Peanut Butter Cookies

By Genevieve Ko

Published Dec. 8, 2021

Peanut Butter Cookies
Anna Williams for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen.
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(563)
Comments
Read comments

No mixer is required to make these craggy rounds that deliver all the comfort of eating a spoonful of peanut butter straight out of the jar — but with the creamy-candy richness of peanut butter chips in each bite. (If you’re a crunchy peanut butter person, you can throw in whole salted nuts, too.) Because of their low proportion of flour, these little disks develop fudgy centers inside lightly crisp edges. There are countless varieties of peanut butter in markets and all yield different cookie results. These use natural peanut butter, which is just peanuts blended with salt, so they taste especially peanutty.

Featured in: 24 Days of Cookies

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Ingredients

Yield:About 50 cookies
  • ½cup/65 grams all-purpose flour
  • ½teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter, softened
  • ½cup/108 grams granulated sugar
  • ½packed cup/93 grams brown sugar
  • 1cup/263 grams natural salted peanut butter (see Tip), at room temperature
  • 1large egg
  • 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1cup/165 grams peanut butter chips
  • ½cup/74 grams lightly salted roasted peanuts (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (50 servings)

98 calories; 7 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 44 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

  2. Step 2

    Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon or spatula, smash and mix butter and both sugars together until smooth and creamy. Add peanut butter and stir until incorporated. Add egg and vanilla, and stir until well combined. Add flour all at once and fold gently until dry bits disappear, then fold in the peanut butter chips and peanuts, if using, until evenly dispersed.

  3. Step 3

    Using a small cookie scoop or a measuring tablespoon, drop rounds of dough on a prepared sheet, spacing 1½ inches apart. Bake until just dry on top and set along the edges, 10 to 11 minutes. Do not overbake. Scoop and drop dough onto the second sheet while the first bakes, then slide into the oven when the first comes out.

  4. Step 4

    Place the baking sheets on racks to cool completely. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Tip
  • Look for peanut butter with only roasted peanuts and salt in the ingredient list, and be sure to stir well if the oil is separated. Chunky or creamy is a deeply held personal preference, so choose your favorite.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
563 user ratings
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Comments

pearl

Thank you for giving us recipes that are hand-mixed!

Boxplayer

"No mixer required" is not the same as "no mixer allowed" -- is it?

J Boyce

73-yr-old male with 1 broken wrist and severe arthritis. I've been using and old hand-held potato ricer for years to cream butter and sugar. Couldn't find the thing today after a move, so got a cheap potato masher at Dollar Store. Did the job in no time with no pain, no strain. Try it!

Horsefeathers

These cookies are delicious! But they don't scrape off of a tray easily when they're right out of the oven; they need to sit for a bit to become hard enough to move in one piece. (That said, I'm not exactly complaining about eating crumbled warm cookies that didn't successfully make the transition.)

Lazy Cook Toronto

I need a peanut butter cookie recipe to use up all the contraband in the house, before our (grownup) peanut-allergic child comes home to visit. This really hit the spot! No, we’ve got about three days to eat all these cookies. It will be tough, but we’ll do our best.

dd

Is this a cookie that freezes well after baking?

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