Peanut butter is probably one of those few in a list of ingredients that have made their way around the world and become a staple in many households. With peanuts being such a common Malaysian ingredient, you can be assured that peanut butter has been eagerly and whole-heartedly accepted and adopted to local desserts in all its buttery glory. You’ll easily find it being incorporated into our local cakes and snacks such as apam balik and kuih kapit. Yum! But at the end of the day, nothing beats a simple peanut butter cookie. There is just something comforting and satisfying about freshly baked peanut butter cookies.
While I love peanut butter cookies in every form, here I’ll be tackling eggless peanut butter cookies. Perfect for any of you who are vegan, vegetarian or just not friends with eggs.
Why Go Eggless?
The omission of eggs into the batter creates a more soft and crumbly texture. If you’re looking for a bit more of a crunch, just add in a small egg.
Being eggless and containing no animal products also means that this cookie is vegetarian and vegan! I’m neither vegetarian nor vegan but living in a multicultural society, I do have many friends who are. This is a great option for the holiday season when you’re trying putting together gift packs. Also, if you can omit eggs, then why not? I like simple recipes especially if the result is something as delicious as these cookies!
Easy Cookie Recipe to Get Started in Baking
Eggless peanut butter cookies are great for those of you who are beginners at cookie making. Actually, even with the addition of an egg it’s a great beginner’s recipe. Check out 8-year-old Rayhana’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!
If peanut butter is not your thing, try making Butterkicap’s delicious Chocolate Cookies. Not only is it also an eggless cookie recipe, it only requires four ingredients. It’s so easy and will get you on your way to becoming a cookie addict.
Let’s Get Baking!
Putting the dough together will only take you 10 minutes. Refrigerate for at least an hour if you want cookies that don’t spread much. Once baked at 175 degrees C for 12 minutes, you’ll end up with delicious peanut buttery melt in your mouth cookies with crumbly edges.
Ingredients:
½ cup butter (unsalted)
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 pinch of sea salt (This is optional. If you are sensitive to salt then omit this ingredient. Also please do taste your peanut butter. Some brands are saltier than other.)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside
- In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, butter, white sugar and brown sugar until sugars look like they have combined nicely with the butter.
- Then add the all-purpose flour and baking soda and mix until just combined.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour. This will make the cookies easier to handle and will keep them from spreading too much when you bake.
- Spoon 1 teaspoon of the mixture about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
- Flatten the mounds with a fork, making a crosshatch pattern on the cookies. (
- Bake until golden around the edges, about 11 – 12 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Tips:
- Refrigerate your eggless peanut butter cookie dough for at least an hour before baking. This will make your cookies much easier to handle when spooning onto the baking tray. It will also keep your cookies from spreading overly much. Although if you can’t wait, then just go for it! I have certainly done this before especially if I find myself in urgent need of a warm freshly baked cookie. Mmmmmm… so good!
- You can make the dough way in advance. You can opt to make the dough in advance and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake them. I’ve made dough and baked them in batches over 3 to 4 days straight so we always had freshly baked cookies.
- If you’re going for that cross-hatch pattern that just screams peanut butter cookies, dip your fork in sugar before pressing it on top of the cookie dough. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the fork. It also leaves behind a lovely sugary sparkle over the tops of your cookies once they are baked.
These particular cookies will come out soft and delicious. It’s a melt in your mouth type of cookie. For extra decadence, I would enjoy these eggless peanut butter cookies with a glass of cold chocolate milk. Or make yourself an ice milo. Sometimes we just need to treat ourselves.
While Baking is Measured, it’s also an Experiment
While this recipe uses creamy peanut butter you can play around with it a bit. Use crunchy peanut butter instead or add in chocolate chips like Rayhana!
You can also experiment with sugar. What happens when you use all brown sugar instead of white, for example. Brown sugar has more moisture than white so if you’re going for a soft cookie, that would be the sugar I’d lean more towards. If you want more of a crunch, then use white sugar. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it and learn along the way.
