Originally published on “Blaise the Baker” February 10th, 2014

Not that long ago I stumbled across a recipe for “3 ingredient peanut butter cookies”. The idea of making peanut butter cookies with only three ingredients delighted me…so I did a little research and had to try them for myself. All the basic recipe called for was peanut butter, white sugar and an egg. I followed this recipe and the cookies turned out delicious for only three ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised…and yet unsatisfied. I figured that there had to be a way to “bump” the flavor up without adding hardly any more ingredients – so I came up with the following recipe…Which if I do say so myself – is better than the original!

 Peanut Butter Cookies with Turbinado Sugar

1 cup of Peanut Butter (smooth or chunky – use your favorite)
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper but wait for preheating your oven.
Mix together the peanut butter and sugar before adding the egg. Be sure to get all three of these ingredients combined to form a well mixed mixture.
Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour (hence why you don’t preheat your oven right away).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven is preheated, remove the dough from the refrigerator.

Using a tablespoon (or whatever size you desire – but remember…the larger the cookie, the longer the bake time) dividing the dough into equal distance on the parchment lined cookie sheet. You may need two cookie sheets for these cookies, but that all depends on the size you make and how much of the dough is eaten between scoops!

Once the cookie sheet(s) are filled take a fork and press down on each cookie dough mound. Don’t press with all your might – but press firmly enough to “flatten” the dough, while leaving a “cross hatch” mark. Some people then rotate the fork and do a “cross hatch” mark the other way – this is up to you. I always just do the one mark.

After “marking” all the cookie dough balls, sprinkle the Turbinado sugar evenly across all the cookies. How much here? That is up to you. I usually put a rough teaspoon amount on each cookie… The more you use the more “crunch” and the more “sandy” your final baked peanut butter cookie will be.

Place the sheet(s) into the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until they are “set” but may not appear golden brown in color. Please try and be patient and bake one cookie sheet at a time. If anymore than that are in the oven, something happens to the heat and the time of the baking.

Let the cookies cool on their sheet before removing.

After cooled slightly (if you can manage to wait that long) – eat them. These are delicious in a variety of ways. You may top them with peanut butter cup candies, chocolate “kiss” candies, or even dip them in melted chocolate or melted white chocolate…all ways are delicious. My favorite way of eating these though, are straight out of the oven with a cold glass of milk!

Enjoy!