Packed with double the peanut butter, these very peanut butter cookies boast a dense flavor, remarkably soft texture, and a deliciously crumbly edge.
I know these cookies look familiar to you. Peanut butter cookies are nothing new in our kitchens and certainly nothing new on Sally’s Baking Addiction. Along with oatmeal raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies rank high on my repeat recipes list!
I have a recipe for crispy old-fashioned style peanut butter cookies on my website and another in Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Then there’s these ultra soft and thick peanut butter cookies that serve as the base for variations like peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter and jam thumbprints. But can there be room for one more? With 2 cups of peanut butter in the cookie dough, today’s extra soft cookies steal the spotlight. We’re using the same cookie dough as my bakery-style peanut butter chunk cookies and white chocolate peanut butter cookies, recipes I’ve grown to love so much because of all their flavor. Today’s cookies are easy to make, completely packed with flavor, and boast a deliciously crumbly criss-cross pattern on top. Love them!
Less Flour, More Peanut Butter
I call these very peanut butter cookies because they’re packed with 2 cups of peanut butter in the dough. This is 2x the amount of my classic peanut butter cookies AND they have less flour, so you can be sure today’s cookies are dense with flavor! They remind me of these peanut butter oatmeal cookies in terms of peanut butter flavor, but they don’t have the chewy oat texture.
By the way, did you know that nut butter can take the place of flour in some recipes? These flourless almond butter cookies require just 5 ingredients. Almond butter provides enough structure and stability so there’s no need for any flour at all. If you’re looking for a gluten free peanut butter cookie, use that recipe and replace the almond butter with peanut butter.
Here’s What You’ll Love:
- Crumbly edges
- Packed with flavor
- Extra soft
- Crisp sugar coating
- Easy straightforward recipe
My first piece of advice… make a double batch so you can freeze some for later. Here’s everything you need to know about how to freeze cookie dough. No need to thaw, just bake for an extra minute or two. You never know when a cookie emergency will rear its head. You might not have time to make cookies from scratch, but you’ll have frozen peanut butter cookie dough. That’s a lifesaver!
Success Tips
- Use room temperature butter. Make sure the butter is cool to touch, not overly warm or melted. Here’s what room temperature butter really means.
- Use more granulated sugar than brown sugar. When making chocolate chip cookies, I always prefer to use more brown sugar than white sugar because that ratio produces a softer cookie. With all of the peanut butter in this cookie dough, however, too much brown sugar made the cookies so soft that they fell apart.
- Chill the cookie dough. Chilling the cookie dough is important, but this dough is thick so it doesn’t need hours inside the refrigerator. A quick 1 hour of chilling will prevent the cookies from over-spreading.
Best Peanut Butter for Cookies
The most common mistake with peanut butter cookies is using the wrong type of peanut butter. The BEST peanut butter for today’s cookies is a processed creamy peanut butter, preferably Jif or Skippy. Natural-style peanut butter is my choice for eating, but it just doesn’t produce the same type of cookie as its processed counterpart. With so much peanut butter in this cookie dough, natural peanut butter will give you a dry, crumbly cookie.
If you prefer peanut chunks, use Jif or Skippy crunchy. See recipe note.
Want to add extra peanut flavor? Go for it! Fold 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts or peanut butter chips into the cookie dough. Or you could even drizzle peanut butter on top like we do with these peanut butter chocolate cookies. YUM!
I’ve made hundreds of different cookie recipes and can say with 100% confidence that these have the most peanut butter flavor of any cookie I’ve ever tried.
More No-Fail Cookie Recipes
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Very Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Packed with double the peanut butter, these very peanut butter cookies boast a dense flavor, remarkably soft texture, thick center, and a deliciously crumbly edge. Chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour to prevent excess spreading.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (230g; 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups (500g) creamy peanut butter*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar for rolling
- optional: 1/2 cup (65g) finely chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs and beat on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the peanut butter and vanilla, then beat on high speed until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the peanuts, if using. Dough will be thick and soft.
- Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator (and up to 2-3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, though, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and then roll the balls in granulated sugar. Use a fork to make a crisscross indent on top of each. Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes until very lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 5. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls, without sugar coating, freeze well for up to 3 months. Let frozen cookie dough balls sit on the counter for 30 minutes, roll in sugar, indent a crisscross pattern with a fork, then bake for an extra minute. No need to completely thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Peanut Butter: It’s best to use a processed peanut butter like Jif creamy or Skippy creamy. I do not suggest using natural style, oily peanut butter. Crunchy peanut butter adds peanut chunks as well as a more crumbly texture. I prefer to use creamy in this recipe.
- Check out my top 5 cookie baking tips before beginning. It includes how to prevent cookies from over-spreading and why room temperature makes a difference.
Keywords: peanut butter, cookies, Christmas cookies
Great cookie. Fabulous flavor and texture. Soft with a crunchy edge. My new go to peanut butter cookie recipe.
★★★★★
my cookies turned out thin and flat not full at all. I did not use a mixer because another recipe I tired turned out thin and flat so this one I did by hand? What am I doing wrong. My butter was soft but not really melted.
1. Any suggestions for cook time in a convection oven? Mine automatically adjusts the temperature.
2. What is the advantage of parchment paper in baking cookies. I used it, but I don’t see any difference on the cookies.
★★★★★
Hi Bob, All of the recipes on this site are written for conventional settings. If you do use convection settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Parchment paper helps to prevent the cookies from sticking to the bottom of the pan. It’s easier for cleanup of the pan, too!
For all my gluten-free lovelies out there, rest assured that this recipe adapts perfectly with GF flour! I literally did everything Sally told me not to do including using a natural-ish PB (Kirkland!) because it was all I had on hand, forgot to chill the dough on my first batch, etc. and these cookies still turned out just as delicious as they did when I tried this recipe a couple months ago before I had to cut out gluten! I used the Trader’s Joe’s AP GF flour, and opted to drop the temp to 325 and baked for about 13 mins. Perfectly crunchy outside with a chewy and melt-in-your-mouth PB inside. Definitely let your cookies cool on the pan before you transfer them elsewhere – the one con about GF flour is that they’re very prone to crumbling when they’re warm! But I took a dozen in a ziploc bag on a plane after they’d cooled and they survived! Thanks, Sally!
★★★★★
Delicious. Keeping this recipe – certain to repeat many times ahead. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Sally! I have question, if you don’t mind. I am planning on making peanut butter cookie cups, to be filled with a chocolate ganache. I want really peanut buttery cookies so I looked for peanut butter cookie recipes like yours (rather than stick to the recipe I found that makes the cups, which is only 1/2 cup PB). Do you think your cookies would fair well if baked in a muffin tin? Thank you!
Hi Laura, we haven’t tested these cookies baked in a muffin tin, but don’t see why it would be an issue. Let us know if you give it a try!
As a follow-up, this did not work hahaha. They crumbled and fell apart when trying to get them out of the muffin pan. Oh well!
Made last night according to recipe, using Skippy Super Chunk peanut butter and they were fantastic. Much more peanut buttery than any other recipe I’ve tried, and the texture was perfect. This one’s a keeper!
I love these cookies! In fact, I have made them about a dozen times for family activities, graduation parties, going away parting, etc. It has been a busy summer. Three changes I make. I used store-brand natural peanut butter, I put in molasses 1-2 TBSP per cup of sugar for the brown sugar. It is just easier to store than brown sugar and I always have it on hand, a trick I learned living overseas. Third, I add extra sugar to taste because the natural peanut butter is unsweetened. Because I use natural peanut butter, the cookies are SUPER delicate. I transport them very carefully. Everyone has commented that these are the best peanut butter cookies they have ever tasted.
★★★★★
I had been craving soft peanut butter cookies for weeks, and I finally caved into my desires. I am so happy that I used this recipe to satisfy my cravings or else my peanut butter cookie daydreams would have continued! I used natural peanut butter and the cookies were very light and airy. I agree that processed peanut butter produces a better soft chewy cookie but I was delighted just the same. 🙂
These were only OK. There just wasn’t a great flavor to these cookies and with the amount of peanut butter I thought how could that be…
There are better recipes out there for a simple peanut butter cookie.
★★★
I made these for my husband for fathers day. Great recipe. He loved them.
★★★★★
WOW! THESE ARE A SHOWSTOPPER!
You have to try out this recipe, they’re so incredibly soft and chewy, you’ll want more!
★★★★★
Do you add the 1/2 cup peanuts to your cookies? And if so, what kind to you use? Would Planters Cocktail Peanuts be ok? Thanks.
Hi Kathy, we do! You can use either salted or unsalted peanuts, depending if you like salty/sweet cookies. (We always prefer salted for a little salty/sweet kick!) The peanuts you mention should work just fine — we recommend roughly chopping them before adding to the dough.
These cookies are perfect! I followed your recipe exactly, baked 12 minutes, and they are delicious, crunchy on the edges, chewy in the middle, very peanut buttery tasting, and the sugar adds just enough sweet crunch! My go to recipe from now on.
My tip is to roll the cookies into balls and then refrigerate. Then roll in sugar, score with a fork, and bake!
★★★★★
Love this recipe!! Any tips on how to properly bake this peanut butter cookie batter into larger 3Tbsp size cookies?!
Hi Krista! Sometimes larger cookies bake better at a lower temperature like we do with our Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies. We haven’t tested larger cookies with this recipe, so let us know how it goes!
Best Peanut Butter Cookie ever. Most PB cookies don’t come through with real PB flavor but these really do. THANK YOU
★★★★★
I am making 1/2 this recipe. Should I put in just one egg?
Hi Willow, correct — use only one egg if halving this recipe.
I can’t say enough great things about this recipe, easy to make,dough freezes well making it easy to make fresh ones fast, and friends and family plead for more,they sure get eaten fast
Thanks for this great recipe
★★★★★
Terrific! I was feeling nostalgic for the peanut butter cookies my grandmother used to make me so I decided to give these a try, and they did not disappoint! This recipe makes a big batch which is perfect because when I made these everyone wanted some. The texture is perfect, they are so rich and filling, and I will definitely be making these again. I tried big and small sizes, and they are perfect as huge thick cookies and smaller flat ones with a terrific texture throughout.
★★★★★
Made these today and tried something different than the fork criss-cross. I had a few Easter cookie stamps that I have probably had for 20 years and have used them perhaps once. So I decided to test a few to see how they would work and they turned out super cute. Now I have delicious cookies that are cute, too! Can’t wait to give them all away! (I am gf and sugar free, so I won’t be able to try them, but they smell great!)
★★★★★
The best PB cookies bar none. So tasty and tender! I always bake these to give away as a thank you for a favour done. They never fail to get rave reviews! Thanks so much.
★★★★★
Hey Sally,
I made the cookies and they are soooo amazing!
Can’t wait for my niece to try them out.
Thankyou so much!
Lots of love from Nairobi, Kenya!
Best Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I have ever used. These cookies are so soft and flavorful. I made large cookies about 3 oz each and used Super Chunky Jif. They were the best Peanut Butter Cookies ever. Not dry at all and not too sweet just perfect. Thank you Sally…you are my go to for all things cookies! Your recipes never disappoint.
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious peanut butter cookies – definitely the best I’ve ever made or tasted I’m in the UK so used the metric measurements and they are spot on (not always the case!). I have a NEFF oven and pretty much bake all cookies at 160°c, and in this case the cooking time was still 12 minutes (7 with a turn, plus 5). For those in the UK, I actually used self-raising flour (basically regular flour with raising ingredients already added) instead of the all-purpose with baking soda (only because I panic bought flour during lockdown!), and they still turned out perfect. I’ve also found that if stored in the top of the refrigerator I can easily shape then for baking straightway, which is great. Really faultless recipe and instructions. I’m going for a work-off-the-cookies walk now
★★★★★
These are the best peanut butter cookies! I allow the unsealed butter and eggs to sit at room temperature while using KA flour, Skippy peanut butter and have even added 3/4 cup of butterscotch chips . I bake each batch for 11 minutes while allowing each baking sheet to cool between batches. (Thankfully we have 6 various baking sheets !) Perfection!
★★★★★
The cookies had great taste. Mine came out a bit dry and I followed measurements and used appropriate ingredients. Any suggestions?
★★★★★
Hi Ruth, we’re glad you enjoyed these cookies! It’s possible that the cookies had a bit too much flour in them — did you spoon and level to measure? They could also be slightly over baked — try a minute or so less in the oven next time. Hope this helps!
These have to be the best peanut butter cookies I have ever made! I could not bake them after I mixed them so I did as you said and left them at room temperature for 1/2 hr. The only change is I rolled them in Toronado sugar and I took half the batter and added mini chocolate chips. Both batches came out delicious. This is my peanut butter cookie from now on! I believe it is mostly from the added butter and peanut butter that make them so creamy and delicious! Trick to not crumbling is to follow directions for cooling. I even left them on the cookie sheet another 5 minutes to be sure then transferred with a wide spatula. Thanks for sharing this recipe! Anytime I bake your recipes I am never disappointed!
★★★★★
I agree totally with Andrea. I have baked cookies for over 40 years and I have my favorites but my peanut butter cookie was good but these are great. Thank you for the recipe and thank you for the lesson in chemistry . I can apply it to other cookie recipes. I loved the thickness but the chewy crunchiness which you typically do not get in a cookie. This will be my peanut butter cookie recipe also.
mine just came out of the oven and OHHHHH !!! they look like the bakery kind ! Ive always wanted to make them like the professional bakery and they never came out quite so… until now ! thank you so much ♥ keeping this recipe plus I cant wait to try more of your recipes …. huggs.. Michelle from Knox Lake
★★★★★
Love this recipe, I know a lot of complains are due to the cookies being too crumbly. I have a fix for that! Omit the eggs and substitute two very large ripe bananas. I also added semi sweet chocolate chips about a cup, or more to taste! This is a winner it Stays moist and we do not have a crumb left over! It’s a Family favorite now.
★★★★★
Whoever says this recipe isn’t the absolute best has no clue on how to read instructions or bake. Best cookies by far!
★★★★★
I’ve made these cookies a few times now. Until this recipe I’ve never been able to make peanut butter cookies that didn’t come out a puddle-like mess on the cookie sheet. I’m by no means a baker, but I can fool people into thinking I am with these decadent and melt in your mouth treats.