These easy peanut butter cookies have an amazing brownie-like texture: both chewy and soft. The peanut butter flavor is perfectly balanced without being overpowering.
These are truly the best peanut butter cookies I've ever tried! It's not only my opinion - everybody around me loves them too and asks for a recipe! I've posted about these cookies last year, and here I am writing about them again!
There is just the right amount of peanut butter in these easy peanut butter cookies: not too much and not too little. You can use a regular peanut butter, such as JiF, and you can use natural one too. You can use regular crunchy one and natural crunchy peanut butter. I've tried them all, and the recipe works well! If you use natural peanut butter, the cookie will come out just a little bit dryer but the difference is really hardly noticable, if you make sure to sift or aerate your flour (see the note below, under recipe instructions) - it's very important not to overpack the flour in a measuring cup so that the cookie does not come out dry!
You can definitely taste a peanut butter in this cookie, and yet it’s not like you’re eating overly rich peanut butter cookies. That's how I like peanut butter cookies, which is why this is the best peanut butter cookie recipe for me!
The seemingly unimportant step of rolling these cookies in granulated sugar right before putting them in the oven is the reason why these cookies look so pretty (almost like sugar cookies), why they are light in color and have beautiful cracks on top. Coating these peanut butter cookies in sugar before baking serves two purposes: 1) The cookies acquire lighter, much more attractive color when sugar coated. If you don’t roll these cookies in sugar, they will come out much darker, almost looking like dark peanut butter. Rolled in sugar, the peanut butte cookies come out looking like sugar cookies! 2) Rolling cookies in sugar gives them a nice soft crunch on the outside of the cookie.
For cookies to have that nicely rounded, puffed up shape, roll them in balls between the palms of your hands and then roll each cookie ball in sugar. If the peanut butter cookie dough is too soft for you to work with, let it chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before rolling.
The result are some of the best peanut butter cookies you'll ever make! Amazingly yummy cookies that are popular with kids and adults alike! They have a moist, almost brownie-like texture and only get better as the days pass by. Keep them in air-tight container and they will last you for up to 2 weeks – that is, if you’re disciplined enough not to eat them all the first day!
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter (can use natural one too)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature (not melted - just let the butter from refrigerator sit on the counter for about an hour or so)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour sifted or aerated (see important note below!)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar for coating
Instructions
Important note about properly measuring flour using measuring cups:
- The proper way to measure flour using measuring cups is to aerate it first. This is done either by sifting flour or aerating it by fluffing it up and whisking it well, then spooning it into the measuring cup, then carefully removing any excess flour with a knife. If you just stick that measuring cup in the bag of flour and scoop some out, you will get a lot more flour than what the recipe calls for. Do aerate the flour, or you will end up with dry dough!
How to make peanut butter cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Using an electric mixer, cream peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add an egg and vanilla, and continue beating until creamy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder. Gradually add dry ingredients from step 2 to wet ingredients in step 1, beating on low speed.
- Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper or lightly greased aluminum foil. Place granulated sugar on a plate. Roll spoonfuls of cookie dough into balls, rolling each ball between your hands. Roll balls in sugar to coat them completely.
- Place cookie balls 2 inches apart on a prepared baking sheet. Bake until cookies begin to puff up slightly, about 12 minutes, until cookies just brown around the edges and crackle on top. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring cookies to rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This truly is THE BEST peanut butter cookie recipe ever!! I'm not normally a peanut butter cookie fan but I love these!! And my husband wants them for his birthday instead of a cake!!
Hi Jenny, I am so happy to hear you like these cookies as much as I do! 🙂 They do not have an overwhelming peanut butter flavor - which is what I love about them.
Definitely not worth the calories. Lacking in flavor, especially the peanut butter. Wouldn’t recommend this recipe.
I usually put those lava hershey kisses on top but today I will add mini eggs. This is my go to peanut butter cookie recipe and we all love it!
Laura, I am so glad you love this recipe! Thank you for the 5-star review! ❤️
I love these cookies. Very tasty, light peanut butter
I overcooked them bc they didn’t look like they were done. Bake them the as recipe says, I will definitely make these again.
Suellen, I am so happy you liked these! Thank you for taking the time to share this positive feedback and 5-stars. And, Happy Holidays! 🙂
These came out pretty great, really soft and chewy, only issue is that I don’t really taste the peanut butter in them. I personally say it needs more peanut butter but overall it came out pretty decent.
Suku - great feedback, thank you so much! I know, these cookies are pretty light on peanut butter flavor - which is how I personally like them. 🙂
in the past i made these really good peanutbutter cookies rolled in sugar before bakeing can i do that with these cookies i cant find recipe i used that yr but they were the best cookies i ever made
Yes, the cookies in this recipe are rolled in sugar before baking and they taste wonderful and have a beautiful texture!
Very good, mine were soft but not brownie like, more cake like. Not excessively sweet, but great peanut butter flavor. Should I reduce the back time to get the brownie texture? Flour was sifted first then measured.
Thanks!!
Matt, thank you for the feedback! Glad you liked the cookies! Yes, reduce the baking times for softer, brownie-like texture!
I was just wondering. Can you use regular butter or does it have to be unsalted?
You can use either salted or unsalted butter.
Thanks for this recipe. The cookies came out really well.
I have made these several times - no fail easy peanut butter cookies. They are soft too!
If you do not like the recipe, or think the are too sweet, adjust it to your liking?
These are the best peanut butter cookies ever! I have made them several times. This will be my go to recipe for pb cookies. Thank you
Making these for Christmas for my family, and the recipe was nice and easy to follow, hopefully they taste as good as they look!
Victoria, I am glad you tried this recipe and found it easy! Thank you so much for your feedback!
So? Did you find them as terrible as I did? Wondering what your point to leaving your comment was it you didn't follow up with the taste. Does it really matter if they are easy to make it they taste terrible? I found these didn't have enough on and were too sweet! Ugh!
Can you add chocolate chips to this recipe?
Yes, you can.
My favorite peanut butter cookies! Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked them!
Fabulous recipe. Made these cookies along with your pecan sandies this Thanksgiving. What a treat!
Glad you liked it! 🙂