Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

By Kath Dedon

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It was just nine months ago that I made 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies. They were so easy and so good!

But a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a blog post on smitten kitchen for Deb Perelman’s Salted Peanut Butter Cookies. She wrote that she had made 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies a few years ago and was underwhelmed.

Deb later had the opportunity to try a peanut butter cookie made from a recipe from Ovenly in Brooklyn, NY. It was basically the 3-ingredient cookie with the addition of a bit of vanilla and salt. She said it was “spectacular”. So, of course, she made the cookies from the recipe in Ovenly: Sweet and Salty Recipes from New York’s Most Creative Bakery, by Erin Patinkin and Agatha Kaluga.

I had to try this new version. It’s really just as easy as the 3-ingredient recipe, but it does have a couple of extra steps. The dough is put in the freezer for 15 minutes before shaping the cookies. After the cookies are shaped on the baking sheet, the baking sheet goes in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking. The chilling probably helps them to keep their domed shape a bit better. It apparently also improves the flavor and texture. Check this post to read all about it.

I made half the recipe, yielding a dozen cookies. Mine didn’t keep the domed shape quite as well as Deb’s did. It may be because I used Jif peanut butter instead of Skippy. Even without the full dome, these Salted Peanut Butter Cookies are indeed spectacular! Bob said I could quote him when he declared that they are A-1 terrific!

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You can see the cookie I cut in half  to show the inside. These cookies are a bit crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. 🙂

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Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

(Adapted from Deb Perelman’s recipe on smittenkitchen.com which she adapted from the Ovenly cookbook.)

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(print the recipe)

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I cut Deb’s recipe in half. You can easily double this one to make more cookies. If you double it, you’ll need 1¾ cups of sugar and 1¾ cups of peanut butter. A commenter on Deb’s blog mentioned, and Deb confirmed, that a 16.3 ounce jar of Skippy contains 1¾ cups of peanut butter so no measuring required.

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A couple of comments on Deb’s blog mentioned that their cookies turned out great without the second time in the freezer on the baking sheets. I’ll be trying that next time.

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Makes about 12 cookies

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I did substitute maple sugar for the light brown sugar to make them Bob-friendly.

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¾ cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (I substituted maple sugar.)

1 large egg, at room temperature

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

Coarse-grained or flaked sea salt, to finish

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1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the sugar and the egg together until smooth.
3. Whisk in the vanilla.
4. Whisk in the peanut butter until it is thoroughly blended.

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5. Put the bowl of dough in the freezer for 15 minutes, stirring it once after about 8 minutes.

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6. Scoop or spoon the dough into balls on the prepared baking sheet. (Deb used a 1 2/3 tablespoon – 40mm – scoop. I used a 2 tablespoon – 44mm – scoop.)

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7. Put the baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes.

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I had to use the carton of ice cream to prop up the baking sheet so the parchment paper (and cookies) wouldn’t slide off.

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8. Sprinkle the cookies with the salt and bake for 15 – 18 minutes. (Mine took 17 minutes; start checking at 15.) When done, the cookies should be getting golden around the edges.

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9. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for several minutes and then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

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Yes, the recipe did make 12 cookies, but Bob grabbed one as soon as I got them on the cooling rack.

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10. When totally cool, store in an air-tight container.

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