This Chewy Peanut Butter Cookie recipe makes the most wonderfully soft and buttery cookies that are packed full of peanut butter flavor. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk for a real throwback treat.
When choosing the best peanut butter to use for peanut butter cookies, you will want to pass on a more natural or freshly ground peanut butter. If it separates, save it for sandwiches. It will separate in your baked goods, too, often causing them to spread more and not bake nearly as well.
The Best Chewy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
We’ve tried lots of peanut butter cookie recipes and have to say, we stuck with this one for a reason. The peanut butter-to-flour ratio, along with the brown sugar and real butter, makes for perfectly soft and chewy peanut butter cookies every time.
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Our family likes these made with creamy peanut butter, but if you like a little crunch to your peanut butter cookies, you can use crunchy peanut butter, or toss some chopped dry-roasted peanuts into your dough.
Peanut Butter Cookies Video Tutorial
Key Ingredients
- Butter – you want your butter to be at room temperature
- Peanut Butter – either creamy or chunky, as long as you stick to one of the regular “no-stir” types. I personally love Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter cookies.
- Brown Sugar – brown sugar keeps your cookies softer than granulated sugar, and adds a great flavor. It is also slightly acidic so it actually is the ingredient that activates the baking soda.
- Egg – it’s best if you pull this from the fridge ahead of time so it isn’t super chilled.
- Milk – again, it’s best if your milk isn’t straight from the fridge, and slightly more room temp.
- All-Purpose Flour – any brand is fine.
- Baking Soda – this will help your cookies stay slightly fluffy.
How to Make Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Cream the butter, sugar, and peanut butter. In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the room temperature butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Using the paddle attachment, cream until light and fluffy, or about 3 minutes.
- Mix the cookie dough. Add in the egg, then mix on low to combine. Then add in the vanilla, salt and milk and mix on low to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda, then add this to the butter mixture and mix on low, just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure there are no lumps of butter in your dough.
- Scoop the cookie dough. Once mixed, scoop and roll the cookie dough into 1 1/4″ balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Use a fork to flatten the cookies, creating a cross pattern.
- Bake. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 7-8 minutes, or until the bottoms are very lightly browned.
- Cool and serve. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations and Substitutions
If you want to switch up the classic peanut butter cookie recipe, here are a few easy ways:
- Add Hershey’s Kisses or Mini Reese’s Cups: roll and flatten your cookies, bake, then stick one Hershey’s Kiss, or Reese’s Cup, in the center of each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Make them Crunchy – add 1 cup of dry-roasted, chopped peanuts into your dough before shaping.
- Chocolate Pretzel – mix in ½ cup chocolate chips and ½ cup chopped pretzels to your dough before shaping. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand, rather than a fork.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies – part cookie, part brownie, with an incredible Reese’s surprise on the inside!
Frequently Asked Questions
The best peanut butter to use for Peanut Butter Cookies are any of the ones you grew up with – Jif, Skippy, Peter Pan or a similar store brand. Either creamy or chunky will work fine, it just depends on whether you want small chunks of peanuts in your cookies or not. The oils in these brands are completely emulsified already and won’t seep out of your cookies while they bake.
Why Do You Make Criss Cross Fork Marks in Peanut Butter Cookies?
The first mention of making criss cross fork marks in Peanut Butter Cookies was in a Pillsbury cookbook from 1936. It didn’t specifically mention why one should make the criss cross fork pattern, but it’s widely assumed that it was simply to flatten the dough down.
The fork marks have now become a hallmark of these cookies. With the dough being quite denser than other cookie doughs, it does also help make sure that the cookies bake evenly.
Yes, you can make your dough and store in the fridge for up to 3 days, either pre-scooped or not. Just be sure that, however you store your cookie dough, it stays covered.
Absolutely. In fact, just about any cookie dough can be frozen. Our recommendation is that you make, scoop, and even make the criss cross fork marks before freezing. You can store cookie dough this way, in freezer bags, or any other type of airtight container, for up to 3 months.
Once you are ready to bake, remove them from the freezer and transfer to a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper or a Silpat. You can let them thaw in the fridge overnight, or else bake them straight from the freezer. Just add on another 1-2 minutes of baking time.
Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup peanut butter, Jif or similar brand
- 1¼ cups light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the room temperature butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Using the paddle attachment, cream until light and fluffy, or about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg, slowly mix to combine, then add the vanilla, salt, and milk. and mix on low speed to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda, then add this to the butter mixture and mix on low, just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure there are no lumps of butter in your dough.
- Once mixed, scoop and roll the cookie dough into 1¼" balls and place about 2" apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Use a fork to flatten the cookies, creating a cross pattern.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 7-8 minutes, or until the bottoms are very lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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More Peanut Butter Desserts You Will Love
- Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Bars
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- No Bake Cookies
- Peanut Butter No Bakes
- Peanut Butter Balls
- More Dessert Recipes
- More Cookie Recipes
These classic Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies come together quickly and are so hard to resist. They’re wonderfully soft, buttery and packed full of peanut butter flavor. We recommend enjoying with a cold glass of milk.
These were so good! I used Peter Pan creamy honey peanut butter and they turned out awesome.
These are wonderful and super easy to make!
These are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had or made !!
Great cookies. Lots of requests from family to make them.
I get a lot of requests to make these over and over. They taste yummy.
A tad bit too sweet but overall the best recipe for peanut butter cookies!!
These cookies were so easy and delicious!
This is the exact recipe I grew up with. I adore these peanut butter cookies!!
Omg ! I just made these cookies ???? & they are absolutely ???? fabulous ???? I cut the sugar down a little & bake a few mins longer ????
Omg ! I just made these cookies ???? & they are absolutely ???? fabulous ???? I cut the sugar down a little & bake a few mins longer ????