The best chewy Peanut Butter Cookies are thick, soft, and practically melt in your mouth with every single bite. As for the best Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, easy is key, and dependable results are a must. It should take less than 15 minutes to whip up, require zero chill time in the fridge, and yield perfect cookies every time, without fail.
Here, you’ll find both that cookie and that recipe. In addition to the easiest, most dependable recipe for Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, we’ll also uncover the secrets behind making a thick and chewy Peanut Butter Cookie, why this is a Peanut Butter Cookie recipe without baking soda, plus, a list of 9 Must-Have Tips for perfect cookie results!
When my at-home bakery was in full swing, I had dozens of cookies and handheld bars on the menu. Of all the cookies on that list, my grandma’s absolute favorite was the Thumbprint Hershey Kiss Cookies — a soft, bite-sized cookie, topped with a chocolate kiss, and this was no surprise to me.
Peanut Butter Cookies were her go-to made-from-scratch cookie, and they were the old-fashioned kind — big and fluffy, with a perfect crosshatch and a dusting of sugar across the top. These days, my children now eagerly await for their Peanut Butter Cookies to make their way from table to oven, and from time to time, they even hop on into the kitchen and help me make them.
These are some seriously easy Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies to make, making them perfect for baking with kids! Here’s why:
- The batter takes less than 15 minutes to whip up!
- There is zero chilling required.
- They finish their stint in the oven in just 12 minutes!
Looking for more awesome cookie recipes? Bookmark these salty-sweet, peanut buttery Haystack Cookies in your internet browser for next time!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHEWY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES EVER
Making perfect soft and chewy Peanut Butter Cookies is not a difficult feat, and all it really comes down to is the right combination of ingredients, baked at the right temperature. It’s truly as simple as that. So let’s talk about those ingredients, shall we?
INGREDIENTS AND QUANTITIES REALLY MATTER
The wet ingredient to dry ingredient ratio is almost 3:1, which most definitely plays a role in a soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookie. The wet ingredients for this recipe are as follows: Melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, creamy, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract. The molasses that the brown sugar contains, in combination with the quantity of peanut butter in the recipe plays a roll in both the thickness and the chewiness of the cookie.
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES WITHOUT BAKING SODA
Another aid in building a soft and chewy structure for these Peanut Butter Cookies is the fact that they are made without baking soda, and rather with baking powder. Both baking soda and powder are leaveners but make no mistake, they were not created equal. Baking powder is used to maintain the structure of a baked good when said “good” is lacking in acidic ingredients. Brown sugar can be considered an acidic ingredient, however, there is not enough of it in this recipe to amend the use of baking powder to baking soda.
Long story short, for the best, chewy Peanut Butter Cookies ever, follow the recipe.
TIPS FOR BAKING SOFT PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
- Always have your dry ingredients mixed and ready to go before you begin working with your wet ingredients.
- Use good, old-fashioned, creamy peanut butter for peanut butter cookies.
- Measure the peanut butter in a measuring cup, not a measuring pitcher.
- Make sure your wet ingredients are well-blended before adding the dry ingredients. Otherwise, your cookies may bake unevenly.
- As soon as the dough starts to come together, stop mixing! Overmixing can over-develop the gluten, which will, in turn, make for a tough cookie.
- Use a medium-sized cookie scoop if you want to ensure your cookies are of uniform size!
- Don’t cram the baking sheet if you don’t want your cookies to bake into one another.
- Using a silicone baking mat or parchment paper on your baking sheet ensures easy removal after baking, and will prevent broken cookies!
- Pull from the oven as soon as the edges begin to tinge with a deeper brown.
Peanut Butter Cookies are an old-fashioned favorite and a classic for good reason. If done right, they’re a soft and chewy, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that often times, remind us of someone very special.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY:
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies feature everything you know and love about classic, bakery-style peanut butter cookies, only made better thanks to the addition of melty chocolate chips.
- Chocolate Drop Cookies are every chocoholic’s dream: Full of chocolate, soft, gooey, and easy to make!
- Want a little chocolate in your peanut butter cookie? Literally? Then you’ll love these Thumbprint Hershey Kiss Cookies! Miniature, bite-sized cookies with the perfect cookie-to-kiss ratio!
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with old-fashioned oats, chocolate chips, and (surprise) vanilla pudding! It’s the secret ingredient that keeps these cookies decadently moist and addictively yummy!
- Ginger Molasses Cookies are a classic cookie full of warm and cozy spices and makes a beautiful and heartfelt holiday gift!
- Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting are another classic cookie you just can’t go wrong with. The perfect, buttery sugar cookie, topped with a homemade frosting. Everyone will rave over the taste and the look of these gorgeous cookies!
Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies that are thick, soft, and practically melt in your mouth with every single bite!
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4 cup extra for rolling
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 Large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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Preheat the oven to 350° and have ready a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Also, have ready a small bowl with about a 1/4 cup of sugar for coating the cookie dough balls.
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In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. With a handheld mixer on medium-high speed, mix until smooth.
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Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Do not overmix.
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Scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough, and roll into a ball. Roll in the granulated sugar, and transfer to the baking sheet spacing them 1 1/2"-2" apart.
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Make crosshatch lines across the tops of the cookies using the tines of a fork, and bake for 12-14 minutes, just until the edges are a deeper brown. Serve and enjoy.
Recipe Video
Makes 20-24 cookies.
Could I use this recipe to make cut out cookies?
Hi, Bianca! No, I would not advise using this recipe for cut out cookies.
I made these tonight and although I am sure I messed up along the way (the dough was not able to be shaped into little balls, it was so very soft- again, my error, I am sure!) These still managed to come out soft and chewy and with good flavor! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
How do you think they would turn out with crunchy peanut butter?
These were too liquidy. Had to add extra flour.
Fantastic recipe, love the high peanut butter to flour ratio and the low sugar. The fact that most recipes have at least twice as much sugar as peanut butter seems insane to me. This was really the perfect balance, great soft cookies that melt in your mouth, fantastic flavor. Definitely more fragile than traditional cookies, but I’m okay with that.
Can in make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate?
Absolutely! But, the dough will be hard once cold so I would recommend making the dough, rolling it into balls, placing the dough balls in rows in an airtight container, separated by sheets of wax paper or parchment paper. Happy baking!
A friend shared this recipe with me several months ago and it is the best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve tried! I love that the peanut butter flavor really comes through. And the texture is heavenly. So tender and melt-in-your-mouth good!
Thank you, Rebekah! That is so kind of you to say and it’s very appreciated!
I only have salted butter. Can I eliminate the extra salt? Will they still turn out chewy?
The salted butter won’t affect the texture of your cookies. And yes, I would suggest eliminating the salt in the cookie if you use it 😉
This is a perfect recipe! Thank you for sharing! This was a definite winner in our family and is now apart of our cookie recipe box! The batter held up perfect and was easy to roll! Very impressed thank you again!
Thank you, Jasmine! We love them too!
I had to use soda .. ugh .. they were still good but not chewy 🙁
I’m glad they were still good for you, but yes, you should definitely use baking powder when a recipe calls for it. Soda and powder are (unfortunately) not interchangeable 😉
In your video you said Baking Soda – but in instructions you explicitly say baking powder – which one is it??
Powder! Use what is written in the recipe. All the way. I must have misspoken in the video. Yikes!
These are amazing,I made mine a little to big so there a little dry around the edge,but so yummy
Fabulous cookies! Will definitely make again. Thank you for the recipe.
I made these today, I used Baker’s Joy spray. I left them in for the suggested time but they were burnt on the bottom and I never saw the golden brown around the edges of the cookies. They were not chewy at all.
Hi Pamela!
When oil is on food and it comes into contact with heat, it has a browning effect (called the Maillard Reaction). This is the reason this recipe calls does not call for the use of cooking spray, but instead, parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi I am making the cookies right now when I added the flour in I didn’t get the dough it was to sticky and it was ll over my hands sadly how do I fix it please advise.
Hi Lindsay! The dough is not going to be a super thick dough and a little sticky is normal, but my first thought is perhaps there was either not enough flour or too much butter added to the mix. If you’re sure you measured the flour and butter correctly, then all you would need to do is wait about 10-15 minutes for the dough to firm up (the melted butter will harden making it easier to scoop) or refrigerate until chilled and then scoop. I hope this helps and best of luck with your baking!
I am allergic to peanuts. Have you ever tried this with almond butter?
No, I haven’t Kathleen! I would think you would need to change quantities of both the flour and the sugar to make almond butter work in this recipe. It might not be the best for subbing that in!
Hello,
I was very satisfied with this recipe for soft chewy peanut butter cookies. They were just right! Thank-you
Super duper biscuits. Been trying every peanut butter recipe known to man kind and this is the best! Thank you. Ruth
I have a huge jar of chunky peanut butter. Would that work in place of creamy?
The batter will be thicker, but you could certainly try it if you’re in a pinch! Let us know how it turns out if you go for it 😉
I made this with chunky peanut butter. Came out great!
Can I use bread flour?
Sorry, Kerri! Definitely do not use bread flour. It will change the texture of the cookie completely.
The video for the peanut butter cookies states you used baking soda. The recipe on the website uses baking powder. Is baking soda an error??
Thx Deb
You should use baking powder! I misspoke in the video, and oh, how I wish I could go and take it back. Great question!!!
I made these today and they came out tasting great but were very crumbly even though I followed the recipe exactly. Any suggestions??
If you mix them longer, you’ll increase the gluten and the cookies will tighten up!
As far as the sticky dough goes I have found it sticky as well. Perhaps it has something to do with measuring the butter. Are you measuring 2/3 of a cup and then melting it or are you melting it and then measuring 2/3 of a cup. I’m wondering if there is a difference. The recipe says 2/3 cup of butter melted and in your video you show 2/3 of a cup of melted butter. Perhaps it’s just in the wording?.I have made them once and they were fine but I’m in the process of making them now and I doubled the recipe they are very sticky.
Hi Bonnie! I measure and then melt. But, no there should not be a difference! Was your butter hot going in the second-go-round?
Just made these. Love the flavor and texture. I had a little trouble with the dough being too soft for pressing the fork but I kept dipping the fork in the sugar used for rolling the dough and that worked fine. Love these cookies. Thank you for the recipe!
Gwen
Thank you, Gwen!
Love these cookies. Made this recipe but turned them into Vegan used egg replacement and they turned out fabulous. My family’s favourite peanut butter cookies ever. Thanks for sharing.
I made these peanut butter cookies tonight. They are the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever eaten. So amazing. Thank you so much for this recipe.
That is so awesome to know! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I made this for my fiancé as a surprise this year. His first comment was “they are a little dry” but now he is sitting on the couch eating the entire tin. I would definitely say this was a success!
He told me “Scratch that first comment and save the recipe” and so I am!
Thank you!
Ha! This makes me laugh!!! Thank you for sharing that, Lindsay 😉 So funny.
I made this recipe with cashew butter and used a small cookie scoop. Came out perfectly with 10 min baking time.
The Nutrition Facts is missing one crucial piece of info. How many cookies is one serving?
Ty for the recipe! Going to make some today!
I loved these cookies. I mashed up a bunch of Trader Joe praline pretzels and added them in. So divine! But is the salt the right amount? One tsp seems like a lot
Kaneez
Yes, the salt is correct, but you can certainly cut it back to best suit your taste!
Absolutely wonderful. I even added chocolate chips to half batch. The dough rolled beautifully
Can I substitute self rising flour for the flour?
No, self-rising flour has chemical rising agents in it. That won’t work out too well 😉
Delicious! But the dough was way too sticky to roll. I ended up using a cookie scoop and then just sprinkling the mounds with sugar and flattening slightly with fork tines. Next time I am going to just soften the butter very well but not melt it. I think the melted butter (and the warmth of it) actually melted the sugar crystals a bit too much causing it to be a tad too runny. Thank you for the scrumptious recipe!
I do not have sea salt. Can I use koher salt?
Yes, just add a pinch more.