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My peanut butter cookie recipe is the whole lot a basic must be. Completely candy (with out being overwhelmingly so), mushy with barely crisp edges, and really peanut-forward. They’re made with all butter (no shortening!), brown sugar, and a contact of cornstarch for the proper, tender, mushy and buttery cookie. Recipe features a how-to video!
This tremendous mushy and buttery peanut butter cookie recipe is certainly one of my all-time basic favorites, proper up there with my chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles. I’ve fairly a number of peanut butter cookie recipes on the weblog (a fast search will present you there are no less than 13 🫣), however these are my tackle the basic.
Why This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe Works:
- All butter, no shortening. Many basic peanut butter cookie recipes (together with the one I grew up with) depend on shortening, which may lend thickness to the cookie however leaves them tasting flat. I swap this ingredient for butter, which not solely provides taste, however creates a young, richer crumb.
- Barely underbake for simply the correct texture. The cookies ought to come out of the oven trying simply barely underdone within the middle. Residual warmth finishes baking the cookies as they cool, leaving you with chewy facilities and cookies which might be nonetheless mushy the subsequent day (and the day after that…)
- Basic look, improved technique. We nonetheless press them with a fork (it’s custom, in any case 😉) however not like many recipes these cookies don’t really want it, the dough is already balanced for simply the correct unfold.
- Adaptable. Add your favourite mix-ins (I embrace a number of of my favorites under!), or head over to my recipes for flourless peanut butter cookies or sourdough peanut butter cookies for these equally tasty variations.
Elements
- Peanut butter. I desire creamy peanut butter, however chunky peanut butter may even work if you would like a bit of additional texture. Pure peanut butter (the sort the place the oil separates) or home made peanut butter can work, however will yield extra crumbly, dry cookies.
- Butter. Many recipes (together with my household’s recipe rising up) use shortening or a mix of butter and shortening. I developed my peanut butter cookie recipe particularly to make use of butter and solely butter. The result’s a cookie that’s mushy with a buttery, tender crumb and taste that makes your eyes roll again in your head.
- Flour. Measure this with a scale or alternatively use the method in my publish on how one can measure flour. Including an excessive amount of flour to the dough will make for arduous, dry, and bland peanut butter cookies.
- Sugar. Rising up, peanut butter cookies have been solely ever made with granulated sugar. One of many first adjustments I made when growing my very own recipe was to swap out a majority portion of that with brown sugar. This not solely provides moisture (due to the molasses in brown sugar, but in addition depth of taste. We do nonetheless hold a little bit of the granulated sugar within the dough to maintain issues from being overwhelming, and I additionally roll my cookies by means of granulated sugar for a reasonably, sparkly exterior that helps encourage simply the correct amount of unfold and offers them a beautiful, delicate and delicate crunch (simply on the surface!).
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch acts equally to flour by absorbing moisture and stopping the cookies from spreading an excessive amount of, however you want much less of it than you do flour and it doesn’t toughen the dough the identical approach. It’s key for a mushy texture and also you’ll discover it in a lot of my cookies like my peanut butter blossoms and brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
SAM’S TIP: Be at liberty so as to add chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, Reeses items, chopped chocolate, and even chopped up Nutter Butters to the dough.
That is simply an summary of the substances I used and why. For the complete recipe please scroll all the way down to the underside of the publish!
The right way to Make Peanut Butter Cookies
- Step 1: Make the dough. Cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter collectively till properly mixed and clean, then stir within the egg and vanilla. Progressively stir within the dry substances till you might have a cohesive dough, then cowl and place within the fridge to relax.
- Step 2: Roll by means of sugar. After chilling (the dough shouldn’t be sticky–whether it is, put it again within the fridge), roll 1 ½ tablespoon scoops of dough between your palms. Roll every dough ball by means of granulated sugar, then place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Step 3: Press with a fork. Use a fork to softly press down into the cookies in a criss-cross sample to provide the cookies a head begin on spreading.
- Step 4: Bake. Do not over-bake these cookies! The facilities ought to really appear simply barely under-baked after they come out of the oven. They are going to end baking as they cool on the cookie sheet for completely mushy and chewy outcomes.
SAM’S TIP: In case your first batch of peanut butter cookies comes out a bit too flat, your substances could have simply been a tad heat, simply pop the dough again within the fridge and chill it a bit longer.
Continuously Requested Questions
Since peanut butter is thick and low in moisture, it may well hold the cookies from spreading greater than you’d count on. Flippantly urgent them with a fork provides the unfold a head-start (and their signature look).
Peanut butter cookie dough is often fairly dense and must be pressed all the way down to encourage spreading and even baking. Sometimes that is executed with the tines of a fork.
With my peanut butter cookies recipe, the fork marks are much less vital (and you may skip it should you desire pointless as these cookies will unfold fairly properly on their very own. Nevertheless, a peanut butter cookie with out the criss-cross design on high simply doesn’t appear proper to me, so we hold it basic right here!
Sure! My peanut butter cookies recipe freezes fairly properly. To do that, merely comply with the instructions for rolled cookies (if rolling in sugar) or drop cookies (if not rolling in sugar) in my how one can freeze cookie dough publish.
Over-baking your cookies is a surefire solution to destroy their texture, so hold a detailed eye on them! I really advocate you take away them from the oven after they’re nonetheless a bit mushy within the center, that approach they will end cooking on their cookie sheets outdoors the oven.
For softer cookies, it’s higher to keep away from utilizing pure peanut butter AND just remember to measure your flour correctly (see my publish on how one can use a kitchen scale!).
Extra Peanut Butter Recipes:
Can’t get enough peanut butter? Try my peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies, peanut butter snickerdoodles, or peanut butter pie next! 🥜
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
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Combine butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar and ¼ cup granulated sugar in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy and well combined.
10 Tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, ½ cup (140 g) creamy peanut butter¹, ⅔ cup (135 g) light brown sugar, tightly packed, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
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Add egg and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.
1 large egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
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In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
1 ½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
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Gradually stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. Make sure to pause periodically to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are well-combined.
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Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place peanut butter cookie dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to one hour (start with 30 minutes, if the dough is too sticky or your cookies are coming out of the oven too flat, chill for an additional half an hour. This dough may be chilled overnight if you’d like).
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Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Once dough has chilled, remove from refrigerator and scoop into heaping 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized balls (39g).
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Roll the cookie dough between your palms until smooth and then roll thoroughly in additional granulated sugar. Place on prepared cookie sheet, spacing cookies at least 2″ apart.
Additional granulated sugar for rolling
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Use the tines of a fork to gently make a criss-cross pattern on the surface of each cookie by slightly pressing down.
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Bake on 350F (175C) for 9-12 minutes. Edges should be just turning golden brown but the cookie centers should appear slightly under-baked, allow cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheets and the centers will finish baking (but remain soft and chewy) as they cool on the cookie sheet. Don’t over-bake or the cookies will be dry.
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Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before enjoying.
¹Type of Peanut Butter
Crunchy peanut butter would work fine here (just adds texture to the cookies!). While “natural” peanut butter will “work”, the cookies tend to be a bit more dry and crumbly.
Freezing
This cookie dough freezes well. Chill the dough as instructed then scoop and roll through sugar and criss-cross with a fork (if desired) before freezing in an airtight container. Cookie dough will still need to bake on 375F but may need an additional minute or so in the oven.
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 184kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 183mg | Potassium: 74mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 209IU | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This peanut butter cookie recipe was originally published 05/09/2018. The recipe remains the same but more notes, photos and a video have been added to the post to make it as helpful as possible!
