5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients: Peanuts. That's what I want to see on the label of my peanut butter. No salt or sugar. And definitely not any of those 20 letter ingredients that 99.9% of the population has no clue what it is. 

Pretty much the only peanut butter I buy is the All-Natural, No-Salt Added, Crunchy Peanut Butter from Trader Joe's. Occasionally the grind-your-own from Fresh Market. There aren't many things I'm super particular about, but peanut butter is definitely one of them. Oh, I used to love that sugary Jiff - but when I made the switch several years ago, there was no turning back.

But, I digress...I had been wanting to make peanut butter cookies for awhile and after unsuccessfully combing through a lot of recipes that specifically called for not using natural peanut butter, I came across this 5 ingredient recipe from Claire Robinson. How do you beat 5 ingredient cookies?! I knew at the very least I had to make one batch.

These are fantastic cookies. And let me just say up front - DO NOT SKIP THE SALT.  The coarse sea salt takes these cookies over the top - not only by adding another texture, but by really bringing out the peanut butter flavor.

A few notes:

I used crunchy peanut butter, but smooth would also work.  I also added chocolate chips to half of the batter. Those cookies were beyond sinful. Toffee chips could also be delicious.

5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place racks in the upper and lower third of the oven.

In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until well combined. Spoon 1 tablespoon of mixture about 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten the mounds with the tines of a fork, making a crosshatch pattern on the cookies. Sprinkle coarse salt on top of the cookies.

Bake until golden around edges, about 10 minutes, switching the position of the pans halfway thorough baking. Transfer to racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough.