You’re only a few minutes and four ingredients away from these thick, chewy chocolate peanut butter granola cookies! They’re so easy to make, they’re sure to become a go-to recipe whenever you’re looking for a quick treat.
4-Ingredient Granola Cookies
It’s a rare day that I don’t start things off with a bowl of yogurt and granola. I have almost as many varieties of granola in my pantry as I do peanut butter—and both of these ingredients come in handy for these chocolate peanut butter granola cookies.
In fact, you only need four ingredients to make these cookies. That’s right. Four. Peanut butter, granola, egg, salt. Seriously.
If there’s a catch, it’s that one of the ingredients is granola, which is, of course, a whole slew of ingredients in one handy package. Part of the granola is finely ground so that it acts like flour. The remainder is stirred into the dough to add a lovely texture to these granola cookies.
Not only are these granola cookies amazingly quick to make, they’re also really, really good. They are soft and chewy like a good peanut butter cookie and a little crunchy, with just the right amount of sweetness to satisfy a craving. In other words, you get a big payoff for a small amount of effort.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Granola – If you’d like to make your own, I have a recipe for homemade granola here on Bake or Break.
- Chocolate peanut butter or regular peanut butter – I like to use Peanut Butter & Co.‘s Dark Chocolate Dreams for the peanut butter, but a regular peanut butter works quite well, too.
- Egg
- Salt
What Is the Best Granola to Use for This Recipe?
Most any kind of granola will work. Just choose one that you think will go well with chocolate and peanut butter. I’ve used a few different kinds making these cookies, including a chocolate and coconut variety and a honey almond granola. Changing the granola is a fun way to alter the flavor profile of these cookies.
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cookies
Once you’ve gathered up the four simple ingredients you need for this recipe, you’re ready to go! Here’s what you’ll need to do.
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Divide the granola. Separate the granola into two 1-cup portions. If the granola has dried fruit in it, pick the fruit out of one of the portions and add it to the other portion.
Make the granola “flour.” Place the granola without fruit into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it’s finely ground.
Make the dough. Transfer the ground granola to a mixing bowl with the peanut butter, egg, and salt. Use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the ingredients until they’re smooth. Fold in the remaining granola.
Form the cookies. Using two tablespoons of dough at a time, squeeze the dough together and roll it into balls. Set the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, then flatten them with a fork until they’re about 2 inches in diameter.
Bake. One pan at a time, bake the granola cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they’re set and lightly browned around the edges.
Cool. Let the cookies cool completely on the pans on wire racks. (Learn more: Why Every Baker Needs Wire Cooling Racks)
Tips for Success
Read over my tips for beginning bakers, then follow these additional pointers for perfect granola cookies:
- Don’t use natural peanut butter. You’ll need the kind of peanut butter that doesn’t have to be stirred before you use it. Natural peanut butter performs inconsistently in baking recipes, so it’s best to reserve it for toast and sandwiches.
- Bake in batches. If you don’t have enough baking sheets to accommodate all of the dough, make sure your baking sheet cools before starting the next batch. Setting dough on a hot pan can result in cookies that spread or that are burnt on the bottoms.
- Let the granola cookies cool completely before storage. They’re prone to breaking if you transfer them too soon.
Variations
These easy granola cookies are delicious as they are, but you can vary the recipe to suit your tastes. Here are a few ideas:
- Substitute almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter.
- Add some mini chocolate chips in with the second cup of granola; just make sure that the volume of the granola and chocolate chips still equals one cup.
- Sprinkle flaky sea salt on top of the cookies before you bake them.
How to Store
Granola cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Can This Recipe Be Frozen?
Yes, these granola cookies can be frozen. Place them in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the cookies at room temperature before serving.
More Recipes for Granola Lovers
Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cookies
Combine your favorite granola with just 3 more ingredients to make these delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 cups granola
- 1 cup (255g) chocolate peanut butter or regular peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- Separate the granola into two 1-cup portions. If using granola with dried fruit, remove the fruit from one portion and add it to the other portion.
- Place the granola without fruit into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely ground.
- Transfer the ground granola to a mixing bowl. Add the peanut butter, egg, and salt. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat just until smooth. Add the remaining granola and mix just until combined.
- Using two tablespoons of dough at a time, squeeze the dough together and then form the dough into balls. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets.
- Use a fork to flatten the cookies to about 2 inches in diameter.
- Bake the cookies, one pan at a time, for 15 to 18 minutes, or until cookies are set and lightly browned around the edges.
- Cool the cookies completely on the pans on wire racks.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Food and Wine.
Recommended Products
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30 Comments on “Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Cookies”
These look heavenly! I love these ingredients and they sound so simple to make!
I agree!
Totally loving the simplicity to these! Yum!
This is an AWESOME idea! These cookies look so thick and wonderful and DEEEELICIOUS!
OMG – these looks awesome. I LOVE how easy they are. I am going to try these for the Auburn game this weekend.
I love “healthy” cookie recipes! These sound like breakfast to me!
I love cookies with lots of crunch and chew. I am a big fan of Peanut Butter & Co products. Now I just need to decide on what kind of granola to use.
This recipe looks so simple and delicious! I love that you used the chocolate and PB from PB &Co. That stuff is addictive!
I will skip the granola.. well at least skip the raising, i cant stand the raising… however i think the flavour on this cookie are so yummy.. this is a keeper for me.
I love how simple and adaptable these cookies are! Right now I’m envisioning a honey peanut I’ve been eying from Peanut Butter & Co. and a cinnamon granola! I can’t wait to try!
And to think I ALWAYS have all these ingredients on hand! These are pretty much perfect.
Love these! Will be packing them in my nephew’s lunchbox….if I don’t eat them all first! 🙂
These ARE a beautiful thing for sure! In more ways than one! I love how simple and fast they are to make and for them to taste delicious is a winner in my book for sure!
Granola and peanut butter are two of my favorite things, especially for breakfast. Which means, I think,that it is perfectly acceptable to eat a batch of these cookies for breakfast, right?
Wow, these look fantastic! Chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal–three of my favorite flavors. 🙂
These are already in the oven, with Trader Joes Cocoa Almond spread and Pecan Praline granola. Excited to taste them and try other combos!
kristine, I came so close to using TJ’s Pecan Praline granola. I bet they’ll be great!
I just love chubby cookies. What a great idea to use granola!
How simple and delish! Can’t wait to try these out!! 🙂
These look great! can not wait to try!
We thought good for the minimal amount of ingredients and time
If I wanted to use regular peanut butter and some cocoa (cause they’ve gotta be chocolate!!), any idea how much cocoa I would use?
…or maybe sub Nutella for half the PB? Hmmmmm, and mmmmmm.
Erin, I think subbing some Nutella might be easier from a texture standpoint. If you want to try to add cocoa powder, I would add it with the granola that gets ground in the food processor. It should take much, as the recipe doesn’t make a lot of cookie dough. My best guess is maybe start with a tablespoonful and see how that works.
Made a batch of both-purely for research purposes,of course. Nutella was the hands down winner for taste and texture. I added about 1/3 c. chocolate chips to both batches and in the Nutella batch I replaced about 1/3 c. of the peanut butter. Very reminiscent of the no-bake cookies of my youth, but I loved this baked variation, especially studded with warm, melty chocolate!! Thanks, Jennifer!
My first batch are falling apart and there is not one bit of crunch. Second batch I have added a bit of oil to hopefully keep them together. I did only use 100% peanut butter…with chocolate granola….I do hope the second batch are successful….
I officially need these cookies in my life 🙂
These were not worth the trouble, even for 4 ingredients. Dry, fell to crumbs during preparation and after. Seems like a good idea but in practice…just have a bowl of granola and put some peanut butter on it.
Unfortunately these cookies crumble to pieces the second you pick them up, although they look pretty before. I made them exactly as directed. As a psa for anyone reading this that wants to try something similar, I would probably add 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 coconut sugar well blended or another route a banana or pureed dates, because they are going to crumble in your mouth like cereal otherwise.
I’m sorry you had troubles, Carol! I’ve not had any similar issues, but I’m sure there’s some variance depending on the type of granola and/or peanut butter used.