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These Peanut Butter Cookies have the most amazing melt-in-your-mouth texture, with crisp edges and a creamy, rich peanut butter middle. It’s my favorite peanut butter cookie! 

If you look down in the comments, you’ll see that many people say these are the best peanut butter cookies they’ve ever had. 

These don’t look like your average peanut butter cookie, but I think they taste so much better than the usual 3-ingredient version. 

When you make a “peanut butter cookie” with only peanut butter, sugar, and an egg, you just can’t get the typical texture that you’d expect from a cookie.

And that’s why this peanut butter cookie recipe is my absolute favorite: It has tons of peanut butter flavor and richness, but also an incredible texture when you bite into it. 

It’s slightly crisp on the edges, but soft, chewy, and moist in the middle. They’re dangerous, in the most welcome way.

They taste phenomenal fresh out of the oven, but they are still decent after they’ve cooled too. This is one of my go-to cookies that I bake and bring to parties or gatherings.

How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies:

For the dry ingredients, combine all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt:

To get the wet ingredients going, combine softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar:

Cream that together until fluffy, then add an egg and vanilla extract:

Whip those in, then mix in some creamy peanut butter, until you get a smooth mixture that looks like this:

Finally, add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until the flour just disappears:

Use a medium cookie scoop (affiliate) to portion out scoops of dough directly onto a baking sheet:

I have tested rolling these into smooth balls before baking, and it’s not as good.

It’s the scooping of the dough that gives it those incredible ridges and “feathering” on top that melts in your mouth when you take a bite!

How long to bake Peanut Butter Cookies:

Bake the cookies at 350F for 13-14 minutes, until they’re golden brown on the bottom and the edges, but still soft in the middle.

NOTE: Take care not to overbake these cookies. If you don’t have an independent oven thermometer, they are an inexpensive purchase and very useful for verifying temperature accuracy. Many ovens are not accurate to the temperature they claim. If the cookies turn out dry, simply put they were overbaked. They should be moist and gooey on the inside.

More Peanut Butter Desserts:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
• Peanut Butter Bon Bons
• Peanut Butter Pie
• Peanut Butter Semifreddo

Can Peanut Butter Cookies be frozen? Yes, for up to 2 months.

Can you freeze Peanut Butter Cookie Dough? Yes, but you’ll have to thaw the dough before scooping and baking.

Can you use natural peanut butter? I personally use a peanut butter “spread” that is very creamy and spreadable. The ingredients are peanut butter, palm oil, and salt. I haven’t tested this with natural peanut butter (just ground peanuts), but others have reported that it works well.

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4.79 from 70 votes

Peanut Butter Cookies

These Peanut Butter Cookies have the most amazing melt-in-your-mouth texture, with crisp edges and a creamy, rich peanut butter middle.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword peanut butter cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 24

Calories 166.09kcal

Ingredients

• 7.5 ounces by weight all purpose flour (1.5 cups measured)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter*

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
• In another medium bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar, for about 60 seconds, until fluffy and light.
• Mix in the egg and vanilla extract for about 30 seconds, until combined.
• Mix in the peanut butter for an additional 30 seconds, until combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet, then mix just until the flour is incorporated. Take care not to overmix.
• Using a medium cookie scoop, portion out scoops of dough directly onto a baking sheet. You should get about 24 scoops of dough total (split them between two baking sheets).
• Bake for 13-14 minutes, until the edges are golden, but the middle is still soft. Let them cool for a couple minutes before eating. They are fantastic enjoyed warm out of the oven, or completely cooled. Enjoy!

Notes

*I have not tested natural peanut butter here, as I generally don't bake with it due to its mixed results. I buy a creamy peanut butter from the store that has only organic peanuts, oil, and salt, and that works great. You don't want to use any peanut butter where the oil is separated and floating at the top.

Nutrition

Calories: 166.09kcal | Carbohydrates: 17.6g | Protein: 3.89g | Fat: 9.51g | Saturated Fat: 3.63g | Cholesterol: 16.99mg | Sodium: 172.33mg | Potassium: 96.29mg | Fiber: 0.88g | Sugar: 9.65g | Vitamin A: 128.08IU | Calcium: 15.53mg | Iron: 0.68mg

Post updated in October 2018. Originally published in January 2012.