These soft, thick, melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter cookies may be the only peanut butter cookie recipe you ever use again. Some readers say the cookies taste like the inside of a peanut butter cup—YUM! You need just 9 ingredients and the dough can be adapted in many ways to make different variations like peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter jam thumbprints.
I originally published this recipe in 2012 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips.
Why hello there, peanut butter cookie lovers. You’ve come to the right place! This may look familiar, as I have shared a number of peanut butter cookie recipes over the years. But believe me when I say this one is the one to keep in the front of your recipe folder.
This go-to, flagship peanut butter cookies recipe is the same dough used to make these popular peanut butter blossoms among the other 6+ variations listed below. The recipe stands the test of time and even after publishing dozens of other peanut butter recipes online and in my cookbooks… THIS IS THE BEST ONE.
One reader, Joyce, commented: “I’ve been looking for the recipe like my mother used when I was growing up. Soft and chewy in the middle, crispy on the edges, and the perfect peanut butter taste. Takes me back to when I was 9 years old and learning how to make these standing on a chair. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!!! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Faith, commented: “Seriously the BEST peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had! So delicious. The recipe was very easy to follow while still including helpful tips and directions. Thank you! ★★★★★“
And another reader, Rita, commented: “I’ve been baking for my family for 50 years. This is the absolute best cookie recipe we have ever tried. Thanks, Sally. Outstanding! ★★★★★“
Why You’ll Love These Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Pillow-soft centers with slightly crisp exterior and crumbly edge
- No-fuss recipe with 9 ingredients
- Super simple to make
- Marked with a traditional criss-cross on top
- Major peanut butter flavor
- Versatile cookie dough—add mix-ins or turn the dough into pb&j thumbprints
Grab These 9 Ingredients:
You can find the full printable recipe below, but first let me tell you some of the keys to recipe success, starting with the ingredients.
Ingredient Success Tips
- A shockingly small amount of flour. You may look at the recipe below and wonder why there’s so little flour… has Sally completely lost her mind?! Ha! Well, peanut butter and other nut butters act as a binder and can actually replace some or all flour in recipes including these flourless almond butter cookies. Using more flour will dry out the cookies, so stick with the recipe below.
- More peanut butter than other recipes. Most recipes I’ve tried call for around 1/2 cup of peanut butter with similar amounts of other ingredients. We’re using more.
- Use creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy. Just like when making peanut butter snickerdoodles, big giant monster cookies, or white chocolate peanut butter cookies, creamy peanut butter is ideal because crunchy peanut butter creates an overly crumbly cookie. Crunchy peanut butter is typically thicker and, well, less creamy! For a soft cookie that stays mostly intact, use creamy peanut butter.
- A combination of brown sugar + white granulated sugar. Like when you make chocolate chip cookies, it’s ideal to use more brown sugar than white granulated sugar in this dough. Brown sugar lends a softer, moister, and thicker cookie, while white granulated sugar helps the cookies spread. Use both, but use more brown.
Can I Use Natural Peanut Butter in Peanut Butter Cookies?
Yes, you can use natural peanut butter in this dough! Over the past decade, I’ve made these exact cookies with processed peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy as well as natural-style where the ingredients are only peanuts and salt. Here are my notes:
- Processed: The cookies truly taste perfect with great texture. They spread less and aren’t as crumbly.
- Natural-Style: The cookies spread a bit more and are somewhat sandier/crumblier.
But, most importantly, both cookies have fantastic peanut butter flavor. Keeping the above notes in mind, you can use either kind, just like you can in flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies.
Another Success Tip: Chill the Cookie Dough
Chilling the cookie dough in the refrigerator before baking the cookies is crucial to this recipe’s success. The dough is incredibly creamy, almost like peanut butter frosting, and you’ll have a heck of a time trying to roll and bake such a soft dough. Set aside 1–2 hours for chilling, or do yourself a favor and make the dough the night before.
Expect a VERY creamy cookie dough:
After chilling, the cookie dough solidifies and it’s easier to roll into balls:
After chilling, roll the dough into balls and then generously roll in granulated sugar. Sugar gives these cookies a sparkly sweet exterior with a touch of crunch before giving way to soft, melt-in-your-mouth bliss. Don’t forget the classic criss-cross on top of each cookie, just press with a fork!
Another success tip: After flattening the balls with a fork, use your fingers to reshape the edges into thicker/taller discs, because the thicker the disc, the thicker the baked cookie.
Welcome to the Peanut Butter Cookie Headquarters
Today’s cookies have been my go-to for a decade. If you want to compare, here are 2 other peanut butter cookie doughs and how they differ:
- Crisp/Old-Fashioned Version: Crispier with less peanut butter punch.
- Very Peanut Butter Cookies: Bigger and crumblier with EXTRA peanut butter flavor. It’s practically today’s recipe, only doubled. This is the same dough we use for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
The following recipes use today’s dough. (Note that the plain cookies have an extra Tablespoon of flour to retain shape because we’re flattening with a fork.)
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookies (pictured)
- Peanut Butter Blossoms (pictured)
- PB Cookie Cups on page 138 in Sally’s Cookie Addiction
- Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
- Peanut Butter Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Reese’s Cup Stuffed Cookies
So whether you’re looking for a classic criss-cross cookie or want to add some flair, this soft-baked peanut butter cookie is the ideal base recipe for many variations.
Print
Soft & Thick Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These are the softest, thickest peanut butter cookies! You need just 9 ingredients for the base recipe, and it can be adapted in so many ways to make different variations (see post above). Do not skip chilling the dough.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/3 cups (170g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup (100g) for rolling
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (about 185g) creamy peanut butter (see note)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on high speed until creamy. Switch to medium-high speed and beat in the brown sugar and 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar until completely creamed and smooth, about 2 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the egg and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. The dough will be very creamy and soft. Cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 1–2 hours, and up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Roll & coat the dough: Place remaining 1/2 cup (100g) of sugar into a bowl. Roll chilled cookie dough into balls, about 1 scant Tablespoon (5/8 ounce or 18g) of dough each. Roll each ball in the sugar and arrange on baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Use a fork to make a criss-cross indent on top of each. To prevent the cookies from over-spreading, after indenting the cookies, use your fingers to reshape into a thicker disc (since indenting the balls flattened them out).
- Bake for 11–12 minutes or until the edges appear set and are very lightly browned. The centers will still look very soft.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, transfer 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 3 days. 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. See How to Freeze Cookie Dough for more success tips.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Stand Mixer or Handheld) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Peanut butter: Creamy peanut butter is ideal for this recipe because crunchy peanut butter creates an overly crumbly cookie. You can use processed peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy, or natural-style peanut butter. If using natural peanut butter, make sure it’s at room temperature, stirred well, and expect a slightly crumblier cookie. 3/4 cup of peanut butter weighs anywhere between 185–195g.
- Can I use almond butter? Yes, you can use almond butter in this cookie recipe; however, expect a crumblier cookie. You may enjoy these flourless almond butter cookies more, though!
- Can I add chocolate chips or other add-ins? Yes, in step 3 after the dry and wet ingredients come together, you can fold in 1 cup add-ins like chocolate chips (180g), peanut butter chips (180g), or chopped salted or unsalted peanuts (150g). Skip indenting the cookies with a fork.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Oh my goodness! Another keeper. Every single recipe is perfect.
Hi there! I’ve made this before and it went great, so I was wondering if it would be possible to add jelly into it somehow to make pb&j cookies? I was thinking I could make the dough as more of a thumbprint cookie shape and add a dollop of jelly before baking?
Hi Kat, Yes! We adapted this dough to make these peanut butter jam cookies.
Do you have carb information for those who are diabetic? My son has type 1 diabetes and we just need to know the carbs so we know how much insulin to give him.
Hi Shayna, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Just made your thick peanut butter cookies, to my husband’s delight. Thank you, they are delicious.
Thank you!
Hi Sally! Would these cookies work with a combination of oil and butter instead of butter alone? If so, what butter/oil ratio would you suggest? BTW, your website is fantastic! Thanks!
Hi Carlotta, you’ll want to use a fat that is solid at room temperature here so that it can be creamed with the sugar. We don’t recommend vegetable oil, canola oil, etc., but you could try a combination of butter and coconut oil. The intended outcome may be a bit different. Let us know if you do decide to give it a try.
Trying to make these for a birthday party. I live in Denver, is there any altitude adjustments?
Hi Alexander, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Do any changes need to be made when doubling this recipe?
Hi Pam, this cookie recipe should double well without any changes.
I am T1 diabetic myself, and would heartily recommend the “Macros” app for Android. It connects to a large food database, with the option of also entering custom foods off their nutrition labels. It’s also easy to put together custom recipes for the nutrient composition breakdown. Just enter the whole batch by the number of cookies it ends up making, and it’ll tell you how many total grams of carbohydrate per cookie.
That said, I am an adult who runs pretty tight control. And, from experience, I would guesstimate two cookies of the recipe-specified size to come out close enough to 30g for bolusing purposes if I were sitting down to eat them.
I had a recipe I got from the cook at our local Head start program. I made them for 20 years and lost the recipe I have tried to duplicate it as it was a family favorite, no luck. I hope this is the answer. My son will be thrilled, they were his favorite
These were fantastic! Definitely pull them out when they’re still soft in the center, makes them nice and soft still once cooled.
Just made these. They came out very good!
Wonderful recipe, I substituted Truvia brown sugar and Stevia granulated for the sugars. I still roll in regular sugar as Stevia will burn. My husband loves these.
I made these last night. It was very easy. The cookies are very good – soft and with a definite peanut butter flavor. One comment – it doesn’t take nearly 1/2 cup of sugar to coat the dough balls before baking. Next time, I’ll start with a couple of tablespoons and add more as needed.
This could very well be the absolute BEST peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever found! I just made my second batch in the past week and a half! I highly recommend!
Delicious
These were delicious … I made the dough the day before and the chilling made them perfect to roll, then rolled them all and kept them in the fridge between batches… thank you
A little too sweet, tastes mostly of sugar. I tried not rolling them in sugar after and that helped but still too sweet. Feels like more peanut butter and less sugar was needed.
I don’t see where you added the peanut butter. I guess when you said cream butter, you mean to cream the butter and peanut butter.
Hi Beteena, it’s at the end of step 2: Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
I have made this for years with peanut butter and love it! I just bought some pistachio butter – do you think it would work? It’s supposed to have slightly less oil than peanut butter (almond has more – I see the note that almond butter may be more crumbly?)
Hi Hector, we haven’t tested this (or any) cookie recipe with pistachio butter, so aren’t sure of the results. If you decide to try it, please report back!
Perfect! I’ve made this recipe several times and don’t change a thing. It’s perfect every time!
Skippy, in particular, has changed their formula for peanut butter. It’s much oilier than it was traditionally and I wonder how recipes should compensate for that.
Hi Rainey, it would take some trial and error for each specific recipe, but if you’re finding your peanut butter to be a bit more oily, we’d start by increasing the flour just a bit. Be sure to give the peanut butter a good stir before using, too. Hope this helps!
What is the yield for the peanut butter cookie recipe?
Hi Vera, this recipe yields 32 cookies.
The cookies were amazing.
Had to triple batch them so I had enough for a very special group of people.
Everyone loved them including myself.
I did add the same amount of baking powder as baking soda.
I like a little rise in my cookies..
I omited rolling them in sugar, but with or without sugar they are amazing.
I would recommend this recipe and the recipe is a keeper.
Love these cookie my grandaughter and i make them so easy i did add 1 T of mollasses
I love to use this recipe. They come out awesome and since I sell these cookies my customers are always happy
Was craving PB cookies and these were easy to make and delicious!
Hi, can I sub the butter to make these dairy free? What about oil?
Hi Chaya, we haven’t tested any substitutes but a vegan butter replacement like Earth Balance might be your best bet. You could also try solid coconut oil.
I think the reason for inconsistent results is that your weight measurements are not at all comparable to “spooned and leveled.” (I weighed each of your by-the-container measurements, both liquid and dry, and results varied widely. When using the scale, the recipe’s fine. When measuring without it, cookies were chalky.
Hi Abielle! Yes, weight measurements are always the most accurate.
My family TRULY enjoyed these cookies when I made them!
Great cookie, if you don’t mind the poisons of sugar and flour. I rated a 4 due to the time-consiming process due to stickiness of the peanut butter.
If “poisons of sugar and flour” is your internet comment agenda then you don’t deserve cookies.
Hiya!! These are delicious, I made some for me and my family going away and they love them! 🙂
Just wondering, how long do these keep for? I want to keep some for my friend coming in a few days but I’m not sure how long I can wait!!
Hi Mayah, Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. Glad they were a hit!
I hate rolling balls of dough and was wondering if what I’ve done with other recipes might work: chill, roll into a log, chill again, then cut thick slices, roll in sugar, etc.
Hi Judith, we haven’t tested this particular cookie dough as a slice-and-bake style, but if you decide to give it a try, please let us know how it goes!
I am searching for less refined versions of recipes and how to adapt to use date paste or honey or maple syrup instead, or just less sugar overall. Do you have a rough guide or more of these recipes in a section? I want to do that for these peanut butter cookies, but they all call for so much sugar!
Hi Rachelle! We don’t have much experience with adapting recipes to use less refined sugars, but we do have a collection of healthier sweet recipes that you may find some favorites in.
I use coconut sugar which has a rich taste.