This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (2024)

This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (1) Jessica

4.4 from 1323 votes

298 comments

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

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If you’re looking for the best chewy peanut butter cookies, with super soft, chewy centers and crisp edges, this easy recipe is for you! Packed with tons of peanut butter flavor and ready in just 30 minutes, get ready to meet your new favorite cookie.

This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (2)

Table of Contents

  • Why You Will Love This Chewy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
  • Ingredients Needed for Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
  • How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies
  • Baker’s Notes
  • How To Store Old Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
  • More Must Make Peanut Butter Desserts
  • Get the Recipe

Why You Will Love This Chewy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

Everyone loves a classic, and this recipe for old-fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies truly fits the bill. Here’s why you will make these cookies over and over again:

  • Easy: Made with simple baking ingredients you probably already have on hand, these chewy peanut butter cookies will be out of the oven in less than half an hour!
  • Crisp and Chewy: Crunchy edges, chewy centers, and sweet peanut butter flavor with just a hint of salt make these cookies simply the best.
  • Nostalgia: These classic flavors scream childhood favorite and the simplicity of this recipe insures it’s the only old fashioned peanut butter cookie recipe you’ll need.
  • Versatile: This simple, wholesome recipe can be used as the base of many peanut butter cookie dough recipes.

For my fellow peanut butter lovers, try these giant peanut butter cup cookies with a full size Reese’s peanut butter cup in the center! These soft Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies and peanut butter oatmeal cookies are other reader favorites.

This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (3)

Ingredients Needed for Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

You don’t need any special ingredients and this easy peanut butter cookie recipe takesless than 30 minutesfrom start to finish. Check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact amounts.

  • Flour: Easy, inexpensive, all-purpose flour is all you need.
  • Leavening Agent: Baking soda creates the perfect crispy edges.
  • Salt
  • Peanut Butter: Regular, classic, creamy peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter creates the perfect soft texture.
  • Butter: Use unsalted butter that is softened to room temperature.
  • Sugars: A combination of granulated white sugar and light or dark brown sugar.
  • Egg
  • Vanilla
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (4)

How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies

These old fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies are easy and quick to prepare with no fancy preparation needed! For full detailed directions see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (5)
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (6)
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (7)
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (8)
  • Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  • Wet Ingredients: Beat the peanut butter, butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
  • Combine: Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.
  • Scoop & Bake: Scoop about a tablespoon of dough and place onto baking sheets with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
  • Finish Cooling: Cool on the pan for around 5 minutes. Slide parchment onto a wire baking rack to cool completely.
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (9)

Baker’s Notes

  • Peanut Butter: Regular, inexpensive, creamy or chunky peanut butter will provide the best texture. Natural peanut butter is usually a looser texture with more oil and it will cause the cookies to spread too much.
  • Time: Do not overbake this classic peanut butter cookie recipe! When the edges turn slightly brown, remove from the oven. They will firm up on the baking sheet as the cool.
  • Feeling Fancy? Press a chocolate kiss in the middle of the dough ball for the perfect peanut butter blossom cookie.
  • PB & J Cookies: Use your thumb and press a hollow in the center of the dough. Fill with your favorite flavor of jam. This is a beautiful addition to any cookie platter!
  • Cookie Sandwiches: Place a scoop of your favorite ice cream between two cookies. Roll the outside in sprinkles, chopped peanuts, or mini chocolate chips. Then wrap and freeze until ready to serve. Or sandwich the cookies together with peanut butter frosting in the center like in my peanut butter sandwich cookies.
  • Fresh Cookies Daily: Scooped dough freezes beautifully. Thaw and bake fresh cookies whenever the mood strikes you.
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (10)
This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (11)

How To Store Old Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies stay soft and chewy for days! Here’s all the options for storing them:

  • Store: Once the cookies are fully cooled, you can store them in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week. To keep cookies extra soft, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread every few days as it becomes stale.
  • Freeze Cookies: Freeze baked cookies in an airtight freezer safe container or zip top freezer bag for up to 3 months.
  • Freeze Dough: Freeze unbaked dough balls on a sheet pan until solid to the touch. Transfer dough to an airtight, freezer safe container and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw frozen dough in refrigerator overnight and bake as directed. Or bake from frozen, just add an extra 2 to 3 minutes to the bake time.

More Must Make Peanut Butter Desserts

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie

Giant Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake
  • No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
  • No Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecakes
  • Peanut Butter Pretzel Crockpot Candy

This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (16)

4.4 from 1323 votes

Print Pin Recipe

Yield: 20 Cookies

The Best Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

If you’re looking for the BEST Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, with super soft chewy centers and tons of peanut butter flavor, this easy cookie recipe is the one for you!

Prep Time15 minutes minutes

Cook Time10 minutes minutes

Total Time25 minutes minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • sugar for sprinkling, optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

  • Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the peanut butter, butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla.

  • Gradually add in the flour mixture on low speed. Stir until dough forms.

  • Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough), drop rounded balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Leaving space for spreading. (For a sparkle look, I like to sprinkle the tops of the dough with extra granulated sugar — but it’s totally optional.)

  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are slightly browned, and remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Video

Notes

Store: Once the cookies are fully cooled, you can store them in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week. To keep cookies extra soft, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread every few days as it becomes stale.

Freeze Cookies: Freeze baked cookies in an airtight freezer safe container or zip top freezer bag for up to 3 months.

Freeze Dough: Freeze unbaked dough balls on a sheet pan until solid to the touch. Transfer dough to an airtight, freezer safe container and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw frozen dough in refrigerator overnight and bake as directed. Or bake from frozen, just add an extra 2 to 3 minutes to the bake time.

Peanut Butter: Regular, inexpensive, crunchy or creamy peanut butter will provide the best texture. Natural peanut butter is usually a looser texture with more oil and it will cause the cookies to spread too much.

Bake Time: Do not overbake this chewy peanut butter cookie recipe! When the edges turn slightly brown, remove from the oven. They will firm up on the baking sheet as the cool.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 cookie, Calories: 154kcal, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 21mg, Sodium: 147mg, Potassium: 61mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 160IU, Calcium: 14mg, Iron: 1mg

© Jessica – The Novice Chef

Cuisine: American

Category: Cookies

Categories:

  • 30 Min or Less
  • Christmas
  • Cookies
  • Desserts
  • Holidays
  • Recipes
  • Videos

Post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.

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This Easy Recipe Makes The Best Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making cookies soft and chewy? ›

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

What makes cookies chewy and not hard? ›

Different types of sugars affect the texture because they absorb different amounts of water. Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies.

What factors cause a cookie to be crisp soft and chewy? ›

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

Should you refrigerate peanut butter cookie dough before baking? ›

Nut butter cookie dough tends to be quite soft. If you want less spread in the cookies, it's best to chill it for at least an hour, and you can leave it in the fridge overnight if you want to make it ahead. If you don't mind your cookies spreading a bit, you can skip this step.

What is the trick to keep baked goods like cookies soft? ›

If you bake too many cookies (as if there is such a thing!) and are concerned about them going stale, just add a slice of white bread to the storage container to keep them from hardening.

What is the best flour for chewy cookies? ›

You don't absolutely HAVE to use bread flour, but it adds a ton of chewy texture to these cookies that's worth the extra trip to the store. If you can't get bread flour, then use all AP flour in its place.

Should I use baking soda or baking powder in cookies? ›

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

Which is better, baking soda or baking powder? ›

The leavening power of baking soda is about three to four times stronger than baking powder. This means that you need a lot less baking soda in your recipes. If a recipe calls for baking soda and you only have baking powder, you need to use the right baking soda to baking powder conversion.

How do you make cookies soft and chewy vs hard and crisp? ›

Another tip is to simply bake the cookies slightly longer than you would a soft cookie. For crispy cookies, it's best to bake them until the edges start to brown (but not burn) and the cookie is baked all the way through.

What keeps cookies chewy? ›

Add a bit of cornstarch to the dough. Cornstarch helps to absorb moisture and keep cookies soft and tender. Make sure you're using the right type of flour. All-purpose flour will give you a softer cookie than whole wheat flour.

Why do my cookies get hard right after I bake them? ›

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.

What does brown sugar do in cookies? ›

Brown sugar

Brown sugar is also hygroscopic (more so than granulated sugar) and will therefore also attract and absorb the liquid in the dough. The difference is in the molasses that makes brown sugar brown: It adds moisture and slight acidity, resulting in a moist and chewy texture.

What happens if you don't flatten peanut butter cookies? ›

Certain cookies — Sugar Cookies, Snickerdoodles, Classic Peanut Butter Cookies — need to be flattened a bit before they bake, lest they end up emerging from the oven looking like ping-pong balls rather than typical flat, round cookies.

What happens if you don't chill peanut butter cookie dough? ›

Why You Need to Chill Your Cookie Dough. For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they're in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool.

Why do they use Criss Cross peanut butter cookies? ›

So it looks like that there are utilitarian reasons for the cross-hatching—to allow for even cooking—but it might have been passed along for nearly a hundred years for primarily aesthetic reasons, where the cross-hatching is more to identify the cookies as peanut butter ones, rather than to cook them well.

What are three factors that contribute to a chewy cookie? ›

There are a few things you can try to get soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies:
  • Use a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar. ...
  • Use more egg yolks and less egg whites. ...
  • Add a bit of cornstarch to the dough. ...
  • Make sure you're using the right type of flour. ...
  • Don't over-bake the cookies.
May 17, 2018

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