This is the Perfect Soft Peanut Butter Cookies recipe! No old fashioned criss-cross necessary, these peanut butter cookies melt in your mouth!
Make sure to try my Peanut Butter Blossoms too! My recipe is perfection!
I feel like I have recreated a classic here, guys. I am so super excited to share this recipe for the BEST Peanut Butter Cookies in the game. Of course I am a peanut butter cookie fan…and while I have even made many peanut butter cookie recipes here on my site I have never LOVED a peanut butter cookie as a standalone item. Is that weird?
I think peanut butter cookies are sometimes too peanut buttery? Is that a thing? Or often times they are too crumbly which is never a cookie goal. OR you get that sticky peanut butter “feeling” in your mouth. I don’t know, I can’t describe it, but I know you know…
You will find NONE of those issues here today with this Perfect SOFT Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe.
What To Expect:
- My recipe has the EXACT right amount of peanut butter, a slightly crispy edge and a soft middle.
- The addition of peanut butter chips is optional, but makes them really great adding a creamy sweetness
- A “melt in your mouth” texture that is original to this recipe and totally different from the crumbly, dry texture of a typical peanut butter cookie!
Ingredients:
- Butter at room temperature
- Creamy peanut butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Kosher salt
- All purpose flour
- Peanut butter chips – you could even use chocolate or white chocolate chips to mix it up!
- This recipe is spectacularly easy…just a few little tweaks to keep them from being too thick, hence no crisscross necessary.
- I add a teaspoon of cornstarch to the dough, which gives the cookies a slightly melty texture, while keeping the cookie centers soft.
- Also I recommend using a combination of baking soda and baking powder in this peanut butter cookie recipe, which gives these cookies the perfect height without being cakey. The cookies will puff up ever so slightly in the oven due to the baking powder and then settle a touch while they are cooling to create a soft crinkly texture.
- I like also like to use a butter/peanut butter combo to tone the flavor down a bit. Some peanut butter cookie recipes use only peanut butter, and while that’s great for flavor, it tends to make the cookies a little crumbly.
- Finally I use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar in my pb cookie recipe, which helps give the edges an itty-bitty crisp, while still having the depth of flavor that the brown sugar brings.
- Another great tip when baking these cookies, as well as any cookie recipe, is to use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough. This ensures that all the cookies are the same size and shape!
- And notice these peanut butter cookies don’t have the famous criss-cross pattern! Since there is no chilling of the dough it’s fairly sticky and will be really difficult to roll into a ball, so if you don’t have a scoop do your best using a heaping tablespoon.
- And like I said before, I like to add peanut butter chips in this recipe. You can add them before they bake or as soon as they come out of the oven. It’s a step you certainly can skip, if you wan to, or find yourself fresh out, but including the chips adds a creamy sweetness to the cookie. And like I said earlier, you can add white chips, milk chips, or even semi-sweet chips!
When they are baked up they will look like this…
I know these will now be your go-to peanut butter cookie recipe.
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Thick and Soft Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
- Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
The best SOFT peanut butter cookies EVER!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temp
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside.
- Add the butter and peanut butter into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn the mixer onto medium speed and mix for 1 minute, or until smooth and combined. Add both sugars and with the mixer still on medium beat the mixture for 2 minutes until pale in color and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in the egg and vanilla and continue mixing for 45 more seconds until combined and smooth.
- Add in the cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix for an additional few seconds until combined.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour, mixing until the dough comes together. Stir in the peanut butter chips evenly.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (2 tablespoons) scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, placing the scoops 2 inches apart.
- Garnish with extra peanut butter chips, if desired.
- Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes until they are golden at the edges.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Store airtight for up to 3 days at room temperature
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 155
- Sugar: 11.5 g
- Sodium: 104.6 mg
- Fat: 9.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 16.4 g
- Protein: 2.6 g
- Cholesterol: 19.4 mg
Keywords: peanut butter cookies, recipe, best peanut butter cookies, peanut butter
These are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made, as evidenced by the fact that they were gone the same day they were baked! The flavor and texture were both absolutely perfect!!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much! I love this recipe so much and am so glad you liked them!
Delicious peanut butter cookies! They were a hit with my family of 5! My husband said they were better than the bakery cookies! I subbed half of the butter for coconut oil because I was short on butter and the cookies turned out great!
★★★★★
I’ve used this recipe for years! It’s amazing every time. My family loves it. It’s been a Christmas staple for the last four Christmases and my dad always asks me to make him an extra doZen to take home.
★★★★★
So glad you love this recipe as much as we do!
These cookies came out soft and we’re not too sweet. Way better than the other recipe I previously used. I cheated and used the “soften butter” setting on my microwave because it was totally unplanned to bake cookies after getting off of work.
★★★★★
This is the best PB cookie recipe I have ever made. I was looking for a soft yet, crisp cookie recipe and I am so glad I ran across this one! I just made a batch and they are simply amazing!! I made them for my dad (his fave type of cookie). Thank you so much for creating this recipe and sharing it with the world! You are amazing.
★★★★★
So glad you love these as much as I do!!