Magic Peanut Butter Cookies

Are these golden, fragrant, chewy cookies magic because they have no flour or butter in them? Or magic because of the way they disappear? You decide.

Total time: 30 minutes
Yield: 3 dozen

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky -- not natural-style)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt -- more salt if your peanut butter is unsalted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Heat the oven to 350, and grease 2 baking sheets or cover them in parchment paper.
2. With an electric mixer, beat together the peanut butter, sugars, and salt until combined well.
3. In a small bowl lightly beat the egg and vanilla, then beat it into the peanut butter mixture with the baking soda until combined well.
4. Roll teaspoons of dough into balls and arrange them about 1 inch apart on baking sheets; the mixture may seem oily and strange, and this is okay. Flatten the balls with the tines of a fork, making a crosshatch pattern.
5. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time in the middle of the oven until they're puffed and golden, about 7 minutes.
6. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to racks to cool completely.

See more recipes from Catherine Newman at her "Dalai Mama Dishes" blog.