One-Cup Cookies

I’m not sure if these are a Prairie phenomenon or if it’s coincidence that I had never heard of them before moving to Calgary.

But they showed up in the newsroom one day, courtesy of a fellow reporter, and I was intrigued. Not quite oatmeal, not quite chocolate chip, not quite peanut butter, these One-Cup Cookies are like the best combination of cookies. The baker offered up a pair of recipes to try, but they essentially boil down to the simplest of formulas: one cup of everything. (OK, obviously not the leaveners.)

Stack of One-Cup Cookies

The main difference between the two recipes is the amount of peanut butter. One calls for a cup of the stuff, the other only 3/4 of a cup. After trying both (several times), I’ve decided I like the one with less peanut butter. The taste is barely noticeable, but adds just another dimension to these cookies.

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s infinitely adaptable. Add nuts, seeds, raisins as you see fit. Don’t like cranberries? Don’t add them. Don’t want your kids hopped up on chocolate? Omit the chips. And so on.

I love the addition of cranberries, though. The play of sweet chocolate against the tang of the slightly tart of the dried fruit is really nice.

Like all cookies, the trick to keeping these chewy is to pull them out of the oven, while they’re still slightly puffed and gooey looking in just the centre. They’ll keep cooking from the residual heat even after you pull them out, but won’t get overly crisp.

Chips and Coconut

The ingredient trio

One-Cup Cookie Dough

One-Cup Cookies

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup rolled outs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugars, then beat in the eggs. Add peanut butter, then dry ingredients. Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, until edges are golden but middles are still slightly gooey looking. Let rest on cookie sheet for a few minutes before cooling on a wire rack.

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25 Comments

    1. Absolutely I make the identical recipe with no peanut butter and just add in a tbsp. or two of milk for more moisture. I also add two cups of ots instead of one. They are really good and can be used as a base for many kinds of cookies. I like white chocolate macadamia nut, coconut raisn, skor bits, smarties or a mix of differant chipits. I usually divide the dough before adding the mix-ins to make several flavours at once. I sometimes roll the dough into balls and freeze them for baking later on.

  1. I’m not really sure what would happen if you didn’t add the peanut butter. I’d say it’s definitely worth the experiment!

  2. I just baked these delightful treats and recommend them to everyone. The coconut isn’t as detectable as one might think, and I added chopped walnuts: a perfect touch. As a college student, I’m always looking for easy recipes, and this one is so easy that I think I might be able to memorize it- and that’s hard for me!
    I can’t wait to share them at my committee meeting tomorrow! Thanks so much!

  3. I learned about these cookies at a craft show in Victoria, BC, where the ladies baking guild had a table selling such goodies! Yum! As soon as I got home I looked up a recipe. I’ve made these five times now! I just made about one hundred of these for the holiday gift giving. Thanks for the recipe!

  4. We love these cookies!! Ran out of dried cranberries, so added in dried blueberries and they were awesome. I’ve also made them with different kinds of of nuts and chips and they never fail. This is pretty much the only cookie I make, but they’re different every time because of the add ins changing.

  5. so, while making them just now i realized i didn’t have coconut…and so as i was looking for a substitute i found some trail mix..and some frosted flakes. add those and man are they yummy!

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  7. This is one of the best cookie recipes I have ever tried. I wouldn’t change anything. You can always add some extra surprises such as seeds or other dried fruit. I was wondering whether you could substitute Nutella for the peanut butter and add chopped hazelnuts?..

    1. That’s a really good question! I haven’t tried, but I think that’s totally worth trying. My only concern would be that nutella would get a little more liquid in the mixing/baking. But you could always add a spoonful or two of flour to offset, if you think the dough isn’t as thick.

      1. Hi Gwendolyn, once again I want to comment on how great your cookie recipe is – I have done a ton of baking and found this to be one that really stands out from the crowd. The men that work for me (construction firm) all made a comment about the cookies and believe me, they are tough critics! As for the Nutella, I have read some other blogs re: exchanging it for peanut butter and they have all said the same thing. Much runnier so I will try using some extra flour OR doing half peanut butter and half Nutella with a bit of extra flour. Then I will throw in some chopped roasted hazelnuts. Thank you for responding to my question!

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