These easy Peanut Butter Cookies come together in just one bowl with simple ingredients! They’re soft and chewy and freezer friendly!
Table of Contents
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:
- Combine your butters: cream your butter and peanut butter together until smooth.
- 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.
- Beat in your eggs and vanilla — just until smooth and combined.
- 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.
- 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.
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!
Tools you’ll need to make this easy cookie recipe:
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.
Easy Peanut Butter Cookies
written by Ashley Fehr
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
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Mercedes says
This recipe makes a chewy cookie however it lacks in peanut butter flavor. Next time I make these I will try to decrease the amount of flour and add more peanut butter for a better tasting cookie.
Julianne Douglas says
The cookies were great! I made a couple modifications… I cut the granulated sugar back a 1/4 cup and the butter three tablespoons and increased the peanut butter by the same amount they were awesome.
Julianne Douglas says
The cookies were great! I made a couple modifications… I cut the granulated sugar back a 1/4 cup and the butter three tablespoons and increased the peanut butter by the same amount they were awesome.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Julianne! Glad it worked out for you!
Stephanie says
Delicious peanut butter cookies! Perfect amount of peanut butter and both soft and chewy! Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Stephanie! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Kathleen says
I made these and the directions made a great soft cookie. After hearing what others had said about lack of peanut flavor, I added 2 Tbs of peanut butter powder. They’re great!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Kathleen! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Victoria says
Just made these and they are soooo yummy! I increased the peanut butter amount to a full cup and that resulted in a full peanut butter flavor….so good! Thanks for the recipe and happy holidays to you!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Victoria! So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!
Jacque says
Very good cookie. Had good peanut butter taste. My husband favorite cookie of all. Thanks!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Jacque! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Lara says
I thought these cookies were very easy and definitely tasty 🙂 I don’t know why people have to be so negative and rude in their comments. I just appreciate you putting your recipe out there for others to enjoy. And if you’re not someone that enjoys it well then figure out your own recipe 🤷🏼♀️ but it’s sugar and butter and peanut butter so I don’t know what’s not to like?!?!!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Lara! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Monica says
Added some chocolate chips and it was marvelous 👌🏻👌🏻 will be making more soon
The Recipe Rebel says
So happy to hear! Thank you Monica!
Nicole says
Not sure if it was me …. It didn’t taste like peanut butter … I’d rather use the box next time
The Recipe Rebel says
Sorry to hear you this recipe wasn’t to your taste, Nicole. It has worked well for myself (and others) so I wished it would of been a hit for you too.
Krissy says
Delicious, standard peanut butter cookie recipe. Made a batch tonight to put in the freezer for later. My son taste-tested and said it was ” heaven in a cookie”.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Krissy! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
Melissa says
Perfect peanut butter cookie! I read the comments about not having enough peanut butter flavor so I did 1 cup instead of 3/4 cup of peanut butter and these were beyond delicious! Added some Reese’s chips to one batch and chocolate chips to another. So good!
Christi says
Chewy enough however, not a very strong peanut butter flavor. Next time I will increase the peanut butter, decrease the butter and increase the salt.
The Recipe Rebel says
I’m sorry to hear these weren’t to your taste, Christi. The amounts have worked well for myself (and others) so I wished it would of been a hit for you too!
Caylie says
I always follow this recipe exactly. My husband is a peanut butter lover and asks for these specific cookies often. I’m not a huge peanut butter lover but really enjoy them as well. Highly recommend.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Caylie! So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for this review!
Robert says
Love love love this recipe. Will definitely be using it from now on. Thank you for putting it on pintrist.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Robert! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this review!
Adriana says
Love it! Reduced the sugar to half and added an equal amount of chocolate chips and they are delish. Will probably add a bit more peanut butter next time (I used natural and made sure to mix really well with the butter) for an extra kick.
Ashley Fehr says
I’m glad you liked them!
Michelle says
This recipe needs way more peanut butter to be considered a peanut butter cookie. My first batch and I could barely tell that this was PB cookie. Ended up adding an additional 3/4 cup.
Ashley Fehr says
Everyone has their own tastes 🙂
Marsha says
I agree, not much peanut butter flavor
The Recipe Rebel says
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this.
Kemberlee says
Can you substitute oil or lard for the butter and have a similar result? I don’t feel like running to the store for butter. Lol
Ashley Fehr says
Understandable! I haven’t tried any other way unfortunately. Margarine would be my next choice, or maybe a combination of oil and lard?
Danielle says
Just wondering if I could substitute some of the butter for more peanut butter to get a more peanut butter flavour?
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Danielle! I wouldn’t swap it 1 for 1 as peanut butter actually dries out baked goods, so increasing the peanut butter and reducing the butter would result in crumbly cookies. You could likely increase the peanut butter somewhat without reducing the butter, or only reduce the butter a little.
Linda Woodring says
I was VERY unhappy with this recipe. Very dry. Way too much flour or needs another egg.
Compared it to my mothers recipe of old and has double the flour with only a 1/4 cup increase in the butters.
Hard dough to work with.
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Linda! I’m sorry you feel that way. I would encourage you to fluff and weigh your flour as I think you will have different results. The cookies definitely are not dry!
Diana says
Hi, how do you ‘fluff’ your flour before adding it to the measuring cup? Thanks!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Diane, you can use a spoon or fork to fluff. Basically you want to make sure it’s not compact. Hope you enjoy it!