The perfect chewy peanut butter cookies with the classic criss-cross on top. A rich, buttery, soft, and chewy texture makes it a favorite at every cookie swap! The best part is that the dough freezes really well, so you can bake off a few cookies at a time and keep the rest in the freezer until you’re ready to use it. Fresh-baked peanut butter cookies on demand! 
Pressing a criss-cross into each cookie ensures this dough will flatten out and bake evenly. This has been the traditional look of the best peanut butter cookies for more than 80 years. Personally, I don’t think the cookie tastes the same without it! You can even add chocolate chips or peanuts to the top for some extra flavor.
Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Ingredients
Peanut Butter: Crunchy peanut butter or smooth is a personal choice, but everyone in my house voted for creamy. I don’t recommend using natural peanut butter because the separation in the jar makes it difficult to mix evenly in the dough, and we want to have a consistent perfect texture in each cookie.
Brown Sugar: This is the key to making chewy cookies, and you can use light or dark brown sugar. The added molasses makes the best soft cookies. Using both kinds of sugar keeps the cookie soft and chewy but crisps up the exterior enough to keep it from spreading too much.
Making Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, whisk it briefly and set it aside.
- Add the butter and brown sugar to a large bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until it's smooth and light in color. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Then, add the peanut butter and mix until it is smooth.
- Pour in the eggs one at a time and mix until they are combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and fold them in with a spatula (or mix on low speed) until they're just combined.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. Pro-tip: Chilling is essential to getting that chewy texture in the cookies. If you don’t chill the dough enough, your cookies will spread and become crispy in the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the cookie dough with a #2 scoop (or a ¼ measuring cup) into 2-2.5 ounce balls. This will make 24, 3" cookies.
- Form the dough into balls with your hands and place them at least 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. You will need a few cookie sheets if you're making a full batch.
- Using an extra large fork, press down once in each direction to give the cookie its signature criss-cross pattern on top. This is done so the cookie bakes and spreads evenly, and it's cute.
- Bake the cookies at 375°F for 13-15 minutes. The baking time may vary on your oven, but cookies shouldn’t appear to be too browned when finished, just slightly golden and crisp on the edges. Take them out when they are set and look a little soft in the center. If they appear too wet in the middle give them 1-2 minutes more. Baked cookies will keep their soft texture if you store them in an airtight container.
- Use a large metal cookie cutter to form your warm peanut butter cookies into perfect circles. This is optional but will make them extra pretty!
- Rest the cookies on the baking pan for 5 minutes, then place them onto a cooling rack. These chewy peanut butter cookies will last a room temperature stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days. You can also freeze the baked cookies or freeze the dough to have them at any time. They're delicious when served with a glass of cold milk!
FAQ
They will be slightly golden brown and look “set” on the edges, but soft in the center.
This gives the flour time to fully hydrate. These cookies have a lot of fat in them between the butter and the peanut butter, so they will spread easily in the oven if they are not chilled. We want to even out the baking reaction time so that it all happens at the same time resulting in a perfect cookie.
First make sure you weigh your ingredients, if the sugar or flour is off it can change the final outcome of your cookie. Too much flour will create dry cookies. Second, it could have baked a little too long, resulting in a crunchier cookie. Third, the dough might not have been chilled for long enough.
Related Cookie Recipes
Nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookies
Chewy double chocolate cookies
Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups brown sugar dark or light
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, whisk it briefly and set it aside.
- Add the butter and brown sugar to a large bowl and mix with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until it's smooth and light in color. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl. You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
- Then, add the peanut butter and mix until it is smooth.
- Pour in the eggs one at a time and mix until they are combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and fold them in with a spatula (or mix on low speed) until they're just combined.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight. Pro-tip: Chilling is essential to getting that chewy texture in the cookies. If you don’t chill the dough enough, your cookies will spread and become crispy in the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the cookie dough with a #2 scoop (or a ¼ measuring cup) into 2-2.5 ounce balls. This will make 24, 3" cookies.
- Form the dough into balls with your hands and place them at least 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.
- Using an extra large fork, press down once in each direction to give the cookie its signature criss-cross pattern on top. This is done so the cookie bakes and spreads evenly, and it's cute.
- Bake the cookies at 375°F for 13-15 minutes. The baking time may vary on your oven, but cookies shouldn’t appear to be too browned when finished, just slightly golden and crisp on the edges. Take them out when they are set and look a little soft in the center. If they appear too wet in the middle give them 1-2 minutes more. Baked cookies will keep their soft texture if you store them in an airtight container.
- Use a large cookie cutter to form your warm peanut butter cookies into perfect circles. This is optional but will make them extra pretty!
- Rest the cookies on the baking pan for 5 minutes, then place them onto a cooling rack.
Notes
- These chewy peanut butter cookies will last a room temperature stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days. You can also freeze the baked cookies or freeze the dough to have them at any time. They're delicious when served with a glass of cold milk!
- Freeze these peanut butter cookie dough balls for up to 2 months and bake them off when you want fresh cookies.
- Bring your butter to room temperature before creaming it with your sugars. Sugar will push through softened butter easier than cold butter.
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