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Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

written by Ashley Fehr

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5 from 18 votes
Prep Time 15 mins
Total Time 24 mins
Servings 36 cookies

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These easy Peanut Butter Cookies come together in just one bowl with simple ingredients! They’re soft and chewy and freezer friendly!

peanut butter cookies close up on black baking rack overhead

Table of Contents

  1. How to make easy Peanut Butter Cookies:
  2. Variations on these Peanut Butter Cookies:
  3. How to store peanut butter cookies:
  4. Tools you’ll need to make this easy cookie recipe:
  5. Easy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

I shared this recipe first on Spend With Pennies.

I don’t know about you, but around here we love peanut butter.

We love it in our oatmeal, on our toast, in our desserts (any and all of them, please!), our Banana Cream Pie, and these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

But these easy Peanut Butter Cookies?

They’re some of our favorites.

These cookies are so easy to throw together, and you can mix them up in a variety of different ways to make them more exciting (but really, who needs to detract from that glorious peanut butter?!)

How to make easy Peanut Butter Cookies:

  1. Combine your butters: cream your butter and peanut butter together until smooth.
  2. Add your sugars: be sure you whip your sugar in until it’s light and fluffy! It will become noticeably lighter in color and texture.
  3. Beat in your eggs and vanilla — just until smooth and combined.
  4. Add your dry ingredients — Don’t pack your flour in the cup! Be sure to fluff and level your flour to avoid dry, crumbly cookies! Mix until the dough comes together.
  5. Bake — but don’t overbake! Overbaked cookies are dry and hard and not soft and chewy like they should be. Make sure you bake until they appear just set, even a little glossiness in the center is okay. They will continue setting up on the hot pan out of the oven. I find 9 minutes is perfect for 1″ dough balls.
peanut butter cookies on wire rack on marble background with grey towel

Variations on these Peanut Butter Cookies:

  • Can’t resist the urge to add chocolate to peanut butter? How about a chocolate drizzle! Simply melt some chocolate carefully, then pour it into a ziploc bag, snip the end and drizzle over cooled cookies.
  • Stir in some chopped peanuts for a double whammy peanut butter cookie.
  • Add some chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, M&Ms (oh my word, how amazing would those be??), or butterscotch chips for a new spin your family will go crazy for!

How to store peanut butter cookies:

There are two ways to store these peanut butter cookies if you happen to have leftovers that last beyond the first couple hours on the counter 😉

  • Room temperature: You can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-6 days (they will last past that point, they just won’t be as good). The only problem with storing them at room temperature is you know they’re not going to last long! The freezer is a much safer option 😉
  • In the freezer: these cookies can be frozen in an airtight container or freezer bag up to 3 months. This means you always have something delicious on hand if surprise guests drop in or you need an after school snack!
peanut butter cookies stack of three with one bite taken out of top cookie

I promise, you don’t need much! Here’s what I use to make this recipe the best it can be:

  • A mixer: cookie dough is a tough thing to mix by hand! I use either my KitchenAid hand mixer or KitchenAid stand mixer (what can I say, I’m loyal!) — it makes the dough come together so quickly and easily!
  • Good baking sheets: dark non stick baking sheets will make your cookies brown faster, so I like to use a light or medium colored baking sheet — you can choose what you like depending on how brown you like your cookies to be on the bottom.
  • Parchment sheets: Once I started using parchment paper for cookies I never went back. There’s no worrying about sticking, no scrubbing pans, and – bonus! – you can reuse parchment paper for all the cookies. Just brush it off, fold it up and stash it in a cupboard for next time.
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Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

written by Ashley Fehr

5 from 18 votes
These easy Peanut Butter Cookies come together in just one bowl with simple ingredients! They’re soft and chewy and freezer friendly!
peanut butter cookies on wire rack
Review
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 9 mins
Total Time 24 mins
Cuisine American
Course Dessert
Servings 36 cookies
Calories 148cal

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter 240g — not natural
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar 200g
  • 1 cup brown sugar 205g packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all purpose flour 390g
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • In a large bowl with an electric mixer (a paddle attachment on a stand mixer works best for this recipe), beat peanut butter and butter until smooth.
  • Add sugars and beat on high speed until light and fluffy – 2-3 minutes.
  • Add eggs and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined.
  • Add flour (fluffed and levelled!), baking soda and salt and beat on low speed just until cookie dough comes together.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Roll into 1″ balls and place 2″ apart on baking sheets.
  • Press down slightly with fork.
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until set (a slight glossy sheen in the very center is okay). Remove and let cool on baking sheets before moving to an air tight container to store.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 148cal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 97mg | Potassium: 59mg | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 130IU | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 0.7mg
Keywords peanut butter cookies

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Published on July 16, 2019 / Last updated on May 26, 2020

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Meet Ashley

My name is Ashley Fehr and I love creating easy meals my family loves. I also like to do things my way, which means improvising and breaking the rules when necessary. Here you will find creative twists on old favorites and some of my favorite family recipes, passed down from generations!

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Comments

  1. Lizz says

    We tried making these and they taste great except we have no idea what we did wrong – we cook for about 8 minutes and then it was almost like the cookies had an outer shell with liquid PB in the middle?????? Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen

    Reply

  3. Elizabeth says

    I also added PB2 powder (about 2 Tbs) and it didn’t make the cookie batter too dry or crumbly. They turned out soft and chewy with extra peanut butter flavor!

    Reply

  4. Todd D Baxter says

    I am making these for the second time. My wife loves them. They don’t last long. I did try them with chunky peanut butter and they were awesome. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply

  5. Erin says

    I made these a week ago for my peanut butter loving husband, and although we are them quickly, he craved more peanut butter. So, I used this recipe as a base, then added peanut butter chips, and instead of flattening the cookie, left them as balls to bake! This kicked it up just the amount we needed!! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe! It is awesome!

    Reply

  8. Jason says

    These cookies are awesome…..my youngest son has a peanut allergy so I used SunButter and they are soooo good.

    Reply

  9. Patti Smardz says

    Best Peanut Butter cookie recipe ever! I’ve always used the same recipe for Peanut Butter cookies, but these are far better. The soft texture and taste was perfect! They were Delicious! Thank you!

    Reply

  11. Roman perez says

    Needed a fast for a little end day desert this was fast and easy desert thanks and will make em often you can count on it

    Reply

  12. Nicole says

    I made these tonight and they just crumble 😞 Can I fix the dough? I’m not sure what happened. I followed the directions exactly…

    Reply

    • Ashley Fehr says

      It sounds like too much flour was added, which is easily done if using volume measurements and not weight. I recommend scooping and lightly filling your measuring cups with flour when measuring using cups. I hope that helps!

      Reply

  13. Joe says

    Made these yesterday and they came out completely awesome thank you so much for sharing will definitely be making them again

    Reply

  17. Ashley says

    These were so soft and delicious. They tasted like store bought cookies from the bakery. Super simple and all in one bowl. The best peanut butter cookie recipe!!!

    Reply

  18. Ava says

    These cookies were very delightful. Came out of the oven soft. I would Definitely make these cookies again as the hole family loves these! Would definitely recommend these cookies!

    Reply

  19. Irene says

    Does anybody have a problem with the Crumbs when we were holding them in together they were very crummy?

    Reply

    • Ashley Fehr says

      They shouldn’t be crumby! It sounds like too much flour was added. I would be careful when measuring your flour, scooping it into the measuring cup and levelling it before adding to the cookie dough.

      Reply

          • Ashley Fehr says

            The way you measure one cup of flour will make all the difference here. If you are not weighing the flour, it should be fluffed and spooned into the cup and not scooped with the cup. The difference between the too will make the difference between soft cookies and crumbly cookies.

  20. Sara says

    These cookies were amazing! I bake pretty often and these were probably the best cookies I have every made! & so easy! I added another 1/4 cup of peanut butter and about 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips and they were FABULOUS! I made them about the size of a chips ahoy cookie and the dough made 72 cookies!

    Reply

  21. Kaye Reams says

    Very good cookie. I added 1 cup of peanut butter chips to give them more of a peanut butter taste.. Also, when using my 1 3/8” cookie scoop there was no need to roll into balls. I just flattened each scoop with a fork.

    Reply

  22. Kris says

    These are hands down the best peanut butter cookies I have made. My hubby loves pb cookies but they are not my favorite, these I will eat. On a whim I added Caramel M&Ms and they are an amazing addition. Do yourself a favor and try it! Thanks for a keeper recipe!

    Reply

  23. Cindy Adams says

    We love the texture of these. We didn’t think they had much of a peanut butter taste so I am going to double the peanut butter next time. As soon as I take them out of the oven, I sprinkle in a little sugar. I will definitely keep this recipe, but will double the peanut butter. I doubled the batch and scooped one level Tablespoon per cookie. I get 92 cookies this way.

    Reply

  24. Shelley Arlen says

    Put some chocolate chips in and added a couple minutes to cooking time (12 minutes) and they turned out wonderful and chewy. The cookies will almost fall apart after coming out of the oven, but I find if I let them stand on the cookie sheet a couple of minutes they are a lot easier to move to the wire racks. I also have to say that when using the scoop to put cookies on sheet, my scoops were a little more rounded or heaping than everyone else’s. This recipe with chocolate chips made 30 nice sized cookies. Yummy!

    Reply

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