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Recipes

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at MSU chapter.

Fact: Americans eat an average of six pounds of peanut butter per person per year with children being the largest consumers.

Fact: Peanut butter is tasty, heart-healthy, and protein-packed.

Fact: Peanut butter is one of the greatest food inventions of all time.

Peanut butter covers all the food craving groups: salty, fatty, and sweet. It can be used for sweet or savory purposes in baked goods, in frostings, in stir-frys, spread on toast or fruit, or in a classic peanut butter & jelly sandwichMy favorite way to eat peanut butter, besides by the spoonful? In these cookies.

I love these cookies because they are super simple to make, and you probably have all the ingredients on hand. I made them with ingredients I already had in my dorm room.

Peanut butter peanut peanut butter
Ellie Haun

You really have no reason not to make them, because even if you don’t have an oven, you can at least make the dough and eat it all (since it’s vegan so no fear of salmonella!). Or better yet, you can try to make them in the microwave by microwaving balls of dough for a minute. They won’t taste as good as the oven version though. The microwave can’t give you those crispy edges like the oven can.

Give these cookies a try, take a picture, and tag @spoonuniversity or @spoon_msu so we can see your creations! Peanut butter lovers rejoice at this sweet, delectable, and soft yet crispy cookie.

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 10 minutesCook time: 10 minutesTotal time: 20 minutesServings:20 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

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    Preheat oven to 350° F. Gather your ingredients.

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    Mix together the peanut butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy. This will take around a minute of quick mixing.

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    Add in the flour a 1/3 of a cup at a time. Mix the batter after each 1/3 cup is added. Mix in the baking soda.

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    Mix in the water. Add in a Tbsp more of water if the batter seems extremely thick.

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    Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown and firm.

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    Once cookies are out of the oven, flatten them with a fork in 2 different directions to give the classic criss-cross pattern. Let the cookies cool for at least 5 minutes before taking them off the pan and enjoying them.

Ellie is a senior studying food science at Michigan State University. Her favorite foods are chocolate, peanut butter, and carrots. When she's not baking cupcakes or taking pictures of food, she's probably running with the MSU running club or practicing yoga. Check out her blog, "Peanut Butter & Ellie," if you love all things peanut butter!