3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

In Epi’s 3-Ingredient Recipes series, we show you how to make great food with just three ingredients (plus staples like oil, salt, and pepper).

Classic peanut butter cookies, with their crisscross pattern, crispy edges, and nutty, chewy centers, are hard to beat. Along with chocolate chip cookies, they’re among our very favorite dessert recipes. But this version, with its down-to-the-studs list of ingredients, may be even better. And because this easy cookie recipe doesn’t contain any butter or flour, the resulting treats can be enjoyed by anyone who maintains a dairy-free or gluten-free diet.

The flourless cookie dough comes together in a mixing bowl with just 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup white sugar, and 1 egg. (Watch how easily they’re made here.) Have you ever seen a shorter cookie shopping list? You’ll get the best results using conventional peanut butter; natural peanut butter—the kind that separates as it sits in the jar—will turn out a crumblier cookie. A finishing sprinkle of flaky sea salt is optional, but highly recommended, since it drives home the salty-sweet flavor that makes PB cookies so incredibly irresistible.