Peanut butter cookies are classic and easily recognized with their cross-hatched appearance and sweet flavor. They are delightfully soft, chewy, and irresistible. This simple recipe will be your new go-to for making peanut butter cookies.
Try my chocolate peanut butter cookies, peanut butter Nutella cookies, peanut butter-filled cupcakes, peanut butter chocolate chip baked donuts, and more peanut butter recipes.
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Along with chocolate chip cookies, these peanut butter cookies are always tied for my most-baked cookies. They are tender and sweet, and I've even perfected the recipe so that no chilling is required.
This is one of my favorites for freezing the unbaked dough, which works wonderfully! You can keep some in the freezer and bake it straight from frozen.
🥘 Ingredients
- Butter - Salted or unsalted butter both work. When using unsalted butter, use ½ teaspoon of salt instead of the ¼ teaspoon called for below.
- Peanut Butter - Even though you may love natural peanut butter, I have to recommend using one of the name-brand peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. Natural peanut butter results in cookies that can be grainy. However, do feel free to go with your favorite creamy or chunky.
- Sugars - Plain white granulated sugar is combined with light brown sugar to make this tasty cookie tender and sweet. Measure your brown sugar out and pack the measuring cup tightly for best results.
- Eggs - Add volume and act as a binding agent. I suggest room-temperature eggs for your best evenly cooked cookies. To warm your eggs quickly, place them into a bowl or cup of warm water.
- Vanilla Extract - Vanilla is usually missing from many peanut butter cookie recipes, but trust me, including a good vanilla extract is essential.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder - are the leavening agents for baking. They add structure to the cookies and help them to rise and shape up.
- Salt - is wonderful for highlighting your ingredient flavors, which makes the peanut butter taste shine! If you like to use less salt in your baking, start with less. There's a lot of salt in peanut butter, so there is wiggle room in this recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour - Flour is the bulk and structure of your cookies! Measure your flour by spooning it into measuring cups and leveling it.
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🔪 How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies
Making peanut butter cookies is about as easy as any typical no-chill cookie recipe. You will need a stand or hand mixer, measuring utensils, a baking sheet, a silicone spatula, and parchment paper.
This recipe will yield approximately 30 cookies.
Prepare The Dough
Step 1: Preheat. Preheat your oven to 350ºF (175ºC/Gas Mark 4) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine 1 cup (227 grams) of butter, 1½ cups (387 grams) of peanut butter, 1 cup (200 grams) of sugar, and 1 cup (220 grams) of light brown sugar. Mix until creamy and just combined.
Step 3: Continue mixing. Add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1½ teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon of salt, then combine until smooth. *Add a tablespoon of your flour to keep the wet mixture from 'curdling' with the addition of the eggs.
Step 4: Add flour. Stir in 2¾ cups (344 grams) of flour until it is completely incorporated into your cookie dough.
Portion & Bake
Step 5: Portion the dough. Shape your dough into 1 - 1¼ inch round balls. Place the dough balls onto a baking sheet with 2 inches of spacing for spreading. Then, use the tines of a fork to press down gently in a crisscross pattern.
Step 6: Bake. Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF (175ºC/Gas Mark 4) for 8 - 10 minutes or until the cookie edges are slightly golden.
Step 7: Cool. Remove the peanut butter cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- Enhance the flavor with roasted peanuts. For an added crunch and depth of flavor, consider folding a handful of chopped roasted peanuts into the dough. This not only adds texture but also intensifies the peanut flavor.
- Chill the dough. If you prefer your peanut butter cookies to be thicker and less spread out, chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. Chilling the dough solidifies the fat in the cookies, which means the cookies spread less during baking, resulting in a thicker, softer cookie.
- Roll the dough in sugar. For a sweeter outer layer, roll each dough ball in a bowl with ¼ cup of sugar until completely coated.
- Prevent flat cookies. When pressing the crosshatch pattern into the cookies, only press halfway down.
🙂 😀 Testimonials
I've used other recipes from this site before, so came here when I wanted to grab a recipe for peanut butter cookies. I made them this afternoon and now they are GONE! My family couldn't get enough!
Ashley, Michigan
>>>See All Of My Recipes Here!<<<
🥡 Storing
Keep your cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to one week.
Freezing
Baked cookies can be frozen in a storage bag for up to six months.
Unbaked, portioned dough balls can be flash-frozen for 2 hours on a baking sheet and then transferred to a storage bag. They can be frozen for up to three months and baked straight from frozen.
🍪 More Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Pecan Cookies - These nutty cookies have that wonderfully chewy peanut butter cookie texture with the addition of crushed pecans.
- Peanut Butter Banana Cookies - One of my family's favorite ways to use up browned or overripe bananas is to make tasty banana-based cookies!
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies - Have you ever tried the full peanut butter version of the popular no-bake cookies? If not, you're missing out!
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - Delicious cookies with a trio of tasty ingredients.
- Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies - Extra chewy cookies that still have peanut butter flavor.
- Peanut Butter Blossoms - Tender peanut butter cookies topped with chocolate candy.
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📖 Recipe Card
Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (at room temperature)
- 1 ½ cups peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
- 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the 1 cup butter, 1 ½ cups peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup light brown sugar until creamy.
- Add the 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt, then mix until smooth. *Add 1 tablespoon of your flour if the wet ingredients start to 'curdle' with the addition of the eggs.
- Stir in the 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour until it has been completely incorporated into the dough.
- Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls, roll them in sugar if desired. Place onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets with approximately 2 inches of spacing between each cookie.
- Use a fork to press the cookies down to about half the height. Crisscross the tine marks to make the usual checkered pattern of peanut butter cookies.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookie edges begin to brown slightly.
- Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
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