Best 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies (GF)
You owe it to yourself to try these 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies! Made with less sugar and in 3 different variations, these flourless and completely gluten free cookies are one of the easiest and tastiest things you'll ever bake. Plus, they're ready in less than 30 minutes!
Servings: 16 cookies
Calories: 125kcal
Ingredients
Basic recipe:
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 4 tablespoons white caster sugar
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 egg yolk from a large egg
For the salted dark chocolate version:
- 3.5 oz dark chocolate melted and tempered or ½ cup mini dark chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
For the cinnamon – white chocolate version:
- 3.5 oz white chocolate melted and tempered or ½ cup mini white chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or double for stronger taste)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a cookie sheet with baking paper.
- Make the cookies: Transfer the peanut butter, the sugar and the maple syrup to a mixing bowl and stir well using a whisk, a fork or a wooden spatula (if you're making the cinnamon and white chocolate version, also add the cinnamon at this step).
- Add the egg yolk to the peanut butter mixture and mix for 2-3 minutes until a soft and pliable dough is formed. If you're using mini chocolate chips instead of dipping the cookies in melted chocolate, add them to the dough and mix gently to combine.
- Take full tablespoons of the cookie dough, form balls between your hands and place them on a cookie sheet. You should have 16 cookies. Flatten them gently by pressing them with your hand or make a criss-cross pattern with a fork.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, until edges are firm and the center looks slightly moist. Take them out of the oven and and let them cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to wire rack to cool completely (don't overbake because they will be dry).
- Optional: Dip the cookies in the melted chocolate. Let the excess chocolate drip and place on a piece of parchment paper until the chocolate is fully set (instead of dipping the cookies you can also drizzle the melted chocolate over them). Sprinkle some sea salt flakes over the dark chocolate or some ground cinnamon over the white chocolate.
Video
Notes
- I don't find that vanilla extract adds anything special to this recipe, but you can add 1 teaspoon if you feel like it.
- Melt the chocolate in a narrow bowl so that it will be high enough for the cookies to be dipped.
- For the best results, the chocolate has to be tempered, otherwise it may not set properly. You can temper it in a few different ways but the easiest one is to melt the ⅔ of the chocolate, and when it's completely melted, add the remaining ⅓ and stir until combined. You can read more details in the article how to temper chocolate from sugargeekshow.
- Tempering white chocolate with this method doesn't always work for me and sometimes the chocolate stays soft. If that happens, store the cookies in the fridge.
- Each cookie is about 125 calories without chocolate and 158 calories with the chocolate.
Nutrition
Calories: 125kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 70mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 16IU | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.3mg
