These easy Peanut Butter Cookies have crisp edges, soft, chewy centers, and plenty of peanut butter flavor. The "crunchy" comes from using crunchy peanut butter, which adds little bits of peanuts throughout. No chilling or rolling required.
I live in a house divided between chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. I try to alternate what kind of cookies I make each week to keep everyone happy.
This peanut butter cookie recipe makes things a little bit easier because it doesn't require any chilling or shaping. The even ratio of butters and sugars make it simple to double when you want to make a big batch of cookies.
The recipe was inspired by the peanut butter cookies that used to be common at sandwich shops like Subway and McAlister's Deli. They always had that nice little bit of crunch from peanuts, a soft but chewy texture and a great peanut butter flavor. They were my husband's favorite cookie and the reason for the creation of this recipe.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: I use unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, reduce the salt slightly.
- Peanut Butter: I like to use crunchy peanut butter but creamy peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy will work too. Note this recipe has not been tested with natural peanut butter.
- Sugar: This recipe uses an equal ratio of brown and white sugars.
- All-Purpose Flour: I prefer to bake with unbleached All-Purpose Flour.
Can I use creamy peanut butter?
Yes. The cookies won't have the same peanut pieces throughout, but they'll still work well. You can mix in ¼ cup of chopped roasted peanuts to the batter for extra crunch.
How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies
Step 1: Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a stand mixer. Beat for about 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients (baking soda, salt, all-purpose flour). Mix just until a dough forms.
Step 3: Scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 11-13 minutes.
Step 4: Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Do I need to flatten the cookies?
No. These are drop cookies, so there's no need to flatten them before baking. You can add a fork criss-cross if you like the traditional peanut butter cookie look but it's not necessary.
Baking Tips
- For soft, chewy centers: Remove the cookies when the edges are set and lightly golden but the centers still look a little soft. They'll continue to firm up as they cool.
- Let them cool before moving: Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Storage
Store leftover peanut butter cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Extra baked cookies may be frozen.
📖 Recipe
Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup peanut butter, crunchy
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugar on medium-high speed for 4 minutes until mixture is fluffy. Beat in egg, and then vanilla extract. Scrape sides as needed.
- Add baking soda, salt and flour to wet ingredients. Mix on low speed until combined and dough is formed.
- Scoop cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake cookies at 350℉ for 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
I hope your family enjoys these homemade peanut butter cookies! If you love the peanut butter + chocolate combination, be sure to try out my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!
Alaine
Susan says
I made these using Adam's crunchy natural peanut butter and gluten free flour. They were delicious! Thank you!
Alaine says
Happy to hear, you're welcome! Helpful to know the recipe worked with natural PB and GF flour, thanks!
Tracy L Fuehrer says
I made these with dark brown sugar....superb!!! Real good!
Dena Pedersen says
I used dark brown sugar and brown butter♥️
Alaine says
I bet they were amazing. Thank you for sharing!
Janice says
Loved these crunchy peanut butter cookies, everything about it is perfect, taste, easy to prepare, and everything came out just right, thank you for publishing 😊 💞
B says
Should I flatten with a fork after I roll into balls? Thanks!
Alaine says
It's not necessary to flatten them. You can make the criss-cross marks with a fork, if you want. I would recommend not flattening them too much since it is a drop-cookie recipe.
Caela says
Well I made them. But I added chocolate chips. They were thinner than what was pictured but still good and not overly sweet.
Thank you!
Shayna says
We followed the recipe but added about 1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter, 2 Tbsp honey and used salted butter. We also added chocolate chips to the 2nd half of the batter and all the cookies turned out amazing!
Rayna says
Can you make these with almond flour and monk fruit?
Alaine says
Hi Rayna, for this exact cookie recipe, swapping in almond flour and monk fruit would not work. Using almond flour would lead to a greasy and crumbly cookie. I would recommend searching for a '3 ingredient keto peanut butter cookie' or an 'almond flour keto cookie' to find recipes suited to what you are looking for.
JCB says
I made these as stated in the recipe. YUMMMMM
Brenda Herrera says
Very easy, and delicious!
vamp.kisses says
I had a jar of crunchy PB that had been kicking around my pantry to long and needed to use it up. Recipe doubled nicely in my stand mixer. It was a super easy recipe and came together quick. Easy to scoop out with my scooper, perfect and soft at 11 minutes and kids loved them. Definitely a new addition to my cook book.
Alaine says
Thanks for sharing, glad to know they easily doubled in the mixer.
JoAnne Cortese says
I was looking for a quick easy cookie to make with not a lot of work or clean up - these cookies fit the brief! Bonus - they are so good! They’ll be a substitute for my dinner tonight and I’m not sad about it! ☺️
Alaine says
Thank you lol at least they pack some protein! If you like the combination of peanut butter + chocolate chips, I have a newer recipe for drop cookies that is quite good too. Thank you!
Janelle says
These are terrific! I used the only crunchy peanut butter I had, which was Jif Natural, but there was no issue with any running of the dough with a somewhat natural peanut butter. I always throw an extra egg yolk in any cookie recipe I bake - just personal preference as well as that of my family. I checked doneness at 9 minutes due to still learning how temps and timing with my new oven are playing out, but 11 minutes as you suggested was the perfect amount of time. No other changes aside from the extra yolk made to the recipe - quick and easy to measure, mix, scoop, and bake. I will definitely use this as my go to recipe!
Nancy says
Why the extra yolk? What does it do to the cookie?
bean says
Makes them more chewy.
Carol says
I won’t touch pb, but my family said these were really good. They said the pb flavor wasn’t quite enough though and whipping the pb with the butter and sugar took out any of the crunch. They were hoping for the crunch in the pb.
Alaine says
Yes they are more of a soft and chewy cookie but made with the crunchy PB. I am realizing the name may lead to some confusion and will try and clarify that better. Regardless, I'm glad they enjoyed, thanks.
Amy says
What a great recipe, easy to make and taste great!!
Carolyn says
I made these into strawberry peanut butter thumbprint cookies. They were wonderful and very pretty.
Alaine says
Thank you for sharing. My son would love those, I think I will have to try that myself sometime soon.
Dianne says
This cookie is the exact recipe I was wanting to make — crispy on the outside and soft on the inside! Delicious!
Alaine says
Thank you, Dianne! Very glad to hear you enjoyed the peanut butter cookies.
Alisha says
Easy and delicious!
Kam N says
I really liked these cookies when I made them last time! I seriously couldn’t stop reaching for them. I’m wondering if you ever tried freezing the dough and if you did, did you have to thaw it to bake it the next time?
Alaine says
Hi Kam - I'm glad you enjoyed these, that sounds just like my family lol. I have not tried freezing this dough. But if I did, I would freeze it as individual sizes and leave it out at room temp for 30 minutes to an hour before baking. I think that would be a good place to start and then just pay closer attention to them while they bake. I don't see any reason why this dough wouldn't freeze well.
Lisa M says
Amazing!!! exactly what I was looking for, little bit crispy on the outside, soft inside. I rolled some into white sugar, but they didn’t really need it anyway. Thanks for the recipe.🤩
Alaine says
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Linda says
These cookies are just perfect I should have doubled the recipe!
Alaine says
They never last long at my house either. Thank you, glad you enjoyed the cookies.
Jo says
Delicious cookies - easy to prepare - and moreish. Big glass of milk goes well with them. I drizzled some Valrohna chocolate over them gives them, it gives a nice appearance but not necessary. The recipe doesn’t state dark or light brown sugar, use light they don’t come out that good with dark imho! ☺️
Alaine says
Thank you! And thanks for pointing that out about the brown sugar, I updated that in the recipe card. So glad you enjoyed the cookies!
Valerie says
This is my favorite PB cookie recipe! I’ve made them probably 5 times now because they don’t sit around for long lol. The first few times I made them with baking powder instead of baking soda (3:1) because I was out of baking soda and I’ve come to prefer them with the baking powder-just preference of fluffy vs chewy. I usually plop a Hershey kiss on top because we’re a chocolate family 🙂 Thank you for my go to recipe!
Alaine says
Hi Valerie - So glad you found your favorite PB cookie recipe! I'll have to try making them fluffier with the baking powder sometime. I know what you mean, a batch barely lasts an afternoon at my house lol. Thank you!
Barbie says
Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe! My husband loves pb cookies and last night I found a recipe on Instagram and what a flop! I got up this morning and found yours on Google. I used salted butter instead and reduced the salt by half. They came out perfect!!! We like the salty/ sweet combo!
Alaine says
Hi Barbie - You are very welcome! I just made a batch of these myself today. Thank you for sharing.
Cheryl says
I tried this recipe with Extra Crunchy Jif and they came out amazing! My husband who is my best taste tester and critic says that these are now his favorite cookies. I baked them for 12 minutes and let them rest for 3 minutes and they were crispy. I might try it at 10-11 minutes for a softer texture. My older son wants me to put chocolate chips in them next time.
Alaine says
I've never tried them with Extra Crunchy PB but I often add some chopped peanuts, so I can imagine that they would be very tasty! Thank you for sharing! I have a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on my site, it is similar to this but has a few different measurements. I know some people also have told me they put a Hershey's kiss on the cookie after they bake but I haven't tried that yet.
Renee H says
OMGosh!! So very perfect! I used a brand of peanut butter called: Teddie All natural super chunky peanut butter. After stirring it well to mix the natural peanut butter with the small amount of oil at the top of the container, I was good to go.
Your recipe’s ingredient’s ratio is one of the best ratios for this peanut butter cookie that I’ve ever made..and I’ve been a baker of many confections for over 40years!!
Also, my husband’s Favorite Cookie of All time is a peanut butter cookie..he said to inform you, “Delicious, balanced very well, the sweet with the salt and a fantastic, melt in your mouth kinda cookie..JUST PERFECTION…”.
He’s a retired chemist, by the way.
Keep up the great work! We can’t wait to try to make some of your other recipes! 🙂
Alaine says
Hi Renee - Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a wonderful review! Hearing that this is one of the best cookie ratios you've baked in over 40 years completely makes my day. I think about ratios in my baking, so getting a stamp of approval from a retired chemist is like getting an A+ lol. Welcome to the blog, happy baking!
Bonnie says
Just made these this morning. Made the dough last night, added chocolate Mini-chips - came out great - and so easy! Next time I’ll roll the tops in crushed peanuts! Great recipe using common ingredients!!
Alaine says
Yum, I like to add crushed peanuts to the top for extra crunch too. The peanut butter chocolate chip combo never lasts long around my house. So glad the overnight dough method worked perfectly for you. Thank you for the review!
Yasky says
Easy and delicious. Perfect texture
Alaine says
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed the PB cookies.