At a holiday party, I brought just a jar of peanut butter to make cookies with. Since everyone knows I’m gluten-free, they asked me what kind of flour I needed. Why didn’t I bring any? Apparently not everyone knows this peanut butter cookie recipe, which is a shame because everyone should.

Unlike most gluten-free recipes that have you mixing chickpea flour with potato starch and xantham gum, these cookies just use peanut butter, eggs, and sugar as their base. I grew up having these long before I was gluten-free.

As far as peanut butter cookies go they’re probably the best you’ll have, too. They’re sweet and nutty and melt in your mouth without any flours to make them tough. I’ve made this recipe plenty of times and you should, too.

No Flour Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 24 Servings):

• 3/4 cup non-stir peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup chopped Reese’s cups

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, and baking soda until well mixed.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips and Reese’s until evenly distributed. If the dough is too wet still, sugar by the Tablespoon until the dough doesn’t stick to your hands.
4. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and flatten slightly. Place on a non-stick baking tray.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges turn golden. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before moving.

These are not the best cupcakes I had for my birthday. In fact, the cake part didn’t come out all that well since I made them on the fly without measuring anything(only to be surprised Saturday night with a batch of homemade banana cupcakes with Nutella frosting). But they were entirely edible if only because of the frosting.

This frosting though was just right. It’s sweet and vanilla at first with a nutty peanut butter finish. It’d be great on just about any cake or cupcake, and it’s easy to decorate with chocolate chips or Reese’s Puffs.

For this recipe, look for natural peanut butter without any added oils or stabilizers. It’ll mix in with the other ingredients the easiest and have a better, stronger flavor.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 Tablespoons all natural no oil peanut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 Tablespoons cream or whole milk

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla with an electric beater.
2. Slowly add just enough milk until the ingredients make a thick but smooth buttercream.
3. Scoop into a pastry bag and use immediately.

As fun as it is to try new recipes and explore new flavors, some recipes you inevitably come back to season after season, year after year.

Last week I made these buckeyes for a holiday party, only to realize I did the same exact thing last year. Desserts like this are just too easy not to choose and always please a crowd. They’re also naturally gluten-free and can be made vegan by using margarine instead of butter.

These didn’t come out nearly as pretty as store-bought candies, but I always like it when you can tell something’s homemade.

A recipe like this may not seem too versatile, but you can use any kind of peanut butter or other nut butter to make it unique. Chocolate peanut butter would be a perfect substitution for any chocolate lover.

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 20 buckeyes):

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter, softened
• 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chips OR 10oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Method:

1. In a large bowl mix together the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and salt until it forms a dough that sticks to itself. If for some reason your dough is too thin, slowly add more powdered sugar until it’s workable.
2. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place them on a non-stick surface.
3. Put the peanut butter balls in the freezer to set.
4. While the peanut butter balls are hardening, melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler.
5. One by one dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate to coat their outside and put them back on the non-stick surface.
6. Refrigerate the peanut butter balls until the chocolate has set. Keep cold until ready to serve.