Chewy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe - The Carefree Kitchen (2024)

This Chewy Peanut Butter Cookie recipe makes the most wonderfully soft and buttery cookies that are packed full of peanut butter flavor. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk for a real throwback treat.

When choosing the best peanut butter to use, you will want to pass on a more natural or freshly ground peanut butter. If it separates, save it for sandwiches. It will separate in your baked goods, too, often causing them to spread more and not bake nearly as well.

The Best Criss Cross Peanut Butter Cookies

We’ve tried lots of Peanut Butter Cookie recipes and have to say, we stuck with this one for a reason. The peanut butter-to-flour ratio, along with the brown sugar and real butter, makes for perfectly soft and chewy cookies every time.

Our family likes these made with creamy peanut butter, but if you like a little crunch to your Peanut Butter Cookies, you can use crunchy peanut butter, or toss some chopped dry-roasted peanuts into your dough.

Peanut Butter Cookies Video Tutorial

Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients

• Butter - you want your butter to be at room temperature
• Peanut Butter - either creamy or chunky, as long as you stick to one of the regular “no-stir” types. I personally love Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter cookies.
• Brown Sugar - brown sugar keeps your cookies softer than granulated sugar, and adds a great flavor. It is also slightly acidic so it actually is the ingredient that activates the baking soda.
• Egg - it’s best if you pull this from the fridge ahead of time so it isn’t super chilled.
• Vanilla Extract - you can also use imitation vanilla if that’s all that you have.
• Salt - salt is extremely important in all baked goods. It provides a great balance to the sweetness.
• Milk - again, it’s best if your milk isn’t straight from the fridge, and slightly more room temp.
• All-Purpose Flour - any brand is fine.
• Baking Soda - this will help your cookies stay slightly fluffy.

How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the room temperature butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Using the paddle attachment, cream until light and fluffy, or about 3 minutes.
3. Add in the egg, then mix on low to combine. Then add in the vanilla, salt and milk and mix on low to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda, then add this to the butter mixture and mix on low, just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure there are no lumps of butter in your dough.
5. Once mixed, scoop and roll the cookie dough into 1 ¼" balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Use a fork to flatten the cookies, creating a cross pattern.
6. Bake for 7-8 minutes, or until the bottoms are very lightly browned.
7. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookie Variations

• Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey’s Kisses or Mini Reese’s Cups: roll and flatten your cookies, bake, then stick one Hershey’s Kiss, or Reese’s Cup, in the center of each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven.
• Peanut Butter Cookies with 3 ingredients - mix together 1 cup creamy peanut butter + 1 cup granulated sugar + 1 egg, then scoop and bake just as you would for our classic Peanut Butter Cookies and voila! Simple cookies with ingredients that you will almost always have on hand. Plus, they are gluten-free!
• Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies - add 1 cup of dry-roasted, chopped peanuts into your dough before shaping.
• Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies - mix in ½ cup chocolate chips and ½ cup chopped pretzels to your dough before shaping. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand, rather than a fork.
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies - part cookie, part brownie, with an incredible Reese's surprise on the inside!

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some other Peanut Butter Desserts You'll love!

• Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
• Peanut Butter Bars
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
• No Bake Cookies
• Peanut Butter No Bakes
• Peanut Butter Balls
• More Dessert Recipes
• More Cookie Recipes

These classic Peanut Butter Criss Cross Cookies come together quickly and are so hard to resist. They’re wonderfully soft, buttery and packed full of peanut butter flavor. We recommend enjoying with a cold glass of milk.

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