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 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.
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.
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.
Delish!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
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!
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!
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 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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
Sounds almost to good to be true. Can’t wait to try.
I hope you enjoy!
Can I use sugar free syrup?
I have not tested it with sugar free syrup
I can’t wait to try these recipes
I hope you enjoy!
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 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?
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!
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!
Fabulously delicious!
I’m so glad you liked 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
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!