Classic peanut butter cookies always taste best with a tall, ice-cold glass of milk. This traditional recipe will bring back the nostalgic days of childhood when grandmothers would bake up large batches of classic peanut butter cookies and fill up their cookie jars. They always seemed to know when their grandchildren would be stopping by for a visit or an overnight stay. There were always plenty of homemade cookies for now and more for later.
If you’ve been searching for the best peanut butter cookie recipe, your search is over. These classic peanut butter cookies are soft in the middle yet gently crisp on their bottoms and sides. I used Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter for this recipe. But if you enjoy peanut butter cookies with tiny chunks of tasty peanuts, you can definitely use chunky peanut butter instead. Here are all the ingredients you’ll need to bake up a scrumptious batch of homemade peanut butter cookies! And with the recipe instructions below your cookies will look just like mine.
What you’ll love about this classic peanut butter cookie recipe is that you can prepare the cookie dough in advance. Simply refrigerate the dough for up to two days, or freeze the dough for up to four weeks. When you’re ready to bake up a batch of fresh, warm homemade cookies your peanut butter cookie dough is ready to go. What’s also great is that you can prepare this cookie dough recipe in just one bowl. I use my KitchenAid stand mixer, but an electric hand mixer will get the job done too. Here’s how to make peanut butter cookies from scratch: Start by thoroughly mixing the softened butter with the two types of sugar in a large mixing bowl. The butter/sugar mixture will be light and slightly fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla to the bowl and briefly mix again until incorporated.
Add in the peanut butter and mix well. Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder and cornstarch. Mix briefly.
Add the flour and mix until all ingredients are well combined. Halfway through the mixing process, scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure all of the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
With a medium-sized cookie scoop create small balls of peanut butter cookie dough. Roll each ball of cookie dough in a small bowl of granulated sugar. Place the cookie dough on a baking trays lined with re-usable silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
Using a fork, make criss-cross markings across the top of each ball of cookie dough. In a 350-degree preheated oven, bake the peanut butter cookies for 10 minutes or until they are just barely starting to turn golden brown around the edges. The cookies may appear to be slightly under-baked, but as they cool they’ll firm up nicely.
Here’s how my classic peanut butter cookies look straight out of the oven. My kitchen smells amazing! For bakery-style cookies, sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of granulated sugar. Allow the cookies to remain on the baking sheet until it’s no longer hot. Transfer the peanut butter cookies to a cooling rack and later to a plate. Open your fridge and reach for that carton of milk. Enjoy these classic peanut butter cookies!
How to Make Classic Peanut Butter Cookies > Shop This Post
These fabulous kitchen tools will help you make classic peanut butter cookies in no time flat! I have two KitchenAid stand mixers, and I use them at least once or twice a week. I also love having re-usable silicone baking mats. They make clean-up a breeze and help save on parchment paper.
Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 36-42 Cookies 1x
Description
This traditional recipe will bring back the nostalgic days of childhood when grandmothers would bake up large batches of classic peanut butter cookies and fill up their cookie jars.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 3 teaspoons pure Mexican vanilla (or vanilla extract)
- 1 cup Skippy creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling and sprinkling
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar. Mixture should be a bit fluffy and well combined.
- Add eggs and vanilla to the mixing bowl. Mix until incorporated.
- Add peanut butter and mix well.
- Add salt, baking soda, baking powder and cornstarch. Briefly mix.
- Add the flour and mix well until all ingredients are fully combined. Halfway through the mixing process scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to ensure all ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Use a cookie scoop to form small balls of cookie dough. Roll each ball in a bowl filled with granulated sugar. Place the balls on baking trays lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on the top of each peanut butter cookie.
- One tray at a time, bake for 10 minutes or until peanut butter cookies start to become ever so slightly golden around the edges. Remove baking tray from oven and sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of granulated sugar. Allow the peanut butter cookies to cool for 10-12 minutes on the tray before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy your peanut butter cookies!
Notes
Store classic peanut butter cookies in Ziplock bags or an air-tight container for up to 4 days.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Snack, Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cookie recipe
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Classic Peanut Butter Cookies > Your Thoughts
Do you have a favorite peanut butter cookie recipe? What are your favorite types of cookies? Share your thoughts about these Classic Peanut Butter Cookies in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
I have been looking for a peanut butter cookie recipe and this is IT. The cookies turned out amazingly good. The edges are just the right crunch while the middle stays softer. Thank you so much for sharing this.
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YUM!My wife loves peanut butter so I’ve sent this recipe to her!
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Omg I adore peanut butter cookies…they”re my favorite. But I can never get them right. I’m def making yours soon. Thanks!
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I love peanuts. I could eat them every day. I must try that tasty recipe. It looks great.
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Peanut Butter cookies are my fave! These looks SO good!!
I love PB cookies and make them all the time. I don’t use brown sugar, so I’m going to try out your version.
Yumyum. Me and my family loves anything with peanut butter. I will save this recipe and share with my mom. Thanks.
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These do look amazing. Then again, I have always loved Peanut butter cookies. And I have made them a time or two. They are a simple recipe and one you can do with your kids, which I like.
I always have peanut butter cookies at home coz it also makes me happy. I always make sure that my cookie jar is always full! Yummmmyyy!
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It looks yummy and crispy! it’s very easy to make! I love the way it is explained with the step by step tutorial!
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I am glad to see these were made with Skippy. Skippy is king, no doubt.
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Nothing beats a classic! I love peanut butter cookies. During the holidays, I like dip them in chocolate!
Wow!! Cookies remind me of Christmas ..looks mouth watering…
These cookies look so tasty! I would eat them with water though. I can’t bring myself to drink milk.
I’m a sucker for anything with peanut butter! Yours look so yummy and I’m heading to the store tonight to make some!
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Oh my god! I LOVE peanut butter, it’s that special mixture of sweet and savory that really hits home with me. These look amazing. I know what I’m doing tonight :)
Katja xxx
http://www.katnapped.com
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Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorite snacks! These look so good.
I haven’t had peanut butter cookies in forever. These look so delicious to me.
This is a great recipe and looks simple enough to make. The photos are beautiful and the cookies look delicious!
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I love cookies! They bring me such good memories! Thanks for sharing this recipe, it seems super easy! Perfect for us novice bakers!
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It looks so delicious. Thank you for this amazing recipe
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Your cookies look so perfect!!! I remember making these with my sister all the time. I am pinning this so I can make it with my daughters over the weekend :)
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These look delicious! Love how you can see the little sugar grains on top. My husband is the baker in the house so I’ve got to share this recipe with him. We need to use our stand mixer more!
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yummy! can’t wait to indulge! these sound so good
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Looks so yummy! Peanut butter is my favorite food.. These cookies are so easy to make. Will definitely try this recipe!
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Your peanut butter cookie recipe look and sound absolutely delicious! I will have to try your recipe next time I want cookies.
It has been AGES since I’ve had a peanut butter cookie. I need to remedy this. These look amazing and I know I love them. I’ll be trying out your recipe! I also pinned it!
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These look incredible, couldn’t imagine my diet without peanut butter lol its in so much!
This looks so tasty! I love my peanut butter cookies but the one’s in store has a lot of sugar. With your recipe I can help to reduce that. You should create a Youtube Channel!
I love the silicone baking mat!
Gosh, it’s been years since I’ve had or made PB cookies. Thanks for the yummy reminder. These look delicious!
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Looks delicious! Peanut Butter is my absolute weakness!!
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These look like delicious peanut butter cookies. I’ve never made it them this way before. You shared many other recipes that caught my attention too.
Mmm… yes! I could use one (or 20) of these cookies :)
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Cookies are my fav! But I suck at making them ahah! they look so so good! xx corinne
Now I want a cookie and I was trying to be so good. Peanut butter is one of my favorite. This recipe looks so easy. I may have to dust off my apron
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Oh it’s been forever since I’ve had peanut butter cookies! I may try this with 1/2 gluten-free flour and see how it turns out. Thanks for sharing!
I literally ran to my kitchen to check if I still had any more peanut butter, these look so good and I know they would be addictive, knowing me I would want to nibble on them all the time and I really won’t even regret it. Thank you for sharing I will be pinning to try.
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These cookies look like the most perfect peanut butter cookie ever! Love how they’re all so uniform. Like they came from a proper bakery!
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Awww…Nicola, thank you so much for the sweet compliment! With a little sprinkling of sugar on top these classic peanut butter cookies are elevated to bakery-style cookies!
These are literally my favorite cookies in the world, grew up eating my mom’s but could never get the recipe quite right on my own, I will definitely give yours a try, the finished product looks too amazing to not try!
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Yolonda, this classic peanut butter cookies recipe is so traditional that it’s probably very close to your mother’s own cookie recipe. I love that you’re going to give this recipe a try. These peanut butter cookies are super easy to make!
Wow these look AMAZING!
Definitely going to give this a try. My fiance LOVES peanut butter as well.
Thanks for sharing! x
You are very welcome Laura. I know that once your fiance takes a bite of these classic peanut butter cookies he’ll be hooked!
Wow those cookies are literally picture perfect and I love that silpat with the cookie shapes already outlined for you! Now I want PB cookies :)
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Hello Daneen. I absolutely love my silicone baking mats. They help keep my classic peanut butter cookies evenly spaced on the baking tray. And when you use a cookie scoop your cookies will all turn out the same size. So awesome!
When I could eat all things YUMMMMMMMMMMM …. Peanut Butter cookies were my STAPLE – they were my favorite! They will forever be my favorite but sadly, I cannot eat them anymore – just smell them! lol
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Classic Peanut Butter Cookies are super tasty, but I know that with peanut allergies diets need to be adjusted. Thanks so much GiGi for stopping by to leave a comment. :-)