Peanut Crisps

Five ingredients, no flour, and about 20 minutes start to finish. These peanut butter cookies get their crunch from crisp rice cereal folded into a simple dough of peanut butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla.

No flour means the peanut butter flavor hits harder than a traditional cookie. There’s nothing to dilute it. The egg binds everything and the sugar gives structure as it caramelizes in the oven.

Using crunchy peanut butter doubles down on the texture. You get the snap of the rice cereal plus the crunch of actual peanut pieces in every bite.

Flattening with fork tines isn’t just for the classic crosshatch pattern. These cookies won’t spread on their own since there’s no butter or flour to melt and flow. The fork press ensures even thickness so they bake uniformly.

Kitchen Tips

• Fold the cereal in quickly and gently. Overmixing crushes the rice puffs and you lose the signature crispness.
• Don’t remove the cookies from the pan right away. They’re fragile when hot and need a few minutes to cool and set before they’ll hold together.
• Bake for exactly 10 minutes. These go from done to overbaked fast, and they continue to firm as they cool on the sheet.

Variations

• Chocolate drizzle: Melt a handful of chocolate chips and drizzle over the cooled cookies for a peanut butter-chocolate combination.
• Honey peanut: Replace half the sugar with honey for a chewier cookie with a more caramel-like sweetness.