-like flavor.
- Eggs: You’ll need two large eggs. They give the flourless cookies the structure they need to hold together.
- Vanilla Extract: A generous splash rounds out the peanut butter flavor.
- Flaky Sea Salt: Sprinkled over the cookies before baking, it balances the sweetness and makes the peanut butter flavor pop. Maldon is my go-to.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar and eggs until smooth, then whisk in the vanilla. Add the peanut butter and stir until completely incorporated. Keep stirring—the dough will thicken considerably and become more cohesive as you go.
Scoop and chill: Scoop the dough into generous mounds and arrange them on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with sea salt and then refrigerate or freeze briefly until firm. Chilling helps the cookies hold their thick, puffy shape in the oven.
Bake and cool: Bake until the cookies are lightly golden and cracked on top. They’ll still be quite soft when they come out of the oven. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet before transferring them to a rack. They’ll firm up as they cool while staying soft and chewy in the center.
More Peanut Butter treats You’ll Love
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups (packed) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups creamy peanut butter, preferably Skippy (see note)
- Coarse-grained sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line two 13 x 18-in (33 x 46-cm) baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the light brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the peanut butter and mix with a rubber spatula until well combined and the dough is very thick. It will take about 3 minutes of stirring to get to the right consistency (it gets thicker as you continue to stir). (Note: Do not use an electric mixer for this process, as it can cause the peanut butter to separate.)
- Using a #20 (3-tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop the dough into mounds onto the prepared baking sheets. (If you don't have the right cookie scoop, form the dough into balls by hand; they should be the size of generous golf balls.)
- Sprinkle the dough balls lightly with the sea salt. Slide the baking sheets into the freezer for 15 minutes, or into the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes.
- Bake the first pan for 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden and cracked on top. Let cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookies. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
Notes
- For best results, use a smooth and creamy commercial peanut butter, like Skippy. (I do not recommend all-natural or chunky peanut butter.)
- Freezing Instructions: The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Scoop the dough into balls, sprinkle with salt (and press lightly so it adheres), let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To freeze after baking: let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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These cookies smelled amazing. It was a hit when I gave them out to people. But they were a bit too sweet for my liking. I think next time I’d use some PB with less sugar or just add less sugar in. Texture is really good though. Just enough salt too!
These were THE BEST peanut butter cookies. My husband raved about them to our neighbors and made sure to share them. They were gone on day 2.
Hi Jenn, I’ve used a lot of your recipes before and always love them! Idk why but these cookies came out way too sweet and salty. Not sure what I did wrong. Any suggestions?
Karla, sorry this was a bit of a miss for you! You mentioned that they were both too sweet and too salty. Did you make any adjustments to the recipe? Is there any chance you made a measuring error?
Nope, but im thinking maybe it was the peanut butter? I just used store brand, maybe it was too sweet? I also think my salt flakes melted into the cookie so that also doesn’t help.
Could be — if you make these again, I’d try it with a different brand of PB. I really like Skippy. 🙂
I agree with you both! I love all your recipes Jenn but found these cookies too sweet. I also used store brand peanut butter. Oh well, lesson learned 🙂
Hello, again! I’m back on your site again today as I am most every day. I could give reviews on many of your recipes, but you’ve only asked for 3 in your dutch oven drawing. These salted peanut butter cookies have to be among some of the best of your recipes! I have made them at least a dozen times in the last 6 months, even giving them as Christmas gifts to neighbors and family. They are no fail, simple, and DELICIOUS!!! I love that I can make them without using a mixer because cleanup is a breeze. Thank you for sharing your always practical and delicious recipes!!!
Hi Jenn, I hope you are going well at this time. Like a lot of other people, I’ve been baking a lot more recently, and tried your salted PB cookie recipe. It is so good, husband loves it, and asked if I could do a version with choc chips in it. What do you think?
Hi Karen, Glad your husband likes these! I haven’t tried adding chocolate chips to these, but I think you could. I’d love to hear what you think if you try it! 🙂
Tried it, and made it clear that your original recipe didn’t need anything more. The choc chips were nice, but didn’t add much to the brilliant flavour you already made. Thanks again Jenn
Good to know — thanks for reporting back!!
Holy Smokes! These are fantastic! So easy to make and really delicious. Another winner from Chef Jenn.
These cookies are the best! Easy to make using ingredients I am likely to have on hand. No need pull out the mixer. The texture is amazing, soft like cake, and the sea salt is the perfect finish to make these cookies special.
Made this recipe for the third time yesterday and am still working on getting the right size, but it really doesn’t matter, ended up with 27 cookies, so smaller than recommended and cooking time is less, of course. Being home has resulted in a LOT more cooking, but still, I am down 23 lbs since January. These cookies are perfect for satisfying that “I want something sweet” feeling, just one is enough for me. I have shared the recipe several times and also recommend your emails, Jenn. Thanks very much for introducing me to this wonderful recipe, it really is excellent! May 13, 2020
Glad you like them! 🙂
Jennifer,
You and Your recipes ROCK!! they are the BEST!! I made those cookies and I had great success with them. They are very sweet though-anyway I can cut back on the sugar with the same results?
Thank you Jen
Thanks Janelle — so glad you like the recipes!! I think you could cut back on the sugar by about 1/4 cup. Any more than that and I’d be concerned that it will impact the texture. Hope that helps!
I baked these cookies for my grandchildren and they told me these are the BEST peanut butter cookies ever!! This is my new Peanut butter cookie recipe.
My cookies were puffy when I took them out of the oven then they went flat. Is that normal?
Glad they enjoyed them, Wendy! They should stay puffy; I’d leave them in the oven for another minute or two.
AMAZING cookies!! Delicious! Salty and sweet. Light and soft in the middle, crispy on the edges. Super easy to make. New fav.