Calling all peanut butter lovers! These are the best chewy peanut butter cookies! They have a soft texture, are loaded with peanut butter flavor and chopped peanuts, and are so easy to make. No dough chilling required, only 12 minutes baking time, and only 10 simple ingredients needed to make these delicious treats. Make these classic homemade cookies for your holiday cookie box or cookie swap!
For more easy cookie recipes, try my sprinkle sugar cookies and chocolate chip sugar cookies!
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Growing up, I LOVED peanut butter but never really cared for peanut butter cookies. Perhaps I was always impartial to the classic sugar cookie or chocolate chip cookie - however, these chewy peanut butter cookies absolutely changed my mind.
This is an old-fashioned peanut butter cookies recipe. You only need a few basic ingredients, nothing too fancy, but everything comes together to make the best peanut butter cookies!
I actually came up with this one when I first started dating my husband. I remember him raving about peanut butter cookies, so I took on the challenge of making them for him.
Recently, I was going through my journal and found this recipe and HAD to post it for you all to make! My husband calls these the "perfect cookies" because they're soft with crispy edges and fluffy chewy centers. They're also full of lots of peanut butter flavor and the chopped peanuts in the cookie and on top make for a nice crunchy surprise.
Why You'll Love this Recipe
- It's an easy recipe that can be made in under 30 minutes!
- These chewy cookies literally melt in your mouth and are perfect with a tall glass of milk!
- You'll only need 10 ingredients to make these easy peanut butter cookies, but you can add whatever add-ins you'd like! I'm talking m&ms, reese's peanut butter cups, chocolate chips - literally whatever you want! You can also keep it simple and enjoy the recipe as is 🙂
- You don't need a stand mixer for this recipe, an electric mixer or hand mixer works perfectly.
Ingredients
Butter - I like using salted butter, especially for this recipe. The salt and peanut butter are basically soul mates. However, if you're watching your salt intake, feel free to use unsalted butter instead. Just make sure that you're using room temperature butter.
Peanut Butter - for best results, I recommend using a smooth peanut butter that's a bit processed, like Jif or Skippy. Natural peanut butter is awesome but it can make your peanut butter cookies a little oily.
Sugar and Brown Sugar - white sugar provides sweetness while brown sugar provides moisture and flavor. The mix of the two sugars enhances the chewy texture, makin the perfect chewy peanut butter cookie.
Eggs - to bind these soft cookies and give them their chewy texture.
Vanilla extract - to enhance all of the flavors of the cookie.
All Purpose Flour - be sure to measure the flour accurately. Adding too much flour will result in dry cookies that won't spread.
Leaveners - Baking Powder and Baking Soda give these cookies a nice lift in the oven.
Kosher Salt - for flavor.
Peanuts - for a nice crunch!
Pro Tips
- Measure your flour properly! If you're not sure how to do this, here's an article on how to properly measure flour.
- When combing your wet and dry ingredients, be sure to mix until just combined to avoid overmixing the batter.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed so that all of the ingredients mix together evenly throughout the cookie dough.
- Avoid using a natural peanut butter for this recipe. Natural creamy peanut butter tends to be too oily and will make the cookies very greasy. Jif or Skippy are best for the perfect peanut butter cookies!
- Try using crunchy peanut butter or adding peanut butter chips for added texture.
How to make the Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together for 3 minutes. Then add eggs one at a time and then vanilla extract and cream for an extra minute.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Then add the chopped peanuts and fold into the batter.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (about 2 ½ tablespoons) to scoop out cookies and roll into a ball. Place balls of dough onto a sheet pan spaced about 3 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and bang on the counter to slightly deflate them. Then continue to bake for another 1-2 minutes, until the centers puff up again.
- Allow the baked cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy your traditional peanut butter cookies with a large glass of milk!
Recipe FAQs
Yes! You can make the peanut butter cookie dough up to 2 days in advance. Chill cookie dough in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. When you're ready to bake, let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes and bake as instructed in the recipe card.
If your peanut butter cookies are dry, it's more than likely because they're overbaked. As a rule of thumb, with cookies, it's better to underbake than to overbake.
More Cookie Recipes
- Chocolate Chip Sugar Cookies
- Cinnamon Roll Cookies
- Brown Butter Chai Cookies
- Matcha Cookies
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies
- Gingersnap Cookies
- Biscoff Butter Cookies
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Let's stay connected on social media and continue to cook together! Also, if you decide to make this recipe, please leave a star rating on the recipe card and leave a comment below! Tag @BritneyBreaksBread on Instagram and hashtag #britneybreaksbread so I can see your creations! I hope that you love this recipe as much as we do!
Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Stand Mixer of Electric Mixer
- 2 Baking Sheets
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 cup Salted Butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup Peanut Butter
- 1 ½ cups Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Chopped Peanuts
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together for 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and then vanilla extract and cream for an extra minute.
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Then add the chopped peanuts and fold into the batter.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (about 2 ½ tablespoons) to scoop out cookies and roll into a ball. Place balls of dough onto a sheet pan spaced about 3 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the cookies from the oven and bang on the counter to slightly deflate them. Then continue to bake for another 1-2 minutes, until the centers puff up again.
- Allow the baked cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy your traditional peanut butter cookies with a large glass of milk.
Notes
- Measure your flour properly! If you're not sure how to do this, here's an article on how to properly measure flour.
- When combing your wet and dry ingredients, be sure to mix until just combined to avoid overmixing the batter.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed so that all of the ingredients mix together evenly throughout the cookie dough.
- Avoid using a natural peanut butter for this recipe. Natural creamy peanut butter tends to be too oily and will make the cookies very greasy. Jif or Skippy are best for the perfect peanut butter cookies!
Followed the recipe using Extra Crunchy Jif and adding Milk Chocolate Chips. My husband LOVED these. Nice and chewy as stated!!! A+++++
I'm so happy that you enjoyed it! Thanks for your feedback!