These Soft Peanut Butter Cookies are made with only a few ingredients, and you do not need to chill the peanut butter dough. They’re soft, slightly chewy, and full of peanut butter flavor. This is by far the best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever had!
The Best Peanut Butter Cookies
Classic Peanut Butter Cookies (aka Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies) with the crisscross pattern, obviously (because I can’t eat a peanut butter cookie that doesn’t have those tell-tale fork marks), are one of my absolute favorite cookies. First of all, they’re classic cookies (and, who doesn’t love a classic?!) with a soft texture that has the perfect balance of rich peanut butter flavor and sweetness. Secondly, homemade peanut butter cookies are so easy to make from scratch.
Peanut Butter in general is a crowd favorite, I think it’s safe to say. It’s a flavor the majority of people love, especially this time of year (it’s a perfect cookie for a cookie exchange). It’s made with easy ingredients, yet it’s comforting and classic.
To me, this is the best Soft Peanut Butter Cookies recipe. So PB lovers, store this one in your recipe box.
Three Reasons To Make These Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies:
- Simple Ingredients: There’s nothing complex about these cookies! They use pantry staple ingredients you probably have on hand right now.
- No Chill Dough: Possibly the best thing about these cookies? They’re a no chill peanut butter cookie recipe! Make the dough. Bake them. Eat them. Easy.
- Soft and Chewy: Crunchy peanut butter cookies have a time and a place, buuuut…today is not that time and place. These are soft peanut butter cookies that have a chewy center–no crunchy cookie allowed. Just like my Chewy Sugar Cookies, this recipe is the perfect blend of soft and chewy.
This recipe for peanut butter cookies works because there is the perfect ratio of flour to peanut butter (so they’re perfectly soft and chewy), there is no chill time (so you can bake right away), and the best part, is that they are full of rich peanut butter and vanilla flavor.
Ingredients for Soft Peanut Butter Cookies:
As mentioned earlier, this is an easy peanut butter cookies recipe, and it’s a one bowl recipe. It also uses only a few ingredients, all of which are pantry staples.
- Peanut Butter: I highly, highly recommend using a sugary peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. All natural peanut butters don’t work as well in this recipe (the cookies will be dry and crumbly). A regular creamy peanut butter is what we need to make a soft cookie.
- Unsalted Butter: Unsalted butter is a must because we use salt in the recipe already. Salted butter will make these very salty peanut butter cookies, which we don’t want.
- Brown Sugar: The molasses in the brown sugar is one of the reasons these peanut butter cookies are so soft and chewy and flavorful. You can use either light or dark brown sugar.
- Granulated Sugar (White Sugar): Granulated sugar is used in the recipe itself, as well as on top of the cookies. The peanut butter cookie dough is rolled in white sugar before it bakes.
- Salt and Baking Soda: No baking powder in this recipe, as we want a chewy peanut butter cookie not a bready peanut butter cookie.
- All Purpose Flour
- Vanilla Extract: Opt for a pure vanilla extract, as it has the best flavor. It’s more expensive than imitation vanilla, but it is significantly more flavorful.
- Egg
More Peanut Butter Recipes To Love:
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Pie: A Peanut Butter Cream Pie inside of a chocolate chip cookie crust (chocolate chip cookie dough is baked in a pie dish and becomes the pie crust).
- Peanut Butter Pie: A refined sugar free creamy peanut butter pie inside of a graham cracker crust.
- Marshmallow Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars: Thick and gooey chocolate chip cookie bars stuffed with marshmallow fluff (aka marshmallow creme) and Reeses candies.
- Peanut Butter Earthquake Cake: A peanut butter cake baked with peanut butter chips and cream cheese to make a gooey and rich sheet cake.
- Gooey Peanut Butter Bars: Crumb bars with a gooey peanut butter filling stuffed inside and baked until absolute perfection (made with oats!).
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches: This peanut butter cookie dough is used to make ice cream sandwiches. They’re filled with chocolate ice cream and rolled in chocolate chips.
What Makes This A Soft Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe?
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is made with molasses, which makes brown sugar more flavorful and more moist. The flavor enhances the peanut butter flavor in the cookies, and the moisture keeps the cookies nice and soft.
- Peanut Butter: The peanut butter to flour ratio also keeps these cookies very soft.
What Peanut Butter Is Best For Peanut Butter Cookies?
- As mentioned earlier, I suggest using a creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy (the ones made with sugar).
- All natural peanut butters don’t work as well in baked goods, and don’t work well in this recipe. It will make the cookies dry and crumbly in texture.
- I suggest using a regular creamy peanut butter, but if you prefer, you can use a crunchy peanut butter (like Jif or Skippy).
Can I Turn This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe Into Peanut Butter Blossoms?
Yes, you can use this recipe for peanut butter blossom cookies. I prefer to use a stiffer peanut butter cookie dough that stays puffier as it bakes, but I have successfully made peanut butter blossoms with this dough!
Storage Tips:
- Keep these in an airtight container at room temperature. As with most baked goods, I think these are the best peanut butter cookies when eaten within the first 1-2 days.
- You can freeze the cookie dough. I suggest making the dough and rolling the dough into balls, then freezing. When you’re ready to bake, let the cookie dough balls thaw. Roll the dough in granulated sugar, make the criss cross pattern, and bake.
How To Keep Peanut Butter Cookies Soft:
- You can add large marshmallows to the container to keep these cookies extra soft. Baked items steal the moisture from the marshmallows, which keeps them nice and soft for longer.
- Additionally, you can use a piece of soft white bread. Similarly to marshmallows, the chewy peanut butter cookies will absorb the moisture from the slice of bread, which will yield soft, chewy cookies.
How Do I Make This Ahead Of Time?
- Peanut Butter Cookie Dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in an airtight container for about 48 hours. Or, you can freeze peanut butter cookies, as mentioned above.
How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies Soft and Chewy:
This recipe for soft peanut butter cookies is such an easy recipe. It is a no chill peanut butter cookie dough, so once all of the ingredients are mixed together, you can bake cookies right away. If you’re a peanut butter cookie fan, you will love this recipe. For a more detailed recipe, find the recipe card down below.
- Wet Ingredients: With an electric mixer or a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and peanut butter together until light and fluffy. Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Using a mixer, continue to cream the mixture on a medium speed until the butter mixture is really light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Lastly, add in the room temperature egg, and mix until combined.
- Vanilla: Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, if needed.
- Dry Ingredients: Add in the salt, baking soda, and flour. Mix on a low speed until combined.
- Dough: Roll the peanut butter cookie dough into 1 Tbsp balls. Then, roll the balls of cookie dough in white sugar. Place evenly spaced apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Criss Cross: Using a fork, gently press a criss-cross pattern in each cookie (the tines of a fork make the traditional peanut butter cookie pattern).
- Bake: Bake until barely golden.
- Cool: For best results, cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack. If desired, you can sprinkle a bit of sea salt on top of the cookies as they cool.
Final Tips and Tricks:
- Peanut Butter: Use creamy and sugary peanut butter. No all natural peanut butter in this recipe.
- Roll in Sugar: Don’t forget to roll the cookies in granulated sugar before baking.
- Pattern: Use a fork to make a criss cross pattern that gives these the classic peanut butter cookie look we all know and love.
- No Chill: Remember, this is a no chill peanut butter dough so you can bake these as soon as you finish making the dough.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container.
- Chocolate Chips: If you’re craving peanut butter and chocolate together (who isn’t?!), turn these into peanut butter chocolate chip cookies by adding chocolate chips to the batter. For my favorite perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, I use 1 cup of chocolate chips. I suggest using the same for these easy peanut butter cookies.
Peanut Butter lovers, this one’s for you.
These Soft Peanut Butter Cookies are made with only a few ingredients, and you do not need to chill the peanut butter dough. They’re soft, slightly chewy, and full of peanut butter flavor. This is by far the best peanut butter cookie recipe I've ever had!
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (like Jif)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- With a standing mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the unsalted butter and peanut butter together until well combined.
- Add in brown sugar and granulated sugar, and beat the mixture until well combined.
- Add in the egg, and mix until combined.
- Next, add in vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Lastly, add in baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
- Roll dough into balls about the size of 1 Tbsp.
- Roll each ball in granulated sugar and place on the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart (about 2” apart).
- Using a fork, gently make a criss cross pattern on each cookie.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies have set on top and are barely golden brown.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Then, allow them to continue cooling on a wire rack.
- Enjoy!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Updated 2022.
Other Peanut Butter Recipes To Try Next:
Peanut Butter and Cookie Jelly Bars
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Bars
Chocolate Peanut Butter Loaf Cake
carson says
I want!