When my mom and aunt were growing up, one of the things they did together was make peanut butter cookies. I remember hearing that my gram’s Betty Crocker cookbook would open automatically to the peanut butter cookie page – as if the smeared peanut butter fingerprints and cracked spine knew exactly where the girls wanted to go each time.
Naturally, in our house as my sister and I grew up, peanut butter cookies became a favorite, too. As I got older and Pinterest became the source of all baking answers (and honestly, answers of all sorts), I discovered – like many others – the magical powers of the 3-ingredient peanut butter cookie.
In my first apartment, I made a lot of batches of these simple cookies. I always felt that they were a little gritty, though, and were missing something.
Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of adaptations to the cookies, and I’ve finally found the secrets of success: a little less sugar and – everyone’s favorite ingredient – chocolate! I knew these were a winner when my mom – the original expert of peanut butter cookies – said they were delicious! I hope you’ll enjoy them just as much.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 cup of peanut butter (I prefer the natural peanut butter)
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1 large egg
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips (approx 1/2 cup but totally up to your taste buds’ preference)
- Sprinkle of flour
Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add in your sugar, peanut butter, and egg. I don’t use a beater – there doesn’t seem to be enough moisture for that to be successful and it’s easier for me personally to control the texture with a fork. Once all of the ingredients are well-blended – so no clumps of sugar or areas of only peanut butter – you’ll get ready to add in your chocolate chips. But there’s a process for this that will help in this recipe or any recipe with added floating ingredients!
Grab a smaller bowl (I use miniamo melamine bowls from my sister – you can find a 4 set on Amazon for around $10, but any small bowl will work). Empty your chocolate chips into the bowl. Then, using a spoon, lightly sprinkle flour over the chocolate chips. I usually shake my bowl a little to make sure all of the chips have a light coating of flour. The flour coat helps any added item stay suspended in batter, rather than sinking to the bottom. This tip can be applied to other items, too – like walnuts in any batter, such as cake, brownie, or bread batters.
Now that your chocolate chips have a light dusting of flour over them, you can slowly add them into the cookie batter. Make sure you only add some at a time, then stir so your chips are somewhat evenly distributed throughout. I also always save a few chocolate chips for later – some for my kiddo’s snack-grabbing fingers – and some for any cookies that look like they’re lacking even distribution.
Stick your batter in the freezer for a little bit – 10-15 minutes or while your oven finishes preheating. This will help the batter firm up, which is ideal for the cookies to have the right texture.
After the batter is cold and thick, but not completely stiff, you’re ready to go! Bring it out and roll it into balls – they should be a little smaller than ping-pong ball size, and the batch should allow you to make about a dozen.
Spread them out on a sprayed baking sheet (I usually use two smaller sheet pans). Then smush them down using a fork in a cross-hatch pattern. If no chocolate chips are showing on the top of the cookie, I usually add 1-2 of my extra chips just for even distribution and presentation.
They should go in the oven for 8-12 minutes. In my oven, 10-11 minutes is usually the best time range, and then I let them cool on the pan for about 1-2 minutes. You want to make sure that the bottom of them is a golden-brown when you use a spatula to take them off of the pan.
If you’re sugar-free or on the Keto diet, you can substitute ingredients – sugar-free peanut butter, Stevia or other sugar substitute (but be sure to use their recommended equivalency chart, since 3/4 cup of sugar is different than 3/4 cup of sugar substitute), and sugar-free chocolate chips.
Enjoy, y’all!
Kate with a Twang 
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