Around here, my boyfriend's the one who eats the cookies, but unfortunately I'm a super dangerous baker. That's why when I figured out how to make these super easy, no fuss peanut butter cookies, I knew I had to share the recipe!

Needed:

1 cup light brown sugar - firmly packed
A few pinches of granulated sugar (optional) - you could probably use more light brown sugar instead.
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter (equivalent to 1 stick butter), softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg (optional)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
Fork
Mixing bowl
Baking sheet (or baking parchment paper)

Step 1: Preheat Your Oven to 375!

Bam. 375 degrees F.

And get out a mixing bowl for your ingredients which are shown in the picture.

Step 2: Mix Sugar, Egg, Vanilla, Peanut Butter, and Butter

Put the 1 cup of sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 3/4 cup peanut butter, and 1 stick of butter into the bowl. The order doesn't matter.

Note: For the stick of butter, I microwaved it for about 15 seconds before putting it into the bowl. The center of the stick will be melted so be careful when unwrapping the stick of butter. I tend to just let it fall in as I unwrap.
Also note, I tried this without the egg and the cookies turned out just fine.

Mix well with your fork!

Step 3: Add Baking Soda and Flour

Add to the bowl the 1 tsp of baking soda and 1-1/2 cups of flour and mix mix mix!

I know some people use a mixer but your fork will be perfectly adequate for this and will require less cleanup, which I am always in support of.

Step 4: Set Up Your Baking Sheet W/cookie Dough!

I love parchment paper (baking paper). It is super easy for clean-up and nothing ever sticks to anything, but you still get that nice brown coloration on the bottom of the cookie.

Remember, I'm not a terribly industrious baker, so instead of doing the whole roll your cookie dough into balls, I just took my fork, and put a roughly shaped blob of 1.5-2" dough on the baking sheet. Cookies will not care!

Smash down with your fork. I've found that with the egg in the dough, you will not get the stereotypical criss cross lines as nicely as you would without the egg. Some also say to dip your fork into granulated sugar while smashing down. It is totally up to you. I smash with the fork.

Smash away!

Step 5: Bake for 10-12 Minutes and Voila!

The beautiful thing about these is that while the cookies are baking, you can clean up the ingredients from prepping! So easy. Bake them to whatever done-ness you would like - usually anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes.

And once they're done, take them out, and as they're cooling, sprinkle granulated sugar on top of them - you won't need much more than a pinch of sugar or so. Let them cool...

And voila! Super easy, no fuss, peanut butter cookies!