Peanut Butter Cookies
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This easy peanut butter cookie recipe is packed with peanutty flavor and has just the right balance of salty and sweet.
When I set out to find the best peanut butter cookie recipe, I tested dozens—from favorite cookbooks to popular online versions. The standout was Gwyneth Paltrow’s recipe from My Father’s Daughter. With a few small tweaks, it’s become my go-to.
What sets these cookies apart are the salted peanuts and peanut butter chips scattered throughout. The peanuts add a satisfying crunch and a salty edge, while the chips melt into little pockets of peanut butter goodness. I’m not usually a fan of peanut butter chips, but they really work here. If you love a classic peanut butter cookie, this one is hard to beat.
“Wow Wow wow!!! My 7-year-old said it best after trying one: It’s like I’m having a party in my mouth eating this cookie.”
What You’ll Need To Make Peanut Butter Cookies
- All-purpose flour: Provides the structure for the cookies. For the best texture, measure it using the spoon-and-level method rather than scooping directly from the bag; too much flour can make the cookies dry.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Give the cookies just enough lift and help them brown. Make sure they’re fresh for the best results.
- Unsalted butter: I prefer unsalted butter so I can control the salt. If you only have salted butter, reduce the added salt by ¼ teaspoon.
- Creamy peanut butter: For the best texture, use a creamy, shelf-stable peanut butter rather than natural peanut butter, which can separate. Skippy No Need to Stir is my favorite here.
- Light brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture and complements the peanut butter’s rich flavor.
- Egg and vanilla: The egg binds the dough together, while vanilla rounds out the flavor.
- Peanut butter chips and salted peanuts: Double down on the peanut flavor while adding little pockets of sweetness and crunch. I love Virginia peanuts here—they’re extra big, crunchy, and flavorful.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How to Make peanut butter cookies
Make the dough: Start by whisking the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add the dry ingredients, then mix in the peanut butter chips and salted peanuts. The dough will be thick.
Pro tip: Give the dough some time to chill before shaping; it makes it easier to handle and helps the cookies hold their shape in the oven.
Shape the cookies: Roll the dough into balls and arrange them on the baking sheets. Use a fork to make the classic crisscross pattern on top, which also helps flatten the cookies so they bake evenly.
Bake and cool: Bake until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges. They’ll still be tender when they first come out of the oven, so let them cool on the baking sheet before transferring them to a rack.
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Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, at room temperature (I like Skippy No Need To Stir)
- 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
- ½ cup very finely chopped salted peanuts (optional)
Instructions
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and vanilla on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds more. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the peanut butter chips and chopped peanuts (if using).
- Chill the dough for 1 hour (see note below). Set racks in the middle and upper thirds of the oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Using a 1½-in scooper with a wire scraper (if you don’t have one, use a spoon and your hands), form the dough into 1½-in (4-cm) balls on the prepared baking sheets. Using the tines of a fork, mark a crisscross pattern on the cookies, pressing them down slightly. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back midway through, until puffed and golden on the bottom. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. (Note: the cookies are very fragile when hot, so take care not to break them. They’ll firm up nicely as they cool.)
Notes
- It’s not absolutely necessary to chill the dough, but it is quite sticky and difficult to handle if you don’t have a cookie scooper. Chilling the dough makes it much easier to handle, but feel free to skip this step if you like.
- Freezing Instructions: The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To freeze after baking: Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container, separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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OMG! I’m eating these right now! These are absolutely THE BEST peanut butter cookies ever. (Sorry Grams!) They are soft with a superlight texture and all that peanut butter flavor you’re looking for. I’m going to eat more now before my teenaged sons discover them. After that, it’s game over!
Could you sprinkle these with turbinado sugar
Sure, Lynda – I love that idea!
We loved these cookies! Easy recipe. No need for me to chill recipe since dough wasn’t too sticky to deal with. Baked up perfect. Only change is that I didn’t add 1/2 cup salted peanuts.
Jenn, would unsalted peanuts work in this recipe? Do you think I would need to increase the amount of salt called for in the recipe if I use the unsalted? (That’s what I have on hand.). Thank you!
Yes, I think that if you up the salt just a little, that you could get away with using unsalted peanuts here. I’d love to hear how they turn out!
Jenn, I ended up having just enough salted peanuts on hand so I went with that. I did substitute butterscotch chips because I had some that I needed to use. The cookies are delicious, although I think the butterscotch chips overtook the peanut butter flavor. ☹️I can’t wait to make these again and use peanut butter chips. The dough was soft and easy to handle after refrigerating for an hour. The cookies are very fragile as you state until completely cooled. Very sweet & nice texture. Thank you for sharing your great recipes!
Can I use chunky peanut butter? I inherited a large jar of it. Ha. Thanks!
Sure, Jen – enjoy!
I made these for staff birthday treats but it turned out to be a snow day so I froze them after posting a pic on FB. Well some people guilted me into giving them the cookies. The cookies (all 30) were consumed by 2 people in a day or so. The addition of peanuts along with the peanut butter chips made this recipe indulgent. I think putting real butter into the mix instead of Crisco have it added richness. You can’t go wrong with these.
Love these with the peanuts and chips! But thought mine were a little powdery/sandy? is that the correct texture or would this have been because of how I made them?
Yes, Louise, they do have a bit of a sandy (but till moist) texture, so it sounds like you did everything right!
ok these are yummo..I used chocolate chips because I didn’t have peanut butter ones and honestly..so good!
I made these cookies with my niece. She loved following the pictures (as I read the steps to her). And when the cookies were a huge hit with the whole family. The flavors were so rich and the cookies were so soft and creamy.
Hi Jenn, if I omit the PB chips, and use smokey salted peanuts, would it taste just as good?
Serena, I honestly don’t think they will be as good without the chips– they add some necessary sweetness and creaminess to the cookies– sorry!
What about the peanut butter itself? Can I use the no sugar added PB?
Yes, I think that should be fine.
I finally got to make this today, and I double the ingredients. But for some reasons, the batter was pretty crumbly to work with, is this normal? The only thing different I did was for about 100g of the peanut butter, I used the crunchy instead of cream cus I ran out.
Hi Serena, I don’t think a crunchy PB would make that much of a difference. This is quite a wet dough – is it possible you measured something incorrectly?