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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.
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.
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:)
came out really good even though they were misshapen
I am glad you enjoyed them!
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.
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 3x5 card as my new go-to base cookie recipe.
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. 🙂
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!
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.
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.
her blog stated that they would be overly peanut buttery
You can definitely taste a peanut butter in these cookie, but they are not overly rich peanut butter cookies.
These were great and on the verge of sensational.. If there were a little something extra they would be the cookie everybody remembers at the Xmas party. Maybe toffee/skor pieces, or boozy extract? Maybe they're just really versatile? These cookies have had me thinking about them and what they need all night. The rolo suggestion might be just the thing with the richness of chocolate and caramel, but my question is - can i just roll the rolo inside the dough balls before putting them in the oven? Thanks!
I made these again last night with white chocolate chips and they were really something. I overcooked the first batch by 2 minutes and they were a bit dry but still delicious. Took the rest out at about 8 minutes (maybe my oven bakes hot) and they were a light, moist, brownie texture on the inside with a crisp sugar coating. A fantastic mix of textures and flavours. Thanks again for this recipe!
Thanks so much for this recipe. I tried making these cookies for the first time tonight and they worked perfectly. So delicious I don't think they will last very long. 😀
Thank you, Majella! I am glad you've been enjoying these cookies. 🙂
These look amazing! I was wondering if you have any suggestions on how I could incorporate mashed ripe banana into these?
If you want to use mashed ripe banana, it would be a completely different texture and recipe.
Love them, love them, love them. Mine turned out more like crackle peanut butter cookies, but they are still scrumptious.
Thank you! Happy to hear you like these cookies! 🙂
I added about a tablespoon of cocoa to make them chocolate peanut butter cookies and they turned out perfectly! Thanks for the new recipie!
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed these! 🙂
Hey Julia! Just made these and they're fantastic. Any tips on how I can continue making the cookie even more dense? When I hit into it it still slightly crumbled off. Thanks!! I love them!! I'm getting closer to a version my MIL used to make.
Jenny, you must be a peanut butter cookie aficionado! 🙂 To make the cookie denser, I think you need to add more peanut butter and less flour. Or use the same amount of flour and more peanut butter. I made this recipe a couple of times without flour at all (to make the cookies gluten free), and they were really nicely dense! I did change the recipe proportions, but don't remember what exactly I changed. The cookies were definitely denser than with flour, but I liked them that way, too. Maybe, at some point I will recreate that version on this site.
I found these to be lacking in peanut butter flavor and softness. I added 1/4 more peanut butter, 1 tbsp more of butter, and 1/4 cup more brown sugar, then shortened baking time to 8:30 instead of 10 minutes.
I agree totally. I was disappointed. I don't bake much any more, and wanted a peanut butter cookie for my Dad for Christmas tomorrow.
Could you add cocoa powder to these? If so, how would you do it?
I am sure cocoa powder would taste great here. Not sure how much - haven't tested it with cocoa powder yet.
I just made these and looove them! Yum!
Thank you! I am very happy you liked them!
I just made these, they taste so good..my new favorite peanut butter cookie!! But reading some of the posts, says will stay fresh for 2 weeks.. I only got 16 cookies .. lol that would last a couple hours with kids around...are they suppose to be super small, I used a teaspoon for my measurement for the cookies..
Thanks Norma
Norma, thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I am glad you liked the recipe! I do make my cookies pretty small, you can always double the ingredients and make a double batch! 🙂