My peanut butter cookie recipe is everything a classic should be. Perfectly sweet (without being overwhelmingly so), soft with slightly crisp edges, and very peanut-forward. They’re made with all butter (no shortening!), brown sugar, and a touch of cornstarch for the perfect, tender, soft and buttery cookie. Recipe includes a how-to video!
This super soft and buttery peanut butter cookie recipe is one of my all-time classic favorites, right up there with my chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles. I have quite a few peanut butter cookie recipes on the blog (a quick search will show you there are at least 13 🫣), but these are my take on the classic.
Why This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe Works:
- All butter, no shortening. Many classic peanut butter cookie recipes (including the one I grew up with) rely on shortening, which can lend thickness to the cookie but leaves them tasting flat. I swap this ingredient for butter, which not only adds flavor, but creates a tender, richer crumb.
- Slightly underbake for just the right texture. The cookies should come out of the oven looking just barely underdone in the center. Residual heat finishes baking the cookies as they cool, leaving you with chewy centers and cookies that are still soft the next day (and the day after that…)
- Classic look, improved method. We still press them with a fork (it’s tradition, after all 😉) but unlike many recipes these cookies don’t actually need it, the dough is already balanced for just the right spread.
- Adaptable. Add your favorite mix-ins (I include a few of my favorites below!), or head over to my recipes for flourless peanut butter cookies or sourdough peanut butter cookies for those equally tasty versions.
Ingredients
- Peanut butter. I prefer creamy peanut butter, but chunky peanut butter will also work if you want a little extra texture. Natural peanut butter (the kind where the oil separates) or homemade peanut butter can work, but will yield more crumbly, dry cookies.
- Butter. Many recipes (including my family’s recipe growing up) use shortening or a blend of butter and shortening. I developed my peanut butter cookie recipe specifically to use butter and only butter. The result is a cookie that’s soft with a buttery, tender crumb and flavor that makes your eyes roll back in your head.
- Flour. Measure this with a scale or alternatively use the technique in my post on how to measure flour. Adding too much flour to the dough will make for hard, dry, and bland peanut butter cookies.
- Sugar. Growing up, peanut butter cookies were only ever made with granulated sugar. One of the first changes I made when developing my own recipe was to swap out a majority portion of that with brown sugar. This not only adds moisture (thanks to the molasses in brown sugar, but also depth of flavor. We do still keep a bit of the granulated sugar in the dough to keep things from being overwhelming, and I also roll my cookies through granulated sugar for a pretty, sparkly exterior that helps encourage just the right amount of spread and gives them a lovely, delicate and subtle crunch (just on the outside!).
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch acts similarly to flour by absorbing moisture and preventing the cookies from spreading too much, but you need less of it than you do flour and it doesn’t toughen the dough the same way. It’s key for a soft texture and you’ll find it in many of my cookies like my peanut butter blossoms and brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
SAM’S TIP: Feel free to add chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, Reeses pieces, chopped chocolate, or even chopped up Nutter Butters to the dough.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies
- Step 1: Make the dough. Cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter together until well combined and smooth, then stir in the egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until you have a cohesive dough, then cover and place in the fridge to chill.
- Step 2: Roll through sugar. After chilling (the dough shouldn’t be sticky–if it is, put it back in the fridge), roll 1 ½ tablespoon scoops of dough between your palms. Roll each dough ball through granulated sugar, then place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Step 3: Press with a fork. Use a fork to gently press down into the cookies in a criss-cross pattern to give the cookies a head start on spreading.
- Step 4: Bake. Do not over-bake these cookies! The centers should actually seem just slightly under-baked when they come out of the oven. They will finish baking as they cool on the cookie sheet for perfectly soft and chewy results.
SAM’S TIP: If your first batch of peanut butter cookies comes out a bit too flat, your ingredients may have just been a tad warm, just pop the dough back in the fridge and chill it a bit longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Since peanut butter is thick and low in moisture, it can keep the cookies from spreading more than you’d expect. Lightly pressing them with a fork gives the spread a head-start (and their signature look).
Peanut butter cookie dough is typically quite dense and needs to be pressed down to encourage spreading and even baking. Typically this is done with the tines of a fork.
With my peanut butter cookies recipe, the fork marks are less necessary (and you can skip it if you prefer unnecessary as these cookies will spread pretty well on their own. However, a peanut butter cookie without the criss-cross design on top just doesn’t seem right to me, so we keep it classic here!
Yes! My peanut butter cookies recipe freezes quite nicely. To do this, simply follow the directions for rolled cookies (if rolling in sugar) or drop cookies (if not rolling in sugar) in my how to freeze cookie dough post.
Over-baking your cookies is a surefire way to ruin their texture, so keep a close eye on them! I actually recommend you remove them from the oven when they’re still a bit soft in the middle, that way they can finish cooking on their cookie sheets outside the oven.
For softer cookies, it’s better to avoid using natural peanut butter AND make sure that you measure your flour properly (see my post on how to use a kitchen scale!).
More Peanut Butter Recipes:
Can’t get enough peanut butter? Try my peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies, peanut butter snickerdoodles, or peanut butter pie next! 🥜
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes, and find my free recipe tutorials on YouTube 💜
(The Actual Best) Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 Tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (140 g) creamy peanut butter¹
- ⅔ cup (135 g) light brown sugar, tightly packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- Additional granulated sugar for rolling
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar and ¼ cup granulated sugar in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy and well combined.10 Tablespoons (141 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, ½ cup (140 g) creamy peanut butter¹, ⅔ cup (135 g) light brown sugar, tightly packed, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- Add egg and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.1 large egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.1 ½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. Make sure to pause periodically to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are well-combined.
- Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place peanut butter cookie dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to one hour (start with 30 minutes, if the dough is too sticky or your cookies are coming out of the oven too flat, chill for an additional half an hour. This dough may be chilled overnight if you'd like).
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Once dough has chilled, remove from refrigerator and scoop into heaping 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized balls (39g).
- Roll the cookie dough between your palms until smooth and then roll thoroughly in additional granulated sugar. Place on prepared cookie sheet, spacing cookies at least 2" apart.Additional granulated sugar for rolling
- Use the tines of a fork to gently make a criss-cross pattern on the surface of each cookie by slightly pressing down.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 9-12 minutes. Edges should be just turning golden brown but the cookie centers should appear slightly under-baked, allow cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheets and the centers will finish baking (but remain soft and chewy) as they cool on the cookie sheet. Don't over-bake or the cookies will be dry.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before enjoying.
Notes
¹Type of Peanut Butter
Crunchy peanut butter would work fine here (just adds texture to the cookies!). While “natural” peanut butter will “work”, the cookies tend to be a bit more dry and crumbly.Freezing
This cookie dough freezes well. Chill the dough as instructed then scoop and roll through sugar and criss-cross with a fork (if desired) before freezing in an airtight container. Cookie dough will still need to bake on 375F but may need an additional minute or so in the oven.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This peanut butter cookie recipe was originally published 05/09/2018. The recipe remains the same but more notes, photos and a video have been added to the post to make it as helpful as possible!
Andrea B.
Hello! I just made your thumbprint cookies and they were amazing. Had to make them twice over the past week as the kids keep devouring them. Quick question… Can we use this recipe to make PBJ thumbprint cookies using the same technique? Really curious as that would be amazing. Either way, I’m still going to make this cookie, but wanted a little insight… Thank you and Happy Holidays!!
Dawn
She’s right. They are the best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. Thank you for sharing it with all of us!
Christy Long
I’m about to try these, but I have no doubt they’ll be spectacular- every recipe I’ve tried of yours has been perfect! When I need a recipe for something, I just look it up on YOUR website- no need to shop around. Your recipes are the gold standard around here! Thanks again and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Sam
Thank you so much for trusting my recipes so much, Christy! Merry Christmas! 🙂
Jo Adamcik
I made these cookies for a neighbors birthday this morning and they came out fantastic. He loves peanut butter cookies, and I saw this recipe and wanted to try it because it was all butter which I love as well! Thank you for this recipe!
Janice
Without a doubt! THE best peanut butter cookies ever. Thanks, Sam!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Janice! 🙂
Cara
I only have salted butter. Will that mess this up?
Sam
Hi Cara! Just use a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the cookies instead of the 3/4 teaspoon called for and you’ll be fine to use salted butter. I really hope you love the cookies!
Sandra
Peanut butter cookies has been my favorite cookie my entire life, but they are always best right out of the oven. I tried this recipe this weekend and it is now my go -to recipe!! These were still soft the day after and my company also thought they were very good! I didn’t roll mine in sugar, but other than that, I followed your recipe exactly.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sandra! 🙂
Shelly
Agreed. These are the best flavored peanut butter cookies I have ever tried. My daughter said they were absolutely delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I definitely have this recipe bookmarked💖
Anna Hutcheson
delicious cookies!
my goodness these are so good and so easy!
I ended up adding chocolate chips to mine.
Follow up question,
since I thought I knew everything about cookies (which I dont!) I didnt read the entire directions and did not chill the dough.
They’ve still come out amazing.
Have you made them without chilling the dough? were there any obvious differences you noticed?
thanks so much!
Sam
Hi Anna! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! Chilling the dough helps keep the cookies from spreading too much and it helps develop the flavor a bit so I wouldn’t recommend skipping that step. 🙂
Sarah
Good d*** cookie! Easy, quick recipe, will double the batch next time. You have the best recipes from mains to sides to desserts. Thank you!
Sam
Thank you so much, Sarah! I’m so glad you enjoy everything so much! 🙂
Bob
Best cookies in the world!
Carol T.
I need to make two dozen peanut butter cookies for Saturday. I found two different recipes on the internet to try since they make 18 cookies each. I made this recipe first. It’s incredibly easy to make. I’m grateful for the weights on the measurements because I noticed that what I measured and what the ingredients weighed were a bit different so I went by weight. I took the first sheet out at 10 minutes but decided it wasn’t really brown on the edges so I popped it in for another minute. The second sheet baked for 11 minutes. They came out perfect. I sampled one of them when it was barely cooled and it’s so soft, a bit chewy and peanut buttery. I used JIF No Added Sugar as the peanut butter and used my homemade vanilla extract made with Mexican vanilla beans. I haven’t tried the second recipe yet for comparison but these are definitely one of the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had. They’re huge too. Definitely a keeper.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Carol! 🙂
Kathy Symes
Possibly best cookies I’ve ever baked
10 mins was perfect and I added chocolate chunks but really delicious
I live in Denver and they baked great at altitude . Thanks for an awesome recipe
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for giving them a try, Kathy! Enjoy ☺️
Jean
These were OK, but I don’t think they have a lot of peanut butter flavor, mostly just sweet and crunchy / crisp. I think I would make a recipe with less butter and more peanut butter next time – turned out more like a crisp sugar cookie with a tiny hint of peanut butter, not like the old-fashioned peanut butter cookies I personally prefer.
Sam
Hi Jean! I would recommend baking them for less time. The cookies actually should not be crunchy or crisp at all. From what you’ve described, it sounds like they were a few minutes over-baked which would diminish both the texture and the peanut butter flavor. Give them another try with a little less bake time and I think you’ll be pleased.
Debbie
I felt the same way. Nice cookie but not much peanut butter flavor.
Deb
This recipe is fantastic. I followed the recipe exactly until I got to the rolling in sugar part. Instead I chopped up some roasted salted peanuts and blended them with coarse natural sugar (like sugar in the raw) and coated the cookies with the sugar peanut mixture. Delicious! Thank you for such a great recipe.
Bradley Wagner
This recipe is the real deal. I followed the instructions without any modifications whatsoever, and they turned out fabulous.
CORRECTION, I didn’t roll the dough in extra sugar before baking because I’m used to rather unvarnished peanut butter cookies and didn’t see the need for the extra sugar or mess during eating.
They turned out fantastic, so thank you!!