Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies EVER!
I confess, I’m a sucker for the word ‘easy.’ It’s one of those special words – like ‘just.’ (As in: I’ll just have the 16 oz. steak, loaded baked potato, and heavily buttered roll. Clearly the use of ‘just’ indicates you could have ordered more – thus, you have saved calories by the mere utterance of the 4-letter word.)
Even though ‘easy’ is a special 4-letter word, I have sometimes been disappointed when the results didn’t live up to the promise. For instance, the attempt to follow 6-Easy-Steps-To-Organize-Your-Home. (I didn’t realize soon enough that ‘six’ and ‘easy’ are mutually exclusive.) Or the “Easy Pad Thai” or “Easy Paella” recipes. Sure they were easy – they left out the numerous techniques and ingredients the original complex dishes included. (You know, the ones that made it taste good!)
So when I saw Women’s Day Magazine’s claim they had the easiest PB cookies ever, I reminded myself that “easy” didn’t always equal tasty. Which didn’t stop me from ripping the
recipe out and adding chunky peanut butter to my shopping list. I already had the other three basic ingredients.
To my delight the recipe was as easy as claimed! Use an electric mixer to beat 1 cup chunky peanut butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 large egg and 3/4 tsp baking soda until fully blended. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and drop teaspoons of dough about 1 – 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (or until cookies are puffed and starting to brown around the edges). Cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. If the recipe yielded the 5 dozen it claimed, my calculations put each cookie at about 37 calories. However, those would have been tiny cookies. I made them small and got a little less than 4 dozen – making them closer to 50 calories each. (Pictured below on a large saucer-sized plate)
What about taste, you ask? They were very good. Best I ever had? No. But really very good. And EASY!
Now, heaven forbid I should follow any recipe without some embellishment! I reserved half the batter and added a few tablespoons of miniature chocolate chips (increasing the calorie count by 7-10). Results? The very good EASY cookie got just a little bit better! -El
Too funny El! Seeing the cookies and the little bit of your kitchen counter makes me a little ‘home away from home’-sick. I may have to try out these cookies with Ari next weekend! – M
So come visit – it would beat us ‘talking to ourselves’ on the blog! Actually, it look like I’ll get out there first! -El
I know exactly what you mean about some of those “easy” recipes. Glad this one turned out to be pretty easy and good. I’ll have to try it. I am always a sucker for easy recipes….ha ha
If you give it a try, let us know what you think! -El
You are brilliant as usual. I now have chunky peanut butter on my list too!
I bet those baking Heath pieces would be good in it, too. Hmmmm. Now I have to make another batch! Which will give me something to do with the rest of the PB! Let me know what you think, Gina! -El
Chunky peanut butter is now on my list, too. And I shouldn’t have read the comment about adding Heath pieces. Now I’m really drooling!
Well then I won’t even mention the butterscotch option, Marylin – no sense starting trouble!