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Pasta Chicken

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

Published: Jul 16, 2014 | 191 Comments

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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.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

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!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

 

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!
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

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!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

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.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

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

5 from 9 votes
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Print
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 

These easy peanut butter cookies have a perfect brownie-like texture: both chewy and soft at the same time.  They are not overly rich peanut butter cookies - just perfectly balanced.  These are some of the best peanut butter cookies you'll ever make!

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 18 cookies
Calories: 83 kcal
Ingredients
  • 1/4 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)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour sifted or aerated (see important note below!)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar for coating
Instructions
Important note about properly measuring flour using measuring cups:
  1. 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:
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
Recipe Notes

Recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart.

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Nutrition Facts
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
Amount Per Serving
Calories 83 Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 5%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 12mg 4%
Sodium 22mg 1%
Potassium 51mg 1%
Total Carbohydrates 12g 4%
Sugars 7g
Protein 1g 2%
Vitamin A 1%
Calcium 1.4%
Iron 2.2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Filed Under: Baking, Cookies, Dessert, Nuts, Peanut butter, Recipe Published: Jul 16, 2014 191 Comments

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Koneta Jarrell

    Nov 23, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    Is there anyway to make this Vegan?

    Reply
  2. Tammy

    Nov 09, 2018 at 8:27 am

    Can you put peanut butter chips in them

    Reply
    • Julia

      Dec 04, 2018 at 2:59 am

      Yes, you can.

      Reply
  3. Jennifer

    Apr 19, 2018 at 12:37 am

    It was absolutely the best peanut butter cookies ever! Now I am making this again and I wonder if I could replace to white sugar instead of brown sugar since I am out of it.

    Reply
    • Julia

      May 03, 2018 at 5:29 pm

      Thank you, Jennifer! So glad you liked the cookies. You can use white sugar instead of brown sugar if you don’t have it. It might change the texture of the cookie, but the recipe will still work!

      Reply
  4. GIN

    Apr 15, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    I am making these for a fundraising my son is doing

    Reply
    • Julia

      May 03, 2018 at 6:24 pm

      Enjoy!

      Reply
  5. Stacy

    Apr 06, 2018 at 4:44 pm

    I thought these were delicious. I like how there isn’t a ton of sugar and flour!

    Reply
    • Julia

      Apr 06, 2018 at 8:47 pm

      Thank you! That’s what I like about these cookies too. 🙂 Just a balanced cookie.

      Reply
  6. Megan

    Mar 21, 2018 at 9:04 pm

    Yeah…… they would have come out much better if i chilled dough in refrigerator first. Whoops. My cookies would not roll into balls, they were sticking all over my fingers. Definitely not A baker like my mother lol. Even my husband said i should of put in refrigerator:)

    Reply
    • Megan

      Mar 21, 2018 at 9:06 pm

      came out really good even though they were misshapen

      Reply
      • Julia

        Mar 22, 2018 at 6:15 pm

        I am glad you enjoyed them!

        Reply
    • Julia

      Mar 22, 2018 at 6:19 pm

      Yes, putting the cookie dough in the refrigerator to chill is a good idea for shaping the cookies. Also, in the recipe you’re supposed to use room temperature butter (not melted!) – that should also help to roll the cookies into balls.

      Reply
  7. Wendy

    Mar 18, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    These aren’t super peanut-buttery, so if you’re a peanut butter-phile and just want peanut butter taste, then these probably aren’t what you are looking for. But the texture is to DIE for. Absolutely perfect. And the peanut butter flavor is light enough to make them very versatile, so the recipe could be dressed up in a lot of different ways. I am writing this on a trusty 3×5 card as my new go-to base cookie recipe.

    Reply
    • Julia

      Mar 22, 2018 at 6:47 pm

      Thank you, Wendy! So glad you found the recipe helpful. You’re right, these are not overly rich peanut butter cookies – you can definitely taste peanut butter, but it’s a lighter flavor, which is how I like my peanut butter cookies. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Charlotte from AZ

    Jan 13, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    These look absolutely awesome… picture perfect I would say! I’m pinning to make later in the week.
    Thanks for sharing and love your blog!

    Reply
  9. Lori

    Dec 22, 2017 at 7:11 pm

    Not my favorite. I prefer a more peanut butter taste. I did like the texture as some pb cookies are dry. Maybe adding some chocolate chips or something would help. I thought they needed a little salt, as well.

    Reply
  10. Wend

    Dec 20, 2017 at 5:03 pm

    I followed this recipe to the letter and I was very disappointed in the lack of taste of any one flavor. There is virtually no peanut butter taste at all.

    Reply
    • Megan

      Mar 21, 2018 at 9:05 pm

      her blog stated that they would be overly peanut buttery

      Reply
      • Julia

        Mar 22, 2018 at 6:16 pm

        You can definitely taste a peanut butter in these cookie, but they are not overly rich peanut butter cookies.

        Reply
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