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Chewy peanut butter cookies are peanut butter cookies with a rich, buttery, soft and chewy texture. These homemade peanut butter cookies are topped with sprinkle of sugar. What I love most about these chewy old fashioned peanut butter cookies is they are made using simple ingredients that make the best quick and easy cookie.
Jump to:
- Why Should You Make This Recipe
- Ingredients
- How To Make
- How To Make Ahead, Store, Freeze and Thaw
- M's Expert Tips
- FAQs
- Other Peanut Butter Cookies To Try
- Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Why Should You Make This Recipe
Baking with peanut butter is a fun and easy way to add a bit of nutty, savory flavor to any sweet treat. 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies, Peanut Butter Brownies and Peanut Butter Fudge are a couple of my favorite peanut butter recipes on the blog. These wonderfully soft and chewy peanut butter cookies are another delicious addition to my growing collection of peanut butter recipes.
- They are quick and easy. All you need to do is bring the butter and eggs to room temperature. Then simply mix everything up in one bowl, scoop, top with sugar and bake.
- You love cozy old fashioned cookies. These easy peanut butter cookies tastes just as cozy and delicious as grandma’s peanut butter cookies. They’re full of rich, buttery peanut butter flavor with a sweet crunch from the sugar topping.
Ingredients
These soft and chewy peanut butter cookies only a handful of simple pantry basics to make. Make sure you have these ingredients ready to go.
- Dry ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Ground cinnamon is optional, but provides a nice cozy background flavor.
- Wet Ingredients: Gather creamy peanut butter, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Substitutions
Here are my recommended substitutions to make these old fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies:
- All purpose flour: To make this recipe gluten free, use a 1-1 gluten free flour. Make sure to check your flour. If there isn’t any xanthan gum added, make sure to add ½ teaspoon xanthan gum or cornstarch. Oat flour would also work well in this peanut butter cookie recipe.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Both leaveners are needed for this pb cookie recipe.
- Unsalted Butter: You can use the same amount of salted butter as written in the recipe, but omit the added salt. For a dairy free gluten free peanut butter cookie, use a plant based or vegan butter.
- Light Brown and Granulated Sugars: A blend of both sugars is what creates that classic old fashioned peanut butter cookie taste, just like grandma’s. This recipe hasn’t been tested using alternative sugars. However, I love using maple sugar as a refined sugar free option in my other cookie recipes. Maple sugar bakes very similarly to light brown sugar.
- Egg and Yolk: The extra yolk is added for more chewiness. This recipe hasn’t been tested without eggs. If you make this recipe without eggs or using an egg substitute, let me know!
- Peanut Butter: Use a creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. Cashew butter makes a wonderful substitute for peanut butter. Sunflower butter is a great nut free substitute for peanut butter.
How To Make
Learn how to make chewy peanut butter cookies in a few easy steps.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
- In another large bowl, cream the butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for 1 - 2 minutes, until well combined . Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla extract and creamy peanut butter until well combined. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet just combined.
3. Scoop about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of soft peanut butter cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet . Place about 8 balls of pb cookie dough on the baking sheet about 2 - 3 inches apart. Top with a pinch of granulated sugar. Bake the chewy old fashioned peanut butter cookies for 10 - 12 minutes. The edges will be set and lightly golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven onto a cooling rack or stove top. After 3 - 5 minutes, transfer the cookies off the hot baking sheet and onto the cooling rack to cool to room temperature and enjoy!
How To Make Ahead, Store, Freeze and Thaw
- Make Ahead: Although these chewy and soft peanut butter cookies are easy to make and come together rather quickly, they can easily be made ahead of time. To do this simply prepare the cookies according to the recipe directions through mixing in the dry ingredients and decide how to store the cookie dough.
- Store: Baked pb cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freeze Cookie Dough: Place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, place the baking sheet into the freezer and freeze until the cookie dough is frozen. Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and place the frozen cookie balls into a ziplock bag. These chocolate chip pecan cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Freeze Baked Cookies: Place the cooled, room temperature cookies onto a lined baking sheet or large plate. Transfer the cookies to the freezer for about 20 - 30 minutes. Remove the cookies from the freezer and transfer them to a freezer safe, airtight container. Cookies can remain in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Thaw: Transfer your desired amount of frozen cookie dough balls onto a lined plate or baking sheet. Allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge. Thaw baked chewy pb cookies at room temperature for a couple of hours or in the microwave using 10 second increments until heated through.
M's Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: This allows the cookies to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in a soft, chewy and delicious cookie. Room temperature butter should still be a but cool to the touch, but will be soft.
- Measure the flour properly: I highly recommend using a food scale for many reasons (like less dishes to clean), but the main reason is to get perfectly measured dry ingredients every time.
- Use a cookie scoop: This make these old fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies uniform in size and shape.
- Slightly under-bake the cookies: For cookies that are soft and chewy for days, the secret is to bake them until the edges are set and lightly golden brown. The centers will look slightly underbaked, but the cookies will continue to “bake” while on the hot cookie sheet.
- Give your cookies a “cookie scoot.” Within the first minute of removing the cookies from the oven, use a large biscuit cutter (wider than the cookies) to help shape any cookies back into a more round shape. Place the cutter over the cookies so the edges of the cookie are inside the cookie/ biscuit cutter. In a circular motion, gently nudge the edges back into a round shape.
- Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet. These homemade peanut butter cookies will still be very soft after coming out of the oven. Allow them to cool on the hot baking sheet for 3 - 5 minutes. If the cookies easily transfer from the pan, transfer them to a cooling rack. If not, leave them an additional 5 minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack.
FAQs
How do you make cookies stay soft and chewy?
Slightly underbaking the cookies also keeps them soft with chewy centers. Storing them in an airtight container also helps them to stay soft and chewy for longer.
What does adding an extra yolk do to cookies?
Adding an extra yolk to cookies gives the cookies more fat. The result is richer, tender, more chewy cookie.
Other Peanut Butter Cookies To Try
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars
- Haystack Cookies
If you try this Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M
Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Megan
Chewy peanut butter cookies are peanut butter cookies with a rich, buttery, soft and chewy texture. These homemade peanut butter cookies are topped with sprinkle of sugar.
4.43 from 21 votes
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Cooling Time 5 minutes mins
Course Dessert, Holiday
Cuisine American
Servings 20 cookies
Equipment
1 stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters
1 medium (2 tablespoon, 30 ml) cookie scoop optional
2 baking sheets
2 parchment papers
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (150 g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
- ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (128 g) creamy peanut butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C).Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour,baking soda, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
1¼ cups (150 g) all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon baking powder
In another large bowl, cream the butter,light brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for 1 - 2 minutes, until well combined. On low, mix in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and creamy peanut butteruntil well combined.
½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch, ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, 1 large egg, room temperature, 1 large egg yolk, room temperature, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract, ½ cup (128 g) creamy peanut butter
Mix the dry ingredientsinto the wet just combined. The dough will be very soft. As long as it holds a scooped peanut butter cookie dough ball shape, the dough is ready to bake. If not, transfer the dough to chill in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes.
Scoop about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of soft peanut butter cookie doughonto a lined baking sheet . Place about 8 balls of pb cookie dough on the baking sheet about 2 - 3 inches apart. Top with a pinch of granulated sugar.
Bake the chewy old fashioned peanut butter cookies for 10 - 12 minutes.The edges will be set and lightly golden brown.
Remove the cookies from the oven onto a cooling rackor stove top.After 3 - 5 minutes, transfer the cookies off the hot baking sheet and onto the cooling rackto cool to room temperature and enjoy!
Notes
Store: Baked peanut butter cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Keyword Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, Old Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
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