These soft peanut butter cookies are crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and have the perfect balance of salty peanut butter and sugary sweetness.
You’re going to love my recipe for soft peanut butter cookies because these cookies turn out perfect every time. This one is a must have for your recipe arsenal.
These peanut butter cookies are soft and filled with peanut butter flavor. The outsides are crispy, with a sugar crust, and topped with the classic fork cross hatches.
If you’re looking for a gluten-free version, try my Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. Slightly crispier and denser, but filled with peanut butter flavor.
Ingredients
To make soft peanut butter cookies, you’ll need an egg, peanut butter, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, milk, baking soda, and salt.
Make sure your unsalted butter and eggs are room temperature. With room temperature ingredients, your cookie dough will cream together smoothly, resulting in the perfect texture in your finished cookies.
How to make peanut butter cookie dough
In a large mixing bowl, add your peanut butter and butter. Mix to combine, then add your sugars and continue mixing. Last, add your egg, vanilla, and milk, and mix until fully combined.
Then, add half of your flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add your remaining flour and again mix until just incorporated.
Once your dough is mixed, cover your bowl, or wrap your dough in wax paper, and refrigerate for an hour. This time allows the flavors to meld in your dough as well as stiffen the dough so that it spreads less when baking.
When your dough is ready to bake, I like to use an OXO Medium Cookie Scoop to perfectly portion the dough.
Baking your cookies
After rolling your dough into balls, roll them in granulated sugar. Place your sugar coated cookie dough balls onto your baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
Using a fork, press down gently on the top of each ball, creating perpendicular lines.
After baking, you can see that the cookies have spread (but not too much) and the cross hatch markings have faded just slightly. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet.
Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar for rolling
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and peanut butter. Add granulated and brown sugars, then beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat for another minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.
- Cover bowl or wrap dough in wax paper. Chill for at least 1 hour (up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator. Refrigerating will help the flavors meld and also create a firmer dough to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and shape by hand into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in white sugar.
- Place cookie dough balls 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Press a fork into the balls, creating a crosshatch pattern. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Your cookies will keep for 5-7 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, you can place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- You can keep raw cookie dough in the refrigerator for 3 days. Cookie dough balls (and baked cookies) freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen balls to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
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