These peanut butter cookies are made with just 2 ingredients. They don’t contain any flour, butter, refined sugar or eggs. They are easy and quick to make and you don’t even need a mixer for the dough. The cookies come out tasting like peanut butter shortbread cookies.
I’m always trying to make recipes with as few ingredients as possible, but even I was surprised by how ridiculously simple the ingredient list is for these cookies. I got the idea from experimenting with baking a few of my no bake cookie recipes and ended up coming up with these. The cookies are a little more delicate than your typical cookie but they taste so buttery and nutty and make a delicious afternoon snack.
Ingredients
- Natural Peanut Butter
- Maple Syrup
Creamy natural peanut butter is made of just peanuts and sometimes salt. Nothing else. Because of its high fat content, it works great as a butter replacement. It’s what gives these cookies a buttery shortbread texture even though there is no butter in the recipe.
The recipe uses just a little bit of maple syrup which adds some sweetness and also thickens the peanut butter. On its own, natural peanut butter is very liquidy. But when you mix it with maple syrup, the peanut butter will thicken and it thickens enough to be a workable cookie dough that you can shape into a ball, press into a disk and make the criss-cross pattern on top.
I know you might be doubtful that this can really work but one of the most popular peanut butter cookie recipes out there is a 3 ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe that is just peanut butter, sugar and eggs, so this is just one less ingredient.
Healthy Peanut Butter Cookie Texture
Even though these cookies are made of peanut butter, they do come out like a cookie! The cookies have a firm exterior but when you bite in, the cookie will almost melt in your mouth, like shortbread. These cookies are more delicate because of the minimal ingredients. They will hold a cookie shape but you can expect a few more crumbs than normal when you bite into them and they do break apart more easily.
More Peanut Butter Recipes
- 2 Ingredient Healthy No Bake Cookies
- 3 Ingredient Healthy Peanut Butter Fudge
- 3 Ingredient Flourless Peanut Butter Mug Cake
- 2 Ingredient Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
2 Ingredient Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy natural unsweetened peanut butter must use natural peanut butter (see note)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
- In a medium bowl, stir together peanut butter and maple syrup with a spatula. At first your batter will be very liquidy, but as you continue to mix the maple syrup into the peanut butter you will see your batter thicken and resemble cookie dough. Your dough will not be as thick and solid as typical cookie dough but it should be firm enough for you to scoop up with your cookie scoop and shape with your hands. See notes section about potentially making the cookies sweeter.
- Using a 1.5 tbsp cookie scooper, scoop cookie dough and place onto prepared baking sheet, spaced 2 inches apart. Using the palm of your hand, flatten cookie dough into a round disk. Make criss-cross patten on surface of each cookie using a fork.
- Bake cookies about 10-12 minutes or until surface of cookies look dry and cooked. Do not worry if the cookies still feel soft. They will firm up after they cool. Let cookies cool completely on baking sheet to allow them to set. Do not attempt to remove cookies before they are cool because they will fall apart. Once cookies are cooled and set, they should easily come off your parchment paper or silicone mat. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
Video
Notes
- This recipe will only work with natural peanut butter that only contains nuts and salt. It will not work with peanut butter processed with oils because the oils keep the peanut butter in its paste form and it won't form a dough the way the natural one will when it is mixed with the maple syrup.
- These cookies have only a little bit of sweetness. This was intentional as I wanted something low sugar. I find that the peanut butter is so flavorful that just having the cookies slightly sweetened works for me. However, if you wish for a sweeter cookie you can make them sweeter. After you mix in the maple syrup, taste your cookie dough. If you want more sweetness you can add 1-2 more tbsp of maple syrup. I do not recommend adding more than that because your dough will be too moist to work with.
- Adding 1-2 tbsp more maple syrup will make the dough a little harder to work with because it will be softer but you should still be able to shape it. Your cookies will also be a little darker in color and you may need to bake 1-2 minutes longer. (My cookies were done at 10 minutes for the original version and closer to 12 minutes when I added more syrup).
- This recipe should work with other natural style nut butters like cashew or almond butter. I have not tested this recipe with other sweeteners but I think other liquid sweeteners like honey should work.
- While this recipe should work with almost any brand of natural peanut butter, I would stay away from ones that you may find more oily than normal. You don't want to use an unusually thin, liquidy or oily peanut butter.
- I use a Nordic Ware aluminum baking sheet pan* to bake these cookies.
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Random and very specific question here: I’m wanting to make these for my daughter’s Dinosaur themed birthday party. I want to use a toy dino foot to make a dino footprint stamp in the middle of them. Would the print hold up through baking or would the dough bake up and lose the imprint?
We have not tried that but the criss-cross pattern holds up in baking so you may have luck with another pattern!
Can you add choc chips?
We haven’t tried that – the cookies are pretty delicate, so not sure how they will hold up if chocolate chips are mixed in. Let us know if you try it!
This great love this website
Thanks so much!
Curious if chocolate sauce could work in place of syrup?
We haven’t tried it, so not sure how it will work.
I would like to try this with Walden Farms calorie and sugar free syrup. Any advice on artificial sweeteners or sugar free syrup
You should try our Keto Peanut Butter Cookies – they only have two ingredients.
I used jiffy natural and NuStevia portable maple flavored syrup. It worked great as I have a sugar allergy.
Thanks for sharing that!
Can you use 1 tbsp of maple syrup vs. 2 or will that change the consistency.
We haven’t tried reducing the amount of syrup. If you do it could change the texture of the cookies, so let us know if you try it and how it works.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but it seems to be Worthy project for my 4 year old great grand daughters and I. Clean up will be amazing! Thank You!
We hope you try them!
can I use a pumpkin seed butter?
We have not worked with pumpkin seed butter before so we don’t know what the result will be. If the consistency is similar to natural peanut butter it may work.
Huge success. Thank you for the recipe. It worked perfectly. I used an ice cream scoop to portion the dough onto the parchment paper, then compressed and rolled the portions with my hands, then covered the balls with another sheet of parchment paper and used the bottom of a cup to press the balls flat-ish through the paper. (Much easier and quicker than it sounds.) The resulting cookies don’t look as uniform as yours but they are I think recognizable as peanut-butter cookies! And they taste very good. Thanks again, Ruth Whetsel
We’re so glad you loved the recipe!
The first batch were a little sweet for me. On my second try I added a couple large tablespoons of chopped walnuts which gave them more crunch and toned down the sweetness. Good and healthy snack. I was amazed on how light and cookie textured they turned out.
Thanks for sharing your adjustments!
Can I use a bit of sugar or artificial sweetener because as you said the extra maple syrup is too hard to work with? They are great just need a bit more sweetness. Thank you!
We recommend adding one to two tablespoons more of syrup if you want them sweeter – we haven’t tried other sweeteners, so can’t say how much of those you would need.
Can you add egg to hold it together better. Maybe Splenda instead of syrup. Yes
Sorry, but we haven’t tested this recipe with egg because we wanted it to be an eggless cookie recipe.
Great recipe, always looking for healthier baked goods. This is a winner! Very easy to make.
So glad you enjoyed the cookies!
These are delicious! And healthy to boot!!
Glad you enjoyed them!
Hi! Can I use creamy organic peanut butter. Thanks can’t wait to make these!
as long as it is natural peanut butter (only peanuts and salt and no oils in the ingredient list)
I’m making them now can’t wait to taste I’m going to love this better way of baking/ no bake I always looking for healthy way of snacks
We hope you love the cookies!
Question about the maple syrup. Obviously REAL MAPLE SYRUP? So don’t use Aunt Jemima. I understand NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER. And since this is a “healthy” cookie I’m going to assume I must buy REAL MAPLE SYRUP.
yes real maple syrup
Very easy just as recipe states
Don’t care for texture. Best to drink coffee asap
Hi I tried out this easy peanut butter cookie and loved it…easy to make…thank you so much!! But I do have a doubt…when I baked the cookie for 12 min it came out well and was very soft…but when we eat after it kind of sticks to the mouth…is this normal or did I do anything wrong??? Do I need to bake for few more minutes??
They might have been underbaked.
What temperature to bake peanut butter cookies
This information is in step 1 in the recipe card – the temperature is 350°F.
Love these cookies. I never took of that, the last bunch did not hold up as well as the first ones that went into the oven. Just found this website and will be coming back!
I’m the worst cook in the world, and usually never allowed near the kitchen, but when I made these cookies everyone loved them. I used the creamy almond pb w/o sugar or salt since I’m diabetic and 2 1/4 tbs tree knees butter maple syrup. They are delicious and healthy. I love they are not overly sweet. I tried one only a few minutes out of the stove and yea it crumbled but it was soon good. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m glad you love the recipe!
Can you use the all natural chunky peanut butter?
that should work
I cannot believe it-these completely check my peanut butter cookie box! I remained skeptical from beginning til my first bite, and then boom-delicious!! Thank you so much for posting!!
I’m so glad you tried and enjoyed!
Can you freeze these and the chocolate chip ones? Tia
We haven’t tried freezing these and can’t say for sure how they will hold up.
Hi Kirbie, I was wondering if this would work with almond flour? My daughter is a celiac and I think it would be something she would love.
This recipe doesn’t have any flour – it’s just two ingredients – natural peanut butter and maple syrup.
Just pulled them out of the oven, they look good! I hope they set. They were just getting dark brown on the bottom. Fingers crossed!
Hope you loved them!
I made these with crunchy peanut butter, and they were awesome. I love tahini and maple syrup, so I tried the recipe with tahini, and threw in some oats (because I don’t eat oatmeal anymore and am trying to use them up—I will def be making your oat bread). I used twice the amount of maple syrup. The cookies are wonderful—reminiscent of halvah. Next time, I will use a little maple flavoring, and leave out the oats.
Thanks for letting us know!
Should the maple syrup be warm upon mixing with peanut butter?
No, it should be room temperature.
Sounds easy and tasty. My blood sugar drops too low that I usually eat pb or pb and crackers to help stabilize it. I was wondering if you could add other ingredients like coconut,chocolate chips and such to the baked version.
We haven’t tried adding mix-ins. If you do, please let us know if you liked it!
So quick & simple! But the best part is I FINALLY found the perfect recipe I was looking for!! These were delicious! Thank you!
We are so happy you loved them!
Can I use skippy peanut butter?
We don’t recommend using Skippy because it has added ingredients that will change the results of the recipe. For the best results, use natural peanut butter that is made with just peanuts and salt.
Canthey be baked for sale!?If so, may I know the shelf life?thank you it’s so easy to make.
We can’t give advice on that, but we do have a baked 2-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe if you want to check it out.
Could molasses be used?
Sorry, but we haven’t tried it with molasses.
Can I substitute natural creamy almond buttter?
This recipe should work with other natural-style nut butters like cashew or almond butter.
Thanks for this recipe alot of people don’t believe that wheat allergy Is a thing and so my sister doesn’t have alot of delicious cookie recipes to choose from so this is really really special and so tasty amazing thanks for this
That makes us happy! So glad you and your sister are enjoying the recipes.
These are great. Made a batch a few days ago with 3 TB of maple syrup and they were really good but I wanted just a tad more sweetness. Today did 4 TB of maple syrup, 12 minutes baked, they were perfect. I used Kirkland Organic peanut butter, my favorite brand and good price too and added a few turns of the Himalayan salt grinder. Thanks for this recipe.
Thanks for sharing your tips! So happy you like the recipe.
I used Kroger Natural Peanut butter. I stirred the oil in the jar until the it was absorbed in the peanut butter. I measured the peanut butter and 3 tablespoons of maple syrup. Then baked 8 cookies at 350° for 10 minutes. I let them cool for 30 minutes. They were perfect and very good. They satisfied my sweet tooth.
So glad you liked them!
Those are great 7gr protein
Thanks!
Like to learn more recipes with less ingredients
I’m going to roll then in cinnamon sugar before flattening so they’re sweeter for the grandkids….I think they’ll taste like snickerdoodles
Hope they loved them!
Hi. I tried the recipe. Everything went well with the dough, the shaping. But at 375 F they were black in the first 2 minutes.
375 is too high and will definitely cause them to burn. They are supposed to bake at 350F
Wasn’t a fan of the texture or flavor, but it could be that I had not tried natural PB prior. I did forget to taste and see if I should add more syrup to make it sweeter, but as is, not for me. Hubby said he will eat them. Would honey work instead? If so, same amounts?
I don’t believe this recipe works with honey.
Fabulously delicious!
I’m so glad you liked them!
I added some salt to my almond butter because it didn’t have any. 1 tablespoon honey and 1 tablespoon of sugar free maple syrup. Plus 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla. Made 9 delectable cookies!!! Your recipe was genius!!!
thank you for sharing your experience!
hello Kirbie, these little gems are too good. I made the first batch as directed, they were good, the second batch i used the mixed nut butter (from Costco) and added Maldon salt flakes on the top before baking, really tasty. Thank you for this delightful recipe. Probably going to try one of the recipes with the coconut flour as soon as i procure some.. Have a great day.
I’m so glad you liked them!
Love your recipes but not being American have no idea what measurement a cup is. Would it be possible to indicate weight in grams. Would make life so much simpler and give me the confidence to try. Thanks for all your lovely and unusual recipes.
We’re sorry, but we don’t have that info at this time.
I was so looking forward to making these cookies as I love peanut paste, but, they came out so dry and were like glue. I only had a bite, would have preferred eating from jar lol. Where did I go wrong? I used as l natural peanut butter and followed ingredient? Thanks
Hi, did you use pure maple syrup or a different sweetener?
Just made these and they came out perfectly. These will be nice for small households.
Thank you so much for the recipe. These were quick and easy to make.
I’m so glad they turned out well!
I can’t wait to try these recipes
I hope you enjoy!
Can I use sugar free syrup?
I have not tested it with sugar free syrup
I found a recipe in another blog (can’t remember which one) where this is basically the same except it used sugar free and they were no bake as well, you had to refrigerate them after forming. They work well as a fat bomb for Keto.
Sounds almost to good to be true. Can’t wait to try.
I hope you enjoy!
They taste good but turned out extremely crumbly. Like to the point of falling apart into dust.
These cookies are more delicate because of the minimal ingredients. They should hold a cookie shape but you can expect a few more crumbs than normal when you bite into them and they do break apart more easily.
Have you tried adding chocolate chips to these, do you think it would work?
We haven’t tried this recipe with chocolate chips, so can’t say for sure how they will work. Please let us know if you try it!
Instead of honey, I used 1/2 cup light brown sugar and 2 Tbsp. water. They came out perfect! Yummy cookie!
thank you for sharing your results!
Two questions… What brand of peanut butter do you like best?
Could you use pancake syrup like aunt Jemima or should it be real maple syrup?
We like Kirkland Signature Organic Creamy Peanut Butter. Also, we have tested this with Aunt Jemima light pancake syrup and it did work.
I’m going to add sugar free chocolate chips. Will let you know how it goes.
Hope it worked well!
What about using honey rather than maple syrup?
I haven’t tested it with honey but I don’t think it will work as well based on similar recipes where I’ve tested both maple syrup and honey versions. A reader shared she tried both and the maple syrup worked well but the honey did not.
Would golden syrup work instead of maple syrup
I haven’t tried but I don’t think it will work as well. Someone else tested it with honey and tested with maple syrup and said the honey version didn’t work as well. Golden syrup is more like honey in consistency so I think it may have the same issues.
Where can you buy the creamy natural peanut butter in Australia?
Sorry I don’t know. In the US, it’s available at most grocery stores.
Beta make a natural peanut paste in Australia. I’ve bought it is Coles.
Thanks for sharing the info!
I have ate peanut butter mixed with syrup on crackers for years! It’s just a little quick sweet tooth fix when I need a snack or don’t have chocolate or much time for anything more elaborate. I can’t wait to try these!
hope you enjoy!
Can you double the recipe or is it best to keep batches very small?
yes you can double the recipe
Hi Kirby!
I made the 3 ingredient no bake chocolate chip cookies,loved them,and will definitely be making them again!!!
thank you for sharing! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I’m going to make these tomorrow. Thank you for the recipe. I can’t wait to try different cookies as well.
I hope you enjoy!
I simply love this peace of work
Hello Kirby! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this quick, simple, PB cookie recipe! I have also learned to LOVE oatmeal ( which I never use to eat, lol), but tried your baked OATMEAL recipes, and managed to lose 12 pounds in the process, thank you, will def be trying more of your recipes!
that is amazing! Congrats on your weight loss and I’m happy you eat oatmeal now too!
Delish!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Can you use pic’s peanut butter?
I think that should work
Hi, I am in the UK. I would really love to try these cookies but I need to ask a question first. Please can you tell me how much a cup is? I am used to weighing in either ounces or grams and I haven’t got a clue how much it is.
Hi, the recipe is in US measuring cups. Unfortunately I don’t have the measurement in weight
Hi Elizabeth, 1/4 cup of peanut butter is 70 grams, so 1 full cup is 280 grams. Hope that helps, and you can try these cookies!
I used Google to find the equivalent, and it hasn’t messed up a recipe for me yet. My sister lives in Europe, so when we share recipes, we have to “translate” measurements to be able to make each other’s recipes.
Can I use pbfit powder
Sorry I don’t know
Could you add rolled oatsand how much? Could you add chocolate chips or anything like them if so how much?
I would not add rolled oats because the dough is already very dry and oats will make the dough even drier. You could try adding chocolate chips, maybe 1/4 cup?
Will creamy jiff peanut butter work?
It needs to be natural style peanut butter made with only peanuts and no other oils. I’ve added a note in the recipe box explaining why if you want to know more
Need cookbook! I just found out that I’m diabetic and it looks like you have wonderful ideas!
I’m glad you are enjoying the ideas! Sorry no cookbook at this time
Love the cookies
I’m so glad you liked them!
Could you use rice malt syrup as an alternative
sorry I don’t know. I haven’t worked with rice malt syrup before
Awesome, sound great” It better way cutting out the flour.
Thank you!
hope you enjoy!
If all I have is the ‘normal’ peanut butter would this still work?
unfortunately no. I’ve added a note in the recipe notes explaining why
Looks yummy! Would it work with crunchy peanut butter?
I haven’t tried, but I think so. As long as it is natural crunchy pb
Thanks for sharing the easy recipe!!!
You are welcome!
I agree with “Roger” in your previous post!, as I have diabetes 2, So this recipe comes at great time as I am always looking for low carb, low sugar recipes ?Thanks
you are welcome!
Decided to experiment and did half of the cookies with maple syrup and the other half with honey. The maple syrup ones turned out much better. They held together better. The honey ones were so crumbly they were hard to eat and felt like I was eating powdered peanut butter. The maple syrup ones, while still crumbly, were much more cookie-like. Both cookies dried out my mouth (like eating a spoonful of peanut butter does). A big glass of milk is a must with these cookies.
thank you for sharing your experience! I haven’t tested these using honey so I wasn’t sure how they would turn out.
I only had reg peanut butter on hand and I wasn’t able to work the mixture (too soft). Is the peanut butter the problem?
yes the peanut butter is the problem. regular peanut butter is processed with hydrongenated oils which keeps the peanut butter in its spread form so it won’t react the same or thicken to a dough-like texture
yes the peanut butter is the problem. regular peanut butter is processed with hydrongenated oils which keeps the peanut butter in its spread form so it won’t react the same or thicken to a dough-like texture
Very simple & delicious ! Thank you for sharing. Great recipe!
I’m glad you liked the recipe!
What type of peanut butter and maple syrup do you recommend?
natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt in the ingredient list) and pure maple syrup
Very pleased with results
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I love the peanbutter 2 ingredient cookie recipe!
I’m glad you liked the recipe!
Nice n easy. Thankyou very much.
You are welcome!
How many cookies does this make?
12
Can u use ob2 ob
sorry I don’t know
Thanks so much for two ingredients peanut butter recipe. With Diabetes type 2 I’m always looking for low carb, low sugar or sugar free recipes….do you have a cookbook?????
I hope you enjoy!
So am I, Roger. I am also a Peanutbutteraholic (super crunchy only).