Three Ingredient Cookies

These are a favorite in our house. My neighbor gave me the recipe several years ago, and I have used it in a few different ways. The good thing about these is that they are gluten free as long as your peanut butter is.

There are only three ingredients, and it's even easier because you only have to remember the number one.

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg

That's it!  Mix the peanut butter and sugar together first, then add in the egg.  Mix well.  It starts out looking like it will never be cookie dough, but keep stirring until you see it get the consistency of Play doh.

Once it gets the right consistency, you can scoop it out and roll it into balls.  I've found that you have to have the heat from your hand to make it form correctly and also to help hold it together after it's cooked.

Once you have the balls formed, you can either mash it down with a fork or leave the balls.  It will not spread out, but if you leave the balls, you can press chocolate stars into the top when they are done cooking.

(That's a well seasoned baking stone, not dirt.  I promise.)

Some modifications you can make:

• Add semi-sweet chocolate chips, and I usually put 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of vanilla in the mix to add a little extra flavor.  
• Add walnuts, pecans, or dried fruits.
• Use Splenda instead of regular sugar to make these sugar free.  
• I have used crunchy peanut butter to make them a little crunchier as well.
• I also use less than a full cup of sugar and natural peanut butter.  These would be REALLY sweet with the full cup and a pre-sweetened peanut butter.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350*, then remove and leave them to cool for 5 minutes.  Once they have cooled, you can put them on a cookie rack to complete cooling.  These are soft cookies, and can sometimes be a little crumbly, but they are delicious and easy.

Here are the ones with the chocolate chips.

And enjoy!  One batch makes about 15 regular sized cookies, perfect for an afternoon snack.  The kids can help make these, and older children would be able to do them from start to finish with very little help.