These are the best peanut butter cookies ever! Use your favorite branded peanut butter and a combination of white and brown sugar for a chewy, sweet treat.
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If there’s a cookie hall of fame, peanut butter cookies take pride of place along with chocolate chips and oatmeal raisins. They’re also my mom’s favorite cookie, the only cookie she asks for when I’m in the mood for baking cookies.
Who Invented the Peanut Butter Cookie?
The recipe for peanut butter cookies that most closely resembles modern peanut butter cookies and introduced the crosshatch pattern we know today first appeared in Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House tried and true recipes in 1936. Similar recipes followed over the years, including Betty Crocker’s Peanut Butter Cookie recipe.
Our recipe most closely follows Betty Crocker’s proportions, but like Ruth Wakefield, we use just butter instead of a combination of butter and shortening.
These peanut butter cookies are super easy to make with no fancy ingredients. What’s in Peanut Butter Cookies? Just peanut butter, flour, butter, sugar, egg, salt, baking soda, and baking soda.
Video: How to make peanut butter cookies
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How to make peanut butter cookies
Tips for the best peanut butter cookies
There are a few tips that will help you make the best cookies.
- Use a branded peanut butter like Skippy, Jif or Peter Pan. I usually buy a natural version of peanut butter for my PB&Js, but the natural brands (the ones that separate) result in a cookie with a grainier texture and spread too much. That said, if you have a natural brand of peanut butter that works for you, use it! I just find that I get better results with the name brands.
- Chill the dough. Chilling the batter for a few hours will help the peanut butter cookies hold their shape and not overspread as they cook.
- Dip the fork in sugar. To prevent the fork from sticking when making a criss-cross pattern on the cookies, dip the tines in some granulated sugar between the cookies.
- Use a lower oven temperature for chewy cookies. If you want chewy cookies, bake a little longer at a lower temperature.
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Fun variations on peanut butter cookies
- Roll in sugar. Roll the cookie dough balls in sugar before pressing them down with a fork.
- Add a kiss from Hershey. Skip the fork marks (don’t press, exit as a ball). Roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar and bake according to the instructions. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, squeeze in a chocolate Hershey’s kiss (from the wrapper, of course). Here’s the full recipe.
- use almond butter. Substitute almond butter for the peanut butter for an easy almond butter cookie.
How to store and freeze peanut butter cookies
Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container for about 5 days before drying.
Storing or Freezing Cookie Dough: Refrigerate the cookie dough with plastic wrap pressed against the dough for up to 3 days. To freeze cookie dough, line a sheet pan with foil, then add the cookie dough balls. Press with a fork to make crosshatches, then freeze until set. Transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake as directed, adding a few extra minutes of baking time.
More ideas for peanut butter treats
- Peanut Butter Horse Chestnuts
- Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
- Easy peanut butter fondant
- No Bake Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
Peanut Butter Cookies
You can use either smooth or crunchy regular peanut butter for this recipe. Smooth peanut butter gives you a smoother texture. Crunchy gives you a few chunks of peanuts throughout the cookie.
The oils in natural peanut butter tend to separate, causing cookies to spread and take on a grainy texture. You can use it, but regular peanut butter is preferred for the best cookie texture.
You can refrigerate the batter for less than the 3 hours the recipe calls for, but it will help the cookies hold their shape if the batter is completely chilled, which should be after 3 hours.
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.
ingredients
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1/2 cup (112G) butter, unsalted or salted, room temperature
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1/2 cup (100G) granulated sugar
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1/2 cup (110G) packed up Brown sugarlight or dark
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1/2 cup (130G) peanut butter
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1 big egg
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1 1/4 cups (160G) all purpose flour
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3/4 teaspoon baking soda
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1/2 teaspoon baking powder
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1/4 teaspoon kosher Salt (omit if using salted butter)
method
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Prepare cookie dough:
Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and white sugar and beat for another 2 minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar and butter mixture.
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Cool dough:
Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
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Preheat the oven:
Preheat the oven to 190°C.
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Shape cookies:
Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place the dough balls about 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets (unlined sheets are fine, although you can use parchment paper to line them if you’d like). Flatten criss-cross with a fork. (Dipping the fork in sugar helps to keep it from sticking to the dough.)
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Bake cookies:
Bake at 375°F (190°C) until light brown, about 9 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool in their baking sheets for a minute. After 1 minute, transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely.
Note: For chewy cookies, bake at 150°C (300°F) for 15 minutes.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 126 | calories |
| 7g | Fat |
| 15g | carbohydrates |
| 2g | protein |
