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.
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.
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!