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!
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 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar, plus ¼ 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 ¼ 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 ½"-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.
