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Peanut Butter Cookies

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This classic peanut butter cookie recipe is thick and chewy, dusted with sugar, and downright delicious.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Our week of holiday cookie recipes on the blog this week continues today with another throwback classic…

…soft, chewy, buttery, always-a-hit peanut butter cookies.

Over the years, I’ve made a variety of healthier peanut butter cookies, which I also really love and make most often nowadays. But whenever I happen to spy one of the fork-crossed, sugar-dusted originals at a holiday party, I’m instantly reminded just how irresistible this classic peanut butter cookie recipe still is. And when we baked up a batch during my little holiday bake-a-thon this week, our friends here were quick to agree that nothing beats this classic recipe.

Gotta love a good peanut butter cookie. 

So if you feel like baking up a batch this season, here’s the recipe I’ve used for years!

Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe | 1-Minute Video

How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients:

To make this peanut butter cookie recipe, you will need:

  • All-purpose flour: Or you are welcome to substitute white whole wheat flour.
  • Baking powder and baking soda: This recipe calls for both.
  • Cornstarch: To help make them extra-chewy.
  • Salt: To bring out the flavor.
  • Butter: Two sticks, completely softened.
  • Sugars: Both granulated (white) and brown sugar, plus extra for rolling the dough balls if you’d like.
  • Peanut butter: Either smooth or crunchy.
  • Vanilla extract: Either store-bought or homemade.
  • Eggs: Two, please!

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies:

So, how to make peanut butter cookies? Simply…

  1. Prep your oven and cookie sheet. 350˚F and parchment paper.
  2. Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch and salt.
  3. Mix the wet ingredients. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Mix in peanut butter until it is incorporated and smooth. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl down after each addition.
  4. Add in the dry ingredients. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients until they are just incorporated and the batter is smooth, being careful not to over-mix.
  5. Form your dough balls. Form the dough into 1.5-tablespoon round balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. (If you’d like, you can roll each of these balls in a bowl of granulated sugar before adding them to the baking sheet.)  Press a criss-cross pattern into each dough ball with a fork to flatten slightly, being sure that each dough ball is at least 2 inches apart.
  6. Bake. For about 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the centers are slightly puffy. Remove from the oven, and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool.
  7. Enjoy! Serve warm, or store in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.

How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies

Possible Variations:

Feel free to add in some:

  • Chocolate chips: Semisweet, dark, white, normal-sized, mini-sized…any kind. :)
  • Cinnamon chips: I’m a big fan of mixing cinnamon and peanut butter in this recipe.
  • Nuts: Chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, or even extra chopped peanuts would be delicious in these cookies.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk

More Favorite Cookie Recipes:

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Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 128 reviews
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 0 About 4 dozen cookies 1x

Description

These peanut butter cookies are soft, chewy, and absolutely delicious!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • (optional: 1/2 cup granulated sugar for rolling the dough balls)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
  3. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Mix in peanut butter until it is incorporated and smooth. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl down after each addition. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients until they are just incorporated and the batter is smooth, being careful not to over-mix.
  4. Form the dough into 1.5-tablespoon round balls and place on the prepared baking sheet.  (If you’d like, you can roll each of these balls in a bowl of granulated sugar before adding them to the baking sheet.)  Press a criss-cross pattern into each dough ball with a fork to flatten, being sure that each dough ball is at least 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the centers are slightly puffy.  Remove from the oven, and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool.
  5. Serve warm, or store in a sealed container for up to 4 days.  Or freeze for up to 3 months.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

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219 comments on “Peanut Butter Cookies”

  1. Hi Ali!!!! to make cookies is one thing I really wanted to learn. I just keep on searching, reading some cookie recipe to make until yours has been spotted. So, I read it, all the reviews and decided to be my first cookie recipe to make …. And everything comes out perfect!!!! I want to thank you for sharing your recipe!!!! I have yield 72 cookies out of it ….. I will look and check if you have butter cookies recipe later …..






  2. Love your cookie recipes and this one is no exception. Wow! So delicious and love that the measurements are easy to remember.






  3. I followed this recipe exactly! They are awesome. will make this again and again Thank you

  4. The cookies were moist and delicious. The family loved them thanks for sharing the recipe






  5. Oh my gosh! How delicious! It is only my husband and I, so the recipe was EASILY cut in half. I, of course, tasted the dough before baking and the dough was absolutely heavenly. Light. Fluffy. I could have easily eaten all the dough without even baking the cookies. And no, don’t panic for those concerned with the small amount of raw egg I consumed. I started baking with my mother when I was a child and 60 years later I have yet to become ill from eating ANY dough or batters! Excellent recipe! Definitely a great go to. Super simple ingredients and super simple to make! Those make the best recipes that live on, are passed down and are treasured for years.






    • Just so others don’t go doing this… it’s not the eggs that are a danger. It’s the raw flour. Raw flour has a very high risk of e.coli contamination and the only way to be safe is to cook it.

  6. This is the best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever found!!! The cookies stayed soft, chewy and delicious!






  7. Made cookies according to recipe and they are fabulous! I’m very particular about the foods I make, this recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks, A++

  8. I made these for my peanut butter fiend husband and he said they were 100x better than any that his mom has ever made. IT is a huge honor, to ever hear those words come from him, so THANK YOU SO MUCH. WE LOVE THIS RECIPE.






  9. Recipe is great but I wanted to print copies to make with my grand daughters and give each a copy but since I’m on a limited income and printer ink isn’t cheap I wasn’t able to, because I couldn’t find a way to print it without pictures.I guess I’m not tech savvy. Other sites have an option as to whether you want the picture or not. I do like that you give the option of doubling and tripling the recipes though. Now if I could just figure out how to get rid of that picture like the other websites offer. If anyone can help me I’d appreciate it I have 10 grand daughters I wanted to make cookie with that’s ten of each recipe so this isn’t the only one I’m printing.






    • Theresa…. Cut and paste. Go to the ingredients and copy them. Paste it to email or word processing program. Save document then go back to recipe and copy instructions. Go back to document, paste, save and print.

    • Hi Theresa! When you go to print, you can select which sheets you want to print so you can skip the ones with pictures. For example, if there’s 5 pages to print, and pictures on pages 2 and 5, you can select to print custom pages and do page 1, 3-4. Hope this helps!

  10. best ever and im fussy






  11. Easy and yummy






  12. We LOVE these cookies !!!!!!!
    The only change I made, was to add a chocolate kiss on top of each cookie before baking !!!!!!! WONDERFUL !!!!! When our grand kids were small, they LOVED to unwrap the kisses, and put on top of the cookies !!!!!!






  13. A friend and I made these for a holiday event. My husband had warned me that he usually only ate 2 peanut butter cookies when anyone else made them so not to save any for him. When the event was over, he told me he ate 6 of them because they were the best he’d ever had. Then he asked me to bake them again for him. I allergic so I can’t eat them but everyone at the event enjoyed them too.






  14. Yummy! I substituted one quarter of the peanut butter for Nutella and it was fantastic. Unfortunately I only have a hand mixer so a little time consuming but worth it.






    • Best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve come across and I’ve tried several other blogs and even a James Beard recipe. The proportions of the ingredients made exactly the chewy, delightly sweet and rich cookie I was looking for. This one’s a keeper! (I halved the batch and mixed by hand to great success. I also used creamy peanut butter 365 brand from whole foods.)






    • Girl, I only had a wooden spoon. My hand mixer broke lol

  15. Easy recipe and delicious my kids loved them






  16. I bookmarked this recipe! It is a perfect peanut butter cookie… Very light and not too sweet ?






  17. Easygoing and tasty ? ?






  18. These turned out amazing! Will definitely be making these again!






  19. My family loved these cookies! Delicious! ?






  20. This recipe is a keeper, followed all directions and added a cup of chopped peanuts, they were delicious!






  21. Foolproof, ridiculously easy to follow and delicious every time. Thank you so much!






  22. I’ve been a home baker for more than 50 years. I’ve always used the “Peanut Blossom” recipe for my peanut butter cookies, but today, I needed to make a batch and had no Crisco. Surfing brought up this recipe, so thought I’d give it a shot. OMG! I followed the recipe to the letter, choosing the mini-peanut butter cups from Trader Joes as my add-in. They turned out perfect! So pretty, but more importantly, the taste is amazing. Thank you for sharing your recipe.






  23. These make the best peanut butter cookies that I have ever had! My husband is a cookie monster but is very picky about his cookies and he also loved them! Definitely my go-to recipe for peanut butter cookies!






  24. Wow! Absolutely the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had.






  25. Made this for the first time! PLEASE Change the name to BEST EVER PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE !
    I bake a lot ! Absolutely delish! After mixing dough together it was soft and would be difficult to make into balls….so I put dough in refrigerator over night and baked off this morning….EASY to roll and I did not roll in sugar or sprinkle with sugar….really doesn’t need it. May drizzle some dark chocolate over some…why not guild the Lily! YUMMMMMMM! Thanks for this one!






    • Hi I have a question when you measured out your flour so you scoop the flour in your measuring cup then level or do you scoop the flour into your measuring cup then level.

  26. First time doing the corn starch thing. Nailed it!






  27. Absolutely delicious ?






  28. Added milk chocolate chips. Delicious! They stay soft even after cooling :)






  29. I’ve been searching for a chewy peanut butter cookie and by chance, I found your recipe. I made the cookies and it was a instant hit for my family. I love the texture not too brittle and just right. I will definitely make this again and again and forever. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.

  30. I absolutely loved this recipe. I tried out just like it says and my cookies were the best ever.






  31. I’m 21 weeks pregnant and I was craving cookies I decided on peanut butter cookies so I made these last night ! I didn’t have baking soda so I supplemented for 3 tsp of baking powder and they came out great! I baked mine for 10 minutes only to ensure they wouldn’t dry out. They were perfect! Only thing is I’d add more peanut butter for a stronger peanut butter flavor. The cookies were nice soft and fluffy, so perfect ❤️❤️ They weren’t flat at all either! I recommend this recipe!! I’m sending it to my mom now ! Lol






  32. Peanut butter receipie looks goid






  33. I just made half a batch. Melted butter. Didn’t roll into a ball. ( I’m lazy). Used 2 spoons to put a small amount , ok, medium amount of dough on the silicone sheets. Then used a fork dipped in sugar to squish, shape, and put the marks on the cookie. And added a pinch of granulated sugar to each. Cookies are thinner, which is what’s I like. And are yummy. Thank you for the recipe.






  34. I just made these cookies to send my children who live In CA and MI as a carona virus survival package. I thought with all the craziness going around this would bring them smiles and it made me happy to do it. This recipe is by far the best peanut butter cookies I ever made. YUM!!!! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

  35. Personally, I did not care for these cookies. I love homemade cookies. These have too much sugar. Way too sweet. T






  36. The best cookie recipe and all times

  37. I’m 67 and haven’t made peanut butter cookies for probably 40+ years—these are not as good as my mom’s-was just hoping since I don’t have her recipe.






  38. Fantastic Peanut Butter Cookies. Thank you for sharing your recipe. My son loves the texture and flavor.






  39. These cookies are delicious! The best texture, taste, and chewiness that a peanut butter cookie can have!
    I used extra peanut butter (1 1/2 C.) natural coarse smooth and added a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Next time I’m adding 1 C. chopped peanut too! Rolled in raw sugar crystal, highly recommend this recipe, thanks gimmesomeoven!






  40. Thanks for this recipe!! I made these cookies for my dad’s birthday (celebrating in the midst of quarantine). If there are two sure things about my dad’s appetite, it’s a love of cookies and a love of peanut butter. I added hershey’s kisses 3 mins after taking them out of the oven. He took one bite of these, slowly looked up at me, and said “These are EXCELLENT.” A happy birthday indeed!






  41. Wonderful cookie recipe! House guests left us a jar of creamy peanut butter. Since we are crunchy fans, I decided to make comforting cookies with the creamy pb while we are all sheltering in place. Very good flavor and consistency! I needed to let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to the cooling rack. The first ones were too hot and soft and fell apart when I transferred them to the rack. Don’t worry, all evidence of broken cookies was quickly gone! That would be my only addition to the instructions.

  42. This recipe is amazing, I added about 1/4 cup more peanut butter and baked for 8 mins exactly. 10 mins was too long.






  43. These are wonderful cookies! Deserves more stars for sure! I am putting them in my kids Easter baskets, making homemade goodies trying not to go out for the quarantine, so lucky we found this….I enjoy baking but I can not take credit for making them, my fiancé who loves to cook/bake made them. I got to enjoy the results. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you!






  44. can you freeze extra cookie dough?

  45. I’ve commented once before but didn’t get a reply. Second time trying this recipe, and they are coming out flat and brittle. WHAT am I doing wrong?

  46. This recipe is also great with almond butter.

  47. As a professional baker, I LOVED this recipe!! No complaints at all, family loved them, I loved them, the recipe was perfect! Thank you for sharing it!






  48. Nutrition Facts:
    Serving size: 1 Cookie
    Servings: 48

    Amount per serving:
    Calories 125
    % Daily Value
    Total Fat 6.8g 9%
    Saturated Fat 3.1g 15%
    Cholesterol 18mg 6%
    Sodium 133mg 6%
    Total Carbohydrate 14.7g 5%
    Dietary Fiber 0.5g 2%
    Total Sugars 8.7g
    Protein 2.4g
    Vitamin D 3mcg 17%
    Calcium 8mg 1%
    Iron 1mg 5%
    Potassium 57mg 1%

    Courtesy of: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076






  49. This is a delicious recipe, the batter is really light and fluffy. For me, next time I would leave out the cornstarch because a I like a crispy cookie and keep everything else the same. I also found that my batter was very sticky and I couldn’t roll the dough in to balls. I wondered if people refrigerated the dough before rolling ? I just made them as drop cookies which worked out fine and they tasted just as good?






  50. These are wonderful! I use half the sugar because my husband is diabetic and they are still VERY good.