Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (2024)

Best Ever Soft Peanut Butter Cookies are a classic. Soft & chewy, these peanut butter cookies have quickly become our favorite sweet treat.

My family can’t keep their hands off these easy peanut butter cookies. This peanut butter cookie recipe is not your traditionalcrunchypeanut butter cookie, but there really isn’t a better recipe out there. Trust me, we’ve tried them all.

Now, I have made this recipe in two different ways. 1 with baking soda, the other with baking powder. This was all an accident, and while I originally posted the recipe with the baking soda, after making this over a hundred + times, we all agree over here that the best cookie results with baking powder. But if you make the same “mistake” I did, these cookies will still knock it out of the park.

What peanut butter cookie recipe is the best?

While I love making homemade peanut butter cookies with just 3 ingredients, they are not as soft and chewy as these. I love three-ingredient peanut butter cookies, but I am just not as satisfied.

These cookies go right in line with my love for creamy peanut butter. Peanut butter is my go-to snack anytime I am hungry.

Whether it’s by the spoonful, with pretzels, on a sandwich or paired with some Nutella, I really could eat peanut butter in any way, shape, or form. Because I have a sweet tooth, cookies are among my favorite foods. This makes soft peanut butter cookies an obvious hit.

Should I use crunchy or creamy peanut butter to make peanut butter cookies?

While I typically love creamy peanut butter for cookies, there are those moments – like with my morning breakfast toast with bananas – when I reach for the crunchy peanut butter.

We are a house divided into creamy and crunchy peanut butter. My son, Aiden, and I are more in the middle and could eat either. My husband and daughter, Jersey, love crunchy, and my other three kids, Jojo, Cannon, and Madden, will only eat creamy. If I accidentally pack them crunchy, the sandwich will still be in their lunchbox when they get home – making you wonder what they ate for lunch.

We also have extreme opinions on whether soft or crunchy peanut butter cookies are the best.

I tend to lean towards chewy, soft cookies. The best cookie recipe I’ve ever had is my Best Ever Monster Cookies. But most classic peanut butter cookie recipes I’ve had are too crunchy, leaving a crumbly mess. So, I have been on a mission to find the best peanut butter cookie recipe, and finally… finally… I found it.

Everyone except for Aiden, peanut butter cookies are best when soft and chewy. Aiden loves a good crunchy cookie you can dip in milk. However, he won’t decline these Best Ever Soft Peanut Butter Cookies.

What could you add to peanut butter cookies?

  • The first time I made these cookies, I stuffed them with Rolo candies. I drool as I think about those Rolo Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies they were to die for. The second time I made them, I left them plain ole’ Jane – although the word plain seems a little harsh for these cookies as they are far from it.
  • I mean that they are so dang good that you don’t need any fanfare-like chocolate chips, Rolos, or M&M’s. The cookie is perfect just the way it is. These cookies are so good it will be hard to resist eating them right off the beaters.

Why do peanut butter cookies have fork marks?

When peanut butter is added to the batter, it makes it denser. Putting fork marks in the dough makes it easier for the cookie to bake evenly. This will help keep them soft, so don’t forget this step.

How long do cookies last?

These cookies are kept in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.

If desired, freeze the cookies in an airtight freezer bag. They can last for 1-2 months.

How do you make Peanut Butter Cookies?

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and while it’s heating, line 2 baking pans with parchment paper, if desired.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth & creamy – best if using a stand or hand mixer.
  3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well combined.
  4. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl.
  5. Stir in the flour mixture with the butter and sugar mixture until well combined.
  6. Form the dough into 1-inch balls, roll in white granulated sugar if you desire, and place on a baking sheet.
  7. Using a fork, press down on each dough ball to flatten and create a criss-cross pattern.
  8. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Do not overbake. Cook on a wire rack.

If you love cookie recipes, try these:

  • Cookie Dough Bites
  • No Flour Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
  • Tagalong Cookies
  • Best Ever Soft Sugar Cookie
  • Best Ever Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
  • German Chocolate Cake Cookies(family favorite)

I can’t wait for you to get your hands on a dozen or two of these, as they are easy and simply the Best Soft Peanut Butter Cookies you’ll try.

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Best Ever Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Cook: 8 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

Servings: 30 cookies

Calories: 130 kcal

Best Ever Soft Peanut Butter Cookies these classic cookies have quickly become my favorite cookie. Soft, chewy and made with peanut butter, there isn’t a better peanut butter cookie out there, trust me I’ve looked.

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (7)

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter use Jif or Skippy type peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper, if desired.

  • In a large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat together until smooth & creamy best if using a stand mixer or hand mixer.

  • Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix until well combined.

  • In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until well combined.

  • Use a cookie dough scoop, or spoon the dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in white granulated sugar if you desire and place onto baking sheet.

  • Using a fork, press down on each ball of dough to flatten, creating a criss-cross pattern.

  • Bake for 8-9 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

  • These keep well for a couple of days in an airtight container.

Video

Calories: 130kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 3gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 99mgPotassium: 69mgSugar: 7gVitamin A: 100IUCalcium: 9mgIron: 0.5mg

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (8)

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Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients for peanut butter cookies? ›

Why do homemade peanut butter cookies fall apart? ›

Why are my cookies dry and crumbly? This is most likely a classic case of using too much flour. It's crucial to properly measure the flour in this recipe, as even 1 extra tablespoon of flour can completely change the structure of the cookies. You also might have over baked them!

What brand of peanut butter is best for peanut butter cookies? ›

PEANUT BUTTER – For best results, use classic creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. I tested these with natural peanut butter as well and it didn't make a huge difference, but there can be a lot of variability in natural nut butters.

What happens if you don't chill peanut butter cookie dough? ›

Why You Need to Chill Your Cookie Dough. For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they're in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool.

How to make peanut butter cookie mix taste better? ›

Peanut Butter Cookie Mix Hacks

Flavor Twist: After creating the dough according to the peanut butter cookie mix instructions, portion the dough into balls then roll in a tasty topping like poppy seeds, sesame seeds or sprinkles, or go for a 4:1 ratio of sugar and dry spice, like ground cinnamon or nutmeg.

What happens if you don't flatten peanut butter cookies? ›

If you don't flatten the cookies first, then the fork does double duty – it performs both functions. One very subtle result of creating the pattern is that the little tips of dough bake up crisper than the rest of the cookie, giving you both a bit of additional texture and deeper taste where the dough is more baked.

What happens if you add too much peanut butter to cookies? ›

With so much peanut butter in this cookie dough, natural peanut butter will give you a dry, crumbly cookie.

Why do they put fork marks in peanut butter cookies? ›

The reason is that peanut butter cookie dough is dense, and unpressed, each cookie will not cook evenly. Using a fork to press the dough is a convenience of tool; bakers can also use a cookie shovel (spatula).

Why do my peanut butter cookies get hard? ›

Feel free to add chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, Reeses pieces, chopped chocolate, or even chopped up Nutter Butters. I would recommend skipping the fork tines if you add any of these ingredients. Why did my peanut butter cookies turn out hard? This is most likely to happen from over-baking your cookies.

What is the #1 peanut butter? ›

Jif (which was never Jiffy, despite what the Mandela effect might have you believe) is one of the granddaddies of the peanut butter world, and it's been America's favorite for nearly 40 years, surpassing Skippy in the '80s.

What's the difference between Jif and Skippy peanut butter? ›

While they are nutritionally similar, Skippy contains 10 more milligrams of sodium than Jif and one more gram of sugar, and has fewer nutrients overall. But it does have half a milligram less saturated fat than Jif. The other main difference is how the two are sweetened. Jif uses molasses, while Skippy uses sugar.

Should you refrigerate cookie dough before baking? ›

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product. Once the dough has chilled, let it warm up at room temperature until it's just pliable (about 5 to 10 minutes).

What if my peanut butter cookie dough is too dry? ›

There are a few things you can do if your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly. First, try adding more liquid to the dough. This could be milk, water, or even just additional eggs. If that doesn't work, you could also try melting some butter and adding it to the dough.

Can you overmix cookie dough? ›

Unless you want extra-crispy cookies, avoid overmixing your dough. "Overmixing your dough will result in flatter, crispier cookies," Cowan said. If you overmix, you will end up aerating (adding air to) the dough, which causes the cookies to rise and then fall, leaving you with flat cookies.

What ingredient is added to peanut butter? ›

Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Contains 2% Or Less Of: Molasses, Fully Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (rapeseed And Soybean), Mono And Diglycerides, Salt.

What is the key ingredient in cookies? ›

Flour is the main ingredient that provides structure in a cookie – without it, there would be no cookie! The gluten in flour forms a web of sorts – the framework that catches the air bubbles/gasses given off during rising. This helps provide the structure.

What are the ingredients in Girl Scout peanut butter cookies? ›

INGREDIENTS: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, VITAMIN B1 [THIAMIN MONONITRATE],VITAMIN B2 [RIBOFLAVIN], FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, WHOLE GRAIN OATS, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL, PEANUT BUTTER (PEANUTS, HYDROGENATED PALM OIL), DEXTROSE, INVERT SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF WHEY, SALT, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, ...

What are the ingredients in Lance peanut butter cookies? ›

Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Peanut Butter (Roasted Peanuts), Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: Soybean Oil, Palm Oil, Canola Oil), Dextrose, Corn Syrup, Salt, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Soy ...

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