My old-fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies recipe yields the best, softest, salty-sweet discs of deliciousness you’ve ever tried. Made with just 7 simple ingredients (most of which I’d bet you already have in the pantry) and all of 15 minutes of prep, these little fellas are the perfect mid-week treat.
⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you’ve ever gone on the hunt for the best peanut butter cookies recipe, you can stop your search. Made with just 7 pantry staple ingredients and less than 20 minutes of prep time, they’re totally attainable even as a weeknight baking project.
Aside from being quick and easy, these soft and chewy peanut butter cookies are also bursting with peanutty flavor. They’re the perfect blend of salty and sweet, and are even more delightful with the addition of some chopped roasted peanuts for a hit of texture.
This recipe for old-fashioned peanut butter cookies sort of reminds me of the little yellow Grandma’s brand packages I used to buy from the vending machines in high school, except they’re made with all-natural ingredients. They’ve got all the retro charm without any of the weird preservatives or artificial ingredients. What could be better?
Just do yourself a favor and try this easy cookie recipe ASAP. Then make a batch of Mini M&M Cookies, Cookie Butter Cookies and White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies to add to your freezer stash. You (and your inner child) will be happy you did!
🍴Ingredients
As promised, you don’t need much for this chewy peanut butter soft cookie recipe. Here’s what you’ll need to grab:
- All Purpose-Flour - Good ol’ AP is perfect for this recipe. That said, I *think* these cookies should also work if you swap in a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour substitute. If you try making these GF, let me know how they turn out in the comments below!
- Baking Soda - Don’t confuse it with baking powder; the swap never works.
- Unsalted Butter - The best tasting butter is usually grass-fed, organic, and/or cultured.
- Granulated White Sugar & Brown Sugar - If you only use one type of sugar in these chewy cookies, let it be brown sugar. The excess moisture and higher acidity will create the texture you crave! You can use either dark brown sugar or golden brown sugar here.
- Egg - Allow it to come to room temperature for easier mixing.
- Peanut Butter - You can use crunchy peanut butter or creamy peanut butter, natural or commercial peanut butter depending on what you have in the pantry. I personally like using creamy peanut butter!
- Chopped Peanuts - While technically an optional ingredient, I highly recommend adding some chopped roasted peanuts to these delicious cookies for a bit of texture. Feel free to use honey-roasted peanuts for a salty-sweet twist!
⚒️ Equipment
The best chewy peanut butter cookies don’t require a ton of fancy baking equipment, which is just another reason to love this easy recipe. Here’s what you should grab:
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer - Creaming butter and sugar is an essential step to getting the cookies to rise, as the sugar crystals create little pockets of air in the butter. While you *can* properly cream them together using nothing more than arm power, it’ll take much longer than if you use a little electronic assistance.
- Baking or Cookie Sheet - If you haven’t yet, now’s the time to treat yourself to some nice, unwarped baking sheets so your soft, chewy peanut butter cookies bake evenly.
- Cookie Scoop - Also referred to as a disher, cookie scoops are the easiest way to regulate your cookie size and make the batch look uniform. My preferred size is a 3 oz cookie scoop, such as this one!
- Cooling Rack - to allow your cookies to rest and cool completely.
📖 Step by Step Instructions
The recipe for these soft peanut butter cookies is super simple to follow, and can even be made on a weeknight because it’s so quick. Here’s how it’s done:
Step 1: Dry Ingredients. Whisk together your dry ingredients – the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
Step 2: Wet Ingredients. Place the butter and sugars in a medium mixing bowl and using the paddle attachment, cream at medium speed until you reach a fluffy, rather pale color. Make sure to take a second to scrape down the sides of the bowl before then adding your egg and then the peanut butter.
Step 3: Mix Dry & Wet. Slowly add the dry ingredients in three separate stages, mixing until your ingredients have fully combined. Then, add chopped peanuts if you’d like, mixing for a few moments more to incorporate.
Step 4: Prep. Before getting ready to scoop each cookie, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare your baking tray with parchment paper.
Step 5: Bake. Place your preferred number of cookies onto a baking sheet and bake for about 11 minutes. Remove from the oven once you start to see some slight cracks and browning on top and let cookies sit undisturbed for 3-5 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before adding flakey sea salt. Then for the best part - enjoy each and every bite!
⏲️ Substitutions & Variations
I like my peanut butter cookies with a soft texture, but even within that framework, there’s lots of room for customization. Here are some of my recommended variations:
- Add-Ins - If you’re someone who thinks peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter corn flake cookies are where it’s at, feel free to go hog wild here! Any mix-ins are encouraged in the peanut butter cookie dough like a classic handful of chocolate chips, so long as they don’t exceed about ½ cup.
- Dairy-Free - Simply swap in your favorite plant-based butter here for a dairy-free treat!
- Gluten-Free - While I haven’t tried it myself, all of my baking experience leads me to believe that this cookie recipe will easily work with a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix.
- Nut-Free - Love peanut butter cookies but can’t use peanuts? Not to fret! This recipe will also work splendidly with sunflower butter.
- Make cookie sandwiches - Take a note from my molasses sandwich cookies recipe and fill these peanut butter cookies with a cinnamon buttercream perhaps? Delicious.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Making these simple PB cookies is about as easy as baking gets. That said, I have a few words of wisdom to share:
- Save some dough for future you. If you don’t end up baking off all your cookies at once, place your scooped cookies in a ziplock freezer bag and throw them into the freezer. Bake them fresh (straight from the freezer) as desired! You’ll just need to add a few extra minutes of bake time.
- Don’t crowd the pan. Depending on the size of cookies you’re making, a typical household sheet pan will hold between 9-12 cookies. If you want to make more than that, work in batches!
- Rest your dough for extra chewy texture. Giving your cookie dough even a quick 30-minute rest in the fridge will help to amplify the chewy factor.
💭 Recipe FAQs
In this PB cookie recipe, there are a few factors that contribute to chewiness. Using all butter is an important element in creating the proper texture. Brown sugar also lends moisture, which contributes to a chewier cookie.
You don’t have to, but doing so will help to provide an even chewier, perfect texture.
If you want to ensure your baked cookies are nice and thick, I recommend baking them in a muffin tin. This will prevent them from spreading too far and give them a wall to climb during the rising process.
🍪 More Cookie Recipes To Try
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Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- 3oz Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 2 Cups + 2 Tbsp (270 g) All Purpose-Flour
- 2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¾ Cup (170 g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- ½ Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- ½ Cup (110 g) Brown Sugar, packed
- 1 Egg, room temperature
- ¼ Cup (100 g) Peanut Butter
- ¼ Cup (40 g) Chopped Peanuts, optional
- Pinch Flakey Sea Salt
Instructions
- Whisk together your dry ingredients – the flour, baking soda, and sea salt in a bowl and set aside.2 Cups + 2 tablespoon All Purpose-Flour, 2 teaspoon Baking Soda, ½ teaspoon Salt
- Place the butter and sugars in your mixing bowl and using the paddle attachment, cream until you reach a fluffy, rather pale color. Make sure to take a second to scrape down the bowl before then adding your egg then the peanut butter.¾ Cup Unsalted Butter, ½ Cup Granulated Sugar, ½ Cup Brown Sugar, 1 Egg, ¼ Cup Peanut Butter
- Slowly add the dry ingredients in three separate stages, mixing until your ingredients have fully combined. Then, add optional chopped peanuts mixing for a few moments more to incorporate.¼ Cup Chopped Peanuts
- At this point, the dough will seem quite sticky! Place into an airtight container let it rest in the fridge for a half hour or so until firm and chilled.
- Before getting ready to scoop each cookie, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare your baking tray with parchment paper.
- Using a medium or three ounce cookie scoop, place your preferred number of cookies 3 inches apart onto a baking sheet and bake for about 11 minutes. Remove from the oven once you start to see some slight cracks on top, sprinkle with flakey sea salt and let cookies sit undisturbed for 3-5 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.Pinch Flakey Sea Salt
- If you don’t end up baking off all your cookies at once, place your scooped extras in a ziplock bag and throw them into the freezer. Bake them fresh as desired!
Notes
- Save some dough for future you. If you don’t end up baking off all your cookies at once, place your scooped cookies in a ziplock freezer bag and throw them into the freezer. Bake them fresh (straight from the freezer) as desired! You’ll just need to add a few extra minutes of bake time.
- Don’t crowd the pan. Depending on the size of cookies you’re making, a typical household sheet pan will hold between 9-12 cookies. If you want to make more than that, work in batches!
- Rest your dough for extra chewy texture. Giving your cookie dough even a quick 30-minute rest in the fridge will help to amplify the chewy factor.
Sandra Niven
Can't wait to try this.