I have talked before about not being much of a baker. I think it stems from the fact that I can’t follow a recipe verbatim to save my life. I am always tinkering. It works well for me most of the time, but when it comes to the precision needed for baking bread or making a cake, it can backfire – to disastrous results.
Sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and an egg = the easiest peanut butter cookies ever. Best part? They are flourless!
This recipe is my cookie staple. It is easy, does not involve special kitchen implements and has only 4 ingredients if you don’t count the frosting. Best of all, those 4 ingredients are pantry staples that are most likely just hanging out in your cupboard. If you count the frosting, there are 6 ingredients total. They are quintessential peanutty/buttery flavors because this recipe skips flour entirely in favor of more peanut butter. It is also great as a gluten-free treat.
Hand roll the dough into even, small cookie balls, then smash. I particularly like the smashing part….
One of my favorite condiments is a thick and sticky Adriatic fig jam. It is sweet without being sickly so and gooey in just the right way. Mixed with creamy Italian mascarpone, it magically morphs into a jammy frosting that has people guessing what magic you whisked into it. Little do they know that it is only two ingredients.
Dark, sweet, sticky fig jam – just about my favorite condiment ever.
For those that haven’t had a lucky encounter with mascarpone – it is Italy’s answer to cream cheese, only it is softer, sweeter and creamier than anything else I’ve found. It can go sweet or savory.
A simple 2 ingredient fig frosting – just figs and mascarpone
Combining peanut butter cookies with this creamy jam frosting is like eating a grown up PB & J sandwich for dessert.
You will have some leftover frosting. Spread it on a bagel, use it as a fruit dip or just eat it with a spoon.
This recipe will make a little extra frosting, but no fear. The frosting will change your life if you spread it on french toast and is amazing spread on some toast with prosciutto for a fast open-faced sandwich. It would even work spread on graham crackers as an after school snack.
Ingredients
- For the Cookies:
- 1 cup Peanut Butter
- 2/3 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- For the Frosting:
- 1 tub Italian Mascarpone (they come in 10-12 oz tubs like cream cheese)
- 2 tablespoons Fig Jam
Method
- For the cookies:
- Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet lightly with cooking spray or oil and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend together peanut butter, sugar, egg and vanilla using a hand mixer. Combine until the egg is thoroughly mixed in and the sugar incorporated. The batter will be thick like play dough.
- Form the batter into 1.5 inch balls and place evenly space on the cookie sheet - about 3 inches apart. Smash each ball slightly with the flat bottom of a glass.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes, pulling them out when they are golden brown but still soft to the touch.
- Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then remove them to a cookie rack to cool.
- For the Frosting:
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the mascarpone cheese and the fig spread, mixing until the fig is well incorporated. The mascarpone will go from very soft to a more stiff, frosting-like texture as you mix it.
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, frost lightly with the mascarpone-fig frosting.
Lydia, it’s a PB&J kinda day
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Ingredients & Supplies in this Post:
- Natural Peanut Butter
- Fig Spread
- Hand Mixer
- Measuring Bowls
- Cookie Racks
These look delicious! I love that the cookies are flourless too!
Sabrina – These really do come together faster than any other cookie ever. And you feel so virtuous knowing they don’t have flour, either. Thanks for commenting. Hope you follow along.
Wow! That fig mascarpone frosting make these cookies over the top delish! Pinned.
Thanks so much Abigail! It is seriously the easiest frosting ever! Anytime I make it, people assume that it is complicated and takes hours and precision to make, but nope! Please do let me know if you ever make it. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
cookies look amazing even before you add the frosting! 🙂
Thanks Kaitie! They really are excellent on their own (and SOOOO easy), but the frosting takes them to another level. I took them to a food bloggers meet up and they were the hit of the evening.
look delicious and fabulous, just look like the perfect one for me
Wow! These sound amazing. I love anything with fig!