I’ve been making this recipe since I was a pre-teen. I  sold them at a trailer park playground so I could score the things I thought I needed to survive, like George Michael’s album Faith. Hahaha! I wrote this recipe’s origin story for Bon Appetit and it was just published. You can check it out here.

Made with just four ingredients, you can whip these peanut butter cookies up in a few minutes. I recommend that you rest the dough for an hour to solidify the oil in the peanut butter and help control spread as they bake. The white sugar helps create a deeper caramel color and adds crispiness to the edges. The brown sugar adds notes of molasses and a touch of moisture that helps create a chewy center.

Servings: 12 cookies

Total time active: 15 minutes 

Total time inactive: 1 hour

Make ahead: Make the dough up to three days ahead and store it in an airtight container in the back of your refrigerator. You can freeze the dough for up to 6 months.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup smooth peanut butter

  • 1/2 cup white sugar

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

  • 1 egg, beaten

Directions

STEP 1

Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 350ºF.  Mix the sugar and egg thoroughly.  Mix in the peanut butter until a dough forms. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place the balls of dough on a cookie sheet and rest uncovered in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

STEP 2

Remove the cookie dough from the fridge. Flatten each dough ball by pressing down with the tines of a fork, first from left to right and then from top to bottom, to create a criss-cross pattern.

STEP 3

Bake for 4 minutes, then turn the cookie sheet around, so the front faces the back of the oven.  Bake for an additional 4 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Wait 1 minute, then place the cookies on a cooling rack.