Here’s the story behind these amazingly delicious Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies. Making every effort here not to go to the grocery store unless absolutely necessary, and so I’m finding that I’m closely examining our pantry for ingredients that we have on hand to use.
I had two jars of natural peanut butter from Costco (the kind you have to stir) that I don’t usually buy, and no one around here really cared for. I think we rejected it because it has to be kept in the fridge, and it is a real hassle when trying to spread cold hard peanut butter on a soft piece of bread.
I really wanted to use this annoyingly natural peanut butter up before we opened another kind, and so I thought baking it into cookies would be the perfect disguise. Sure enough, my first batch of these Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter cookies disappeared in one day!
The dough comes together really quickly, and you really don’t even need to mix up the dry ingredients separately like most cookie recipes. I’ve written the recipe with the option of making them huge (like in the photos here) or more like a typical sized cookie.
The recipe will make one dozen large cookies, and I do recommend baking six at a time if you do them this way.
I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough for these large and in charge cookies. There’s something about a really big cookie that makes me so happy!
That feeling of sinking your teeth into such a big, soft and chewy cookie is heaven. They stay soft for days, though I can’t promise they’ll last that long.
You can use a fork to make a crisscross pattern on the cookies, but I love to use my cookie stamps for these. These stamps are really beautiful and well made if you don’t yet own any cookie stamps.
Just make sure the cookie dough is about 1/2 inch thick going into the oven. The dough will spread out a bit more as it bakes.
All this time at home is leaving us with plenty of time for baking. And maybe we are craving the comfort that comes with pulling something sweet and warm out of the oven, you too?
These Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies would make a great little treat to leave on a neighbor’s doorstep with a little note of encouragement. Sending hugs to you all!
PrintSoft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
These amazingly delicious Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies are the perfect thing to make when you are craving something sweet and comforting!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 large cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 cup peanut butter ( I used natural, the kind that needs to be stirred)
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together peanut butter, butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed.
- Add egg, vanilla extract, and milk, and mix together until creamy.
- Add flour, salt, and baking soda and mix on low speed until a dough forms.
- Depending on the size of cookie you’d like, scoop dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet according to the following measurements: To make one dozen large cookies, use 1/4 cup of dough per cookie and bake six per baking sheet. For 2 dozen smaller cookies, use 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie and bake twelve on a baking sheet.
- Stamp each cookie or press a fork into the dough to make a criss cross pattern. The dough should be pressed to about 1/2 inch thick. It will spread some in the oven.
- Bake the larger sized cookies for 13-15 minutes. The smaller sized cookies will only need to bake 8-10 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 344
- Sugar: 21g
- Sodium: 323mg
- Fat: 19g
- Saturated Fat: 7.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9.5g
- Trans Fat: 0.3g
- Carbohydrates: 39g
- Fiber: 1.7g
- Protein: 7.3g
- Cholesterol: 36mg
Best cookies ever 100%
Overall decent recipe. However, for those who out there that are not experienced bakers, I would suggest clarifying the recipe…..butter, salted or UNSALTED, brown sugar, LIGHT or dark.
Hi Stephanie! I’m not Julie but I always bake with unsalted butter. You can always add a bit of salt for the batter if you wish. As far as brown sugar, I use light as the dark has more molasses flavour. That’s just my personal choice. Maybe Julie has different advise .
Yummy yummy yummy I added a couple butterscotch chips and it took it over the top!
Came out beautiful with peanut butter that would never be used… BRAVO and thank you
We have used nothing but Costco Organic peanut butter for years now. We stir it and split it into two mason jars. This lets us keep half in the cupboard to use and the other in the fridge until we’re ready for it.
I have tried over and over to make peanut butter cookies with it but it’s really difficult – they never turn out. We love peanut butter cookies but we try to stay away from hydrogenated oils and palm oils. This recipe makes PERFECT cookies using the Costco peanut butter.
Thank you thank you thank you!
When halving the recipe, how would I half the egg? Would I just mix it together and split it in half or just use the yolk only?
Great recipe! I bought the runny natural peanut butter from Costco by mistake and this was a great way to use it up! My coworkers raved that these were the best and softest peanut butter cookies ever and I agree!
Best PB cookies in the world! I baked them for 10 minutes, took them out, and let them sit on the cookie sheet for another 5 minutes, and they’re so soft and fluffy!
I made a double batch….I have 6 grandkids here 😁
The cookies were easy to make, didn’t require refrigeration, and came out soft and delicious 😋
I didn’t make them as large as suggested but a more average size and it made 4 dozen. Thanks for the recipe. I’ll be keeping this one!
Hi Julie! We only ever buy all natural peanut butter, so I was excited to find your recipe. The taste is great, but I find them to be a bit too dry. I even added a bit more milk to the 2nd batch, but not much change.
VEGAN PLANT BASED OPTION: Made them vegan using a flax egg and results were great . Also reduced the sugar to .5 cup of brown sugar and .5 cup of granulated sugar.
I added semi sweet chocolate chips and using two teaspoons scooped regular sized cookies onto the baking sheet. They turned out soft and delicious and will make again! I used natural, crunchy peanut butter.
I just made these. I didn’t use a stand mixer, so I used a hand mixer up until the flour, then after part of the flour, I couldn’t mix with a spoon anymore so I mixed it with my hands. The result was very crumbly dough. I scooped a couple spoon fuls into my palm and pressed and molded until I finally got a ball. Then when I tried to fork it, it crumbled apart. So I ended up flattening them down to 1/2 in with my palm. Does anyone have any idea why I got crumbles instead of a dough ball? Or how I can fix it before I bake the rest of the dough? The first tray I baked did come out chewy and good. It was just so time consuming trying to gather it into a ball.
I added a little more milk. Worked great
I’ve made these twice and loved them both times! I used natural crunchy peanut butter and a two tablespoon scoop. Perfect amount for sharing with friends1
Delish!!! I did roll them in sugar before baking, but the texture was phenomenal! Will be making again…and again!