Peanut Butter Cookies

These are our all-time favorite Peanut Butter Cookies — they’re thick, soft and chewy, and have a rich peanut butter flavor with plenty of sweetness. Jazz these cookies up even more if you’d like by dipping half in melted chocolate (optional).

Love peanut butter? Us too! Try some of our other favorite peanut butter treats like this no-bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, this Buttercrunch Candy, or these Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins (which are secretly healthy!).

The Creation Of Our Favorite Peanut Butter Cookies

When my older brother was 3, he was rushed to the emergency room from what we later learned was an intense peanut allergy. Peanuts and peanut butter were no longer allowed in our home growing up. So you can probably imagine my excitement of living in a peanut-allergy-free home when I moved out to college. I immediately filled my entire pantry shelf with peanut butter, and weekends consisted of me making peanut butter cookies like they were going out of style. (It also meant a never-ending stash of trail mix in my backpack and late-night spoonfuls of edible peanut butter cookie dough to “help” the studying along.)

While I might not be able to tell you much of what I learned my freshman year of college, I can tell you that I tried every single peanut butter cookie recipe on the internet, and these cookies are my homegrown creation from a mash-up of my favorites. Right in time for the holidays (and cookie baking season!), these easy Peanut Butter Cookies will be sure to please. I can’t wait for you all to try them. 

What To Expect From This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

These cookies are big — three tablespoons of dough per cookie! They’re thick throughout with especially soft and satisfying chewy centers — think a big, soft sugar cookie, but peanut butter flavored.

The gooey, chewy texture is in part due to the ingredient ratios and in part to the method which (dual-purpose) actually makes these cookies quick, easy, and simple to prepare. The method? Melted butter. The melted butter gives these cookies the perfect texture and simplifies the process — no stand or hand mixer is needed for this recipe! Just grab a bowl and whisk and you’ll be well on your way to Peanut Butter Cookie heaven.

Why Do They Use Criss-Cross Patterns On Peanut Butter Cookies?

Typical peanut butter cookie dough is much denser than most other cookie doughs, so the criss-cross indentations are to help flatten the cookie. It also encourages even baking.

While you can’t beat three-ingredient peanut butter cookies in the department of short ingredient lists, they definitely leave me wanting more. Those types of peanut butter cookies (that are crisscrossed with a fork) aren’t my favorite. Any I’ve had are often dry, too crisp, and typically a bit lackluster in the flavor department. So, no fork marks are required for this recipe and get ready for the softest and chewiest Peanut Butter Cookies around.

Of course, you may prefer crisp and crunchy peanut butter cookies instead. And if that’s the case, I’d recommend this recipe!

How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies

1. To make a Peanut Butter Cookie soft and chewy (as opposed to crispy), the cookie needs to have a higher moisture content than typical. You achieve this by using two large eggs instead of just one, an entire cup of brown sugar (the added molasses has a 10% water composition), and overall less flour.
2. To get the cookies even chewier, we melt the butter. When you mix room temperature (or cold) butter with sugar and other ingredients, you’re introducing air, which gets trapped in whatever you’re baking, and that results in a more cake-like texture. Melting the butter eliminates any air getting trapped inside and makes the cookies chewier.
3. Finally, it helps to chill the dough. When you chill the dough, the butter solidifies, allowing it to melt slower when it’s baked. This creates a thicker cookie and prevents the cookie from going flat and becoming crispy. Chilling the dough also gives the sugar time to absorb more of the liquid and become more concentrated. Concentrated sugar is going to give you a chewier and sweeter cookie. The recommended chill time on these cookies is 30 minutes, so that’s not too bad!

Peanut Butter Cookie Variations

• If you’re wondering how to make peanut butter no-bake cookies, try these Avalanche Cookies or these Healthy No-bake Cookies.
• Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with this recipe.
• Make peanut butter cookies healthier by using honey and oats and reducing the sugar (which is what I do in these Healthy Breakfast Cookies!)
• Try this recipe for peanut butter cookies vegan-style! (Replace the honey with agave, use a vegan rice crisp cereal, and vegan chocolate for the drizzle.)
• To make peanut butter cookies without brown sugar, replace the brown sugar with white sugar. (The cookies will be crunchier and less chewy this way.)

Peanut Butter Cookies Tips

• Use room-temperature eggs. This ensures the eggs disperse more evenly into the batter, giving these cookies a lighter texture (the eggs trap in the air). Soaking refrigerated eggs in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for about 10 minutes is a quick way to do this. Otherwise, pull the eggs out of the fridge about 30 minutes before use.
• Add eggs one at a time. Each egg should be thoroughly mixed in before adding the next egg. This allows the eggs to be evenly mixed in AND allows the eggs to emulsify with the fats (that’s the butter in this recipe).
• Bake on a Silpat liner. These cookies come out best when baked on a silicone liner — they bake evenly and the bottoms won’t get too crispy. (Parchment paper is the next best thing!)
• Use a food scale if you have one. A food scale ensures the right amount of flour (measuring flour can vary wildly from person to person!). It also makes sure you’ve got even-sized cookie dough balls (and evenly baked cookies). If you’re simply eyeballing portions, you may end up with some over-baked cookies while other cookies aren’t fully baked through because of inconsistent cookie dough ball sizes.
• Roll large cookie dough balls. We have made this recipe dozens of times and experimented quite a bit with the size of the cookie dough balls. While you may want smaller cookies, the texture is not the same. The “sweet spot” for this recipe is exactly 3 tablespoons (60 grams) of dough. Big, I know, but totally perfect!

Peanut Butter Cookies FAQs

Why are my Peanut Butter Cookies dry and crumbly?

Too much flour can make peanut butter cookies dry, crumbly, and flavorless. Overbaking also dries them out.

How do you make Peanut Butter Cookies turn out well?

Here are my top tips for baking the best peanut butter cookies:

1. Follow the recipe carefully.
2. Bake at 325°F instead of the typical 350°F.
3. Roll even-sized large cookie dough balls.
4. Use a food scale for perfect measurements every time.
5. Dip in chocolate! For a fun flavor enhancement, dip half of the cookie in chocolate or drizzle melted chocolate on top.

What happens if you don’t flatten Peanut Butter Cookies?

Peanut butter cookies are dense and don’t spread much. Flatten the dough balls a bit before baking for even cooking.

Use Leftover Peanut Butter In One Of These Recipes

• Peanut Butter Granola with chocolate chips
• Peanut Butter Blossoms with a Hershey’s kiss center
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Mix with mini Reese’s cups
• Peanut Butter Brownie Bites made in a miniature muffin tin
• Peanut Butter Cup Brownies with double the peanut butter!