I love peanut butter cookies. When I was young, my mom made homemade cookies every week for our school lunches and peanut butter cookies were always in the rotation. Her peanut butter cookies, while they are delicious, are on the more crunchy side, and I know I’ve mentioned this before when sharing cookie recipes, but Brian and Carter like their cookies soft and chewy… so several years ago, I went on the hunt to find a new peanut butter cookie recipe.
I read through all the cookbooks we had at the time, tried a few different peanut butter cookie recipes, and finally found this one.
I wrote it down and stuck the paper in with the rest of my recipes. Over the years, we have reduced the amount of baking that happens in this house to also reduce our waistlines, and I sort of forgot about this recipe until recently when the kids asked for homemade peanut butter cookies… “You know mom, those really soft, thick peanut butter cookies.”
Oh yeah… that one! I was so excited to make these again and really wish I could take credit for this peanut butter cookie recipe. I also wish I could share the original source… but I didn’t write it down and during a big kitchen purge, I got rid of the old cookbooks we never used Crud!
The best part about these thick and soft Peanut Butter Cookies are that they are super easy to make. Usually the kids make them after school. They make the dough first, do their homework while it is chilling, then we pretty much devour them warm right when they come out of the oven.
- First, mix the sugars and butter together with an electric mixer until the batter is fluffy, then add the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix well. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, to the bowl and stir slowly by hand just enough to bind the ingredients together.
- Second, cover the bowl and chill the dough for an hour in the refrigerator and fill the bottom of a bowl with sugar and set beside your baking sheets.
- Third, remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, roll into dough balls, and roll each dough ball in the sugar to coat the outside completely. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet and bake for about 9 minutes. These cookies aren’t going to “brown” like other cookies, so bake them only until the tops of a few cookies begin crack a little bit.
When you pull the cookies out of the oven, you may second-guess yourself and be tempted to put them back in to cook longer — but don’t do it! Trust me. They may not look done, but they are, and they will firm up as they cool.
Also, I’m warning you now: This Peanut Butter Cookie recipe is so good, double it. I’m not kidding when I say the four of us ate the entire batch when they came out of the oven! They were gone so fast and we were so sad. Save yourself the same experience and just double the recipe.
Thick, Soft, And Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
These peanut butter cookies are the thickest, chewiest, softest peanut butter cookies you'll ever make — they almost melt in your mouth.
Prep Time
Cook Time
Total Time
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the sugars and butter together with an electric mixer until the batter becomes fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter and mix until completely incorporated. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring by hand just enough to bind the ingredients together.
- Cover the bowl with plastic and chill the cookie dough for an hour in the refrigerator. While the dough is in the refrigerator, fill the bottom of a bowl with sugar and set beside your baking sheets.
- Remove chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator, roll into dough balls, and roll each dough ball in the sugar to coat the outside completely. Place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and bake for about 9 minutes. These peanut butter cookies aren't going to "brown" like other cookies, so bake them only until the tops of a few cookies begin crack a little bit.
Notes:
When you pull these thick, soft peanut butter cookies out of the oven, you may second-guess yourself and be tempted to put them back in to cook longer — but don't do it! Trust me. The cookies may not look done, but they are, and they will firm up as they cool.
We use the convection oven to bake these, so all cookies are done in 9 minutes! No waiting for multiple batches to come out of the oven.
