Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I hope you're not sick of seeing these cookie posts, because I'll be sharing a cookie a day until Christmas Eve to finish up the series. December has gotten the best of me (as most months do) and I can hardly believe that Christmas is one week away!

Today's post comes from my dear friend Abby. If you don't read her blog, you're seriously missing out. She's hilarious, totally real and always inspiring. PLUS this girl can bake. I mean, Earl Grey shortbread cookies? Plate sized lemon whoopie pies? Seriously, people even commission her for tasty treats. Asking Abby to share a cookie recipe was a no-brainer. And I love that she decided on a simple yet delicious recipe for everyone to try. If you're looking for a last-minute Christmas gift or party treat, why not bake up some of these six ingredient peanut butter cookies?

Every year my mom and I make about a billion (give or take a few thousand) cookies for Christmas. Shortbread of every variation, pecan bars, fruit bars, butter cookies (I almost shared this recipe!) and peanut butter blossoms. You know them, they're the iconic holiday peanut butter cookie with a chocolate Kiss in the middle. My job is usually solely the peanut butter blossoms and it involves too many steps, me forgetting the salt EVERY YEAR, chilling the dough, bleeding fingers from unwrapping Kisses, utter exhaustion and tears. Every. Year.

Then Real Simple magazine came to our rescue (as it often does - I mean the magazine is FLAWLESS) last December with their holiday issue. They published about 20 classic cookie recipes and added little variations. It ended up being something like 96 cookies you could make with their recipes. My mother promptly ripped all the recipes out and they are forever in our arsenal of recipes. One of those recipes is this one here: Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. We've been making them ever since and they're a HUGE hit! Also if you can get your hands on the 2011 December issue of Real Simple you are doing yourself the biggest favor. Real life.

These cookies are basically the savior of the semi-bland, completely predictable, peanut butter cookie I've been making every year for SO LONG. And get this. THERE'S ONLY 6 INGREDIENTS. *cut to me crying tears of relief* They're the lightest peanut butter cookie I've ever had and they completely baffle my mother. There's no flour... there's no milk... there's no baking powder... WHAT IS THIS?! Magic.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. packed light brown sugar
• 2 c. creamy peanut butter
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• Chocolate chunks, crushed pretzels or additional add-ins (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350, throw all 6 ingredients in a bowl, mix, mix, mix and VOILA! A dough! I ended up splitting the dough and adding crushed pretzel sticks, dark (60% cacao) Ghirardelli chocolate chunks, and milk chocolate chunks to one half, while leaving the other half plain. Pinch off the dough and make them into little 1-1.5" balls about 2 inches apart on your baking sheet, which I lined with parchment paper. Make sure to keep them about 2 inches apart as they spread very nicely in the oven.

This is where your littles come in. My sole job as a kid (and I was SO proud of that job) was to make the crisscrossed pattern on the cookies. It's something they'll be happy to do and it doesn't involve them getting peanut butter up their nose. Not like that's ever happened to me in my lifetime. Nope. Never.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. It's the fastest 12 minutes of your life and before you know it your NOSE is yelling at you and trying to jump off your face into the oven. Yeah... your kitchen smells THAT good. I don't really exaggerate all that much. : ) The plain peanut butter is quite wonderful but the pretzel/chocolate variation adds that extra *something* to it. My family flipped OUT over them. So did my boss. What uuup!

These are family tested, boss approved, fool proof and QUICK cookies that will make you a celebrity with your family and get you through your holidays with ease. Heck they get me through a Tuesday morning sometimes, let's be honest. And! Now they're my family's favorite cookie!

Merriest of Christmases to you!

Thanks for sharing this awesome cookie, Abby! I'm all about simplicity in the kitchen, so six ingredient cookies are pretty much the best thing ever. 
See more 12 Days of Christmas Cookies.