Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Ultra peanut buttery and perfectly sweet.
Texture: Soft, tender, and slightly chewy. Perfect with a glass of cold milk!
Ease: SO simple and easy. No dough chilling required.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: These are my favorite PB cookies and they’re about to be yours, too!
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These Peanut Butter Cookies are soft, tender, slightly chewy, and packed with tons of PB flavor. These are the perfect treat if you’re totally PB-obsessed like me!
I tweaked, adjusted, and tested these cookies relentlessly until I struck the perfect balance of nutty flavor and thick, tender, chewy texture in every bite.
This is one of those classic, crowd-pleasing recipes you’ll add to your repertoire and return to again and again – especially during the Christmas cookie season!
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
These perfect Peanut Butter Cookies are like biting into nostalgia. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make the BEST Peanut Butter Cookies
How to Make Thick, Soft PB Cookies
- The PB: Peanut butter’s fat, protein, and oils create a thick, chewy cookie by adding richness and moisture while preventing excess spread.
- Ingredient ratios: The key to soft peanut butter cookies is the perfect ratio of PB, butter, flour, and leavening. Plus a hefty amount of brown sugar, which draws in moisture, for soft and tender cookies. Don’t reduce the sugar – learn what sugar does in cookies here.
- Measure correctly: When measuring flour, be sure to use a digital kitchen scale or the spoon & level method to prevent dry or crumbly cookies.
- Don’t over-bake. The cookies will continue to bake from the residual heat of the oven. Remove them just before they look completely done to maintain softness.
What’s the Best Peanut Butter for Cookies?
This recipe has been successfully tested with conventional peanut butter (Skippy and Jif) AND natural peanut butter. Check out our peanut butter experiment here.
Only use natural peanut butter if it’s VERY well stirred to be completely smooth and cohesive with no oily or dry bits. When it’s very smooth, natural peanut butter will yield a much bolder peanut butter flavor!
You can alternatively use almond butter at a 1:1 ratio. More on this below.
Why Do You Put a Criss-Cross Pattern on Peanut Butter Cookies?
Pressing a fork into Peanut Butter Cookies prior to baking helps flatten the cookies slightly, so they spread perfectly, bake more evenly, and brown evenly.
If we skipped that step, these cookies would be so thick that they’d barely spread, and they may not bake all the way through.
Do I Have to Refrigerate This Cookie Dough? What Does Chilling Cookie Dough Actually Do?
You do not have to chill this Peanut Butter Cookie dough for perfectly thick cookies that are full of peanut buttery flavor.
You can chill the dough for up to 72 hours if you prefer. The baked cookies become chewier and thicker, and the flavor intensifies. Learn more about why we chill cookie dough and the benefits of chilling cookie dough here!
How to Store Peanut Butter Cookies
Store cooled cookies inside an airtight container for 3 days at room temperature. Keep a tortilla in the container with the cookies to keep them soft and chewy and prevent them from drying out or getting hard as quickly.
Can PB Cookies be Frozen?
Yes! Freeze the baked, cooled cookies inside an airtight container for 1 month. Allow to defrost at room temperature then refresh in a 300°F oven for about 5 minutes, if desired.
You can also freeze the Peanut Butter Cookie dough disks (rolled in sugar and pressed with the fork) in an airtight container for up to six weeks. Allow to thaw to room temperature before baking as written. See all my tips for freezing cookie dough here!
Peanut Butter Cookies Variations & Substitutions
These cookies have endless variations, so feel free to have some fun with them!
- Almond butter: Use almond butter in place of the peanut butter at a 1:1 ratio. Our team tested this substitution successfully using Barney Butter Smooth Almond Butter. No need to adjust anything else.
- Mix-Ins: Add up to 1 ½ cups (255 grams) chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, toasted peanuts, or any other mix-ins you desire!
- More PB: Add an additional 1/4 cup peanut butter (so 1 cup or 270 grams in total) and increase the vanilla to 1 teaspoon to really amp up the PB flavor.
- Crunchy PB: I haven’t tried crunchy peanut butter, but it should work just fine at a 1:1 ratio.
- Bars: If you’re looking for PB bars, try my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Bars, my Loaded Peanut Butter Christmas Cookie Bars, or even my Peanut Butter Stuffed Brownies.
- Make mini cookie sandwiches: Use a small 1-tablespoon size cookie scoop and bake the cookies for about 8 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned. This makes about 30 small cookie sandwiches. Fill cooled cookies with the filling recipe below.
Peanut Butter Filling Recipe
- 1/4 cup (56 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1/2 cup (135 grams) smooth peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups (157 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoons (44 grams) heavy cream (keeps filling light, fluffy, creamy, and not as sweet)
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and peanut butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla, salt, powdered sugar, and heavy cream, and continue beating until the frosting is smooth and fluffy, about another 3 minutes.
More Peanut Butter Recipes:
Peanut Butter Cookies
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Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (302 grams) all-purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (200 grams) creamy peanut butter* (see notes)
- 1 large egg, at cool room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For rolling:
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until smooth and well combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat in the peanut butter until well combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating until combined.
- Place the granulated sugar for rolling in a separate small bowl. Using a medium spring-loaded cookie scoop, form the dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon rounds. Roll between your palms to smooth, then roll in the granulated sugar before placing on the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Slightly flatten the dough by pressing the back of a fork into each ball of dough twice, to create a criss-cross pattern.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. Let cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This recipe was written in 2019 and has been updated with additional tips and recipe improvements. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Hi Tessa.. I just discover your website and I love it.. the way you make them look so easy.. amazing.. i have a question, may I change brown sugar for regular granulated one?.. I’m from Venezuela and here brown sugar is really expensive.. I would like to here from you about this.. thank you very much…
NOTE: Please can you share with us a banana brownie recipe o mixed nuts brownie recipe please?… thanks…
Hi, tessa.. I just discover your page and instagram and i absolutly love the way you cook and explained everythig so simple and easy.. I habe a guestion with this recipe. May I change the brown sugar for regular granumated sugar?… I am from Venezuela and here brown sugar is really expensive… i hope you can response… best regards.. I’ll letbypu lnow tomorrow when i try the recipe. Thanks…
Hey Tessa! Love all your recipes! Want to make these for a party this weekend but would prefer making the dough ahead of time so I just need to pop them into the oven the next day. Usually you prefer chilling the dough beforehand which in this case would be practical for me. What do you think, can I make these a day before and finish them straight from the dough or should I bake and then freeze them for the next day? Or are they just as good after 1 day of baking? Thanks in advance! 🙂
Hi Alina! You can follow my tips for freezing cookie dough to make cookies ahead of time in this post here: https://handletheheat.com/how-to-freeze-cookie-dough/. Hope these cookies are a hit at your party!
Hi Tessa:
I just made these and while they are good, I found the peanut butter flavour a bit mild. I used Kraft smooth peanut butter. I also weighed all of the ingredients. Do you think a different brand of peanut butter might help to add a stronger peanut butter flavour or should I add more peanut butter (i.e. 250grams)?
Thanks.
I flattened these cookies slightly with a fork and they did not spread. They kept the same shape going in the oven. I only baked 4 cookies to see how they would turn out. The dough was dry and gave me the idea to make cut out cookies since they don’t spread. I rolled the dough and cut out cookies and they kept their shape at room temp dough. This recipe is a good peanut butter cut out cookie recipe with no chilling required. I weighed my ingredients when I made this. The texture of these cookies is crumbly edges and a soft middle similar to a soft batch cookie. This is not my personal preference in texture but I made these for work and some of my co-workers liked them a lot.
The absolute best Peanut butter cookie recipe! Comes out perfect everytime. They are soo good, it is now required in my house to have these on hand at ALL TIMES.
Haha YAY! This makes me so happy, Brianna!
These are literally melt in your mouth delicious! I’ve never thought of a peanut butter cookie as delicate, but these are that. So good.
So happy you loved these cookies! Yay!
These are freaking amazing!! I’ve made these about ten times & they always come out delicious. I’ve had them rolled in sugar & without. The sugar really brings a beautiful look & extra little crunch yet super soft middle.
Godddd these cookies are so delicious!!! gosh super duper yummy! can’t wait to try more!! Love it!
Hi Tessa
I want to make nutella stuffed peanut butter cookies, which you do have a recipe for but the measurements for it are all by volume instead of weight and I really prefer to use weight for more consistent, predictable results. This recipe is very similar to the nutella stuffed recipe, same total amount of sugar but more brown sugar in this one and this one has more flour.
Do you know if the reason the nutella stuffed recipe has less flour is because of the nutella or because it’s just an older (possibly less tested?) recipe? I’m thinking I’ll use this recipe with the instructions for stuffing with nutella, unless there is a reason not to do that.
I made these for the first time and they were a hit with everyone. I found that rolling the balls in sugar made them crunchier, so I like it better without rolling them. These are nice, chewy and not too sweet!
OMG!! Made these for Monday Pandemic Baking Monday lol… and these are FANTASTIC! I love your blogs and reasoning why you do what ya do! Thank you!