These soft peanut butter cookies are melt-in-your-mouth perfection! Through some rather likely magical explanation, these babies get even better with time like a fine wine!
Peanut butter cookies were a staple in our house growing up, so I knew I had to bring them back into my life at some point. Let’s dig in to these crumbly, mouth-watering cookies, shall we?
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Whip it REAL Good.
The key to truly fluffy and soft peanut butter cookies comes down to three main factors:
- Whipping the living daylights out of your sugars/butters
- Using dark brown sugar
- Baking until JUST golden brown
You’ll see in the recipe below that you’ll whip your sugars and butters together for a whopping 4 minutes- this is key! You want to whip as much air as possible into the dough to keep the cookies light and fluffy during the bake. You could stop at 2 minutes, yes, but your cookies won’t be nearly as light- trust me!
Now why dark brown sugar? Well dark brown sugar contains more molasses than its light counterpart, along with a touch more moisture. Both of these elements will result in a both a chewier and more relaxed dough!
The third factor is your baking time! You’ll notice I’ve put a range of 13-15 minutes when baking your cookies. This range only exists because every oven is different! Baking closer to 13 minutes will give you an even softer texture.
Essentially, you’ll want to bake your cookies until they’re JUST golden brown on the tops. Your cookies will continue to bake just a tad when cooling on the sheets, so you’ll want to pull these babies out of the oven just as they turn golden!
Materials You’ll Need:
- Standing mixer with paddle attachment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Silicone spatula
- Cookie scoop (1 1/2 tablespoon)
- 2 cookie sheets (one will do, just may take you more time)
- Parchment paper or silicone baking sheets
- Cooling rack (or something to place cookies on to cool completely)
- Fork for making the crisscross pattern
- Small bowl for rolling dough in sugar
Making the Crisscross Pattern
Once you have approximately 8 dough balls arranged about 2 or 3 inches apart on your cookie sheets, you can start making the crisscross patterns!
Press down gently into one of the dough balls with the prongs of your fork, first horizontally and then again vertically (see below!). Your cookies should be flattened to about a 1/2-inch height when it’s all said and done!
I can’t wait to see all your soft peanut butter cookies! If you end up making them, please tag me on instagram @joshisbaking – I would love to share and drool right along with you.
Happy baking, friends!
Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 35
- Yield: 25–30 Cookies 1x
- Category: Cookies
Description
Soft, melt-in-your-mouth, peanut butter cookies that are a cinch to whip up and get even better with time like a fine wine!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1/4 cup extra for rolling
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare 2 cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
- In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place your butter, peanut butter and both sugars. Mix on low for 30 seconds until everything pulls together, then on medium-high for another 3 1/2 minutes
- Make sure to scrape down the sides/bottom of the bowl halfway through!
- Add your eggs, one at a time, mixing on low between each until incorporated. Then add your vanilla extract, baking powder, soda, and salt- mixing on low until combined.
- Mix in your flour, 1 cup at a time on low speed until just combined, scraping down the bowl in between each cup. Just be careful not to over-mix your dough!
- Scoop out roughly 1 1/2 tbsp. balls of dough. Roll them in your hands until smooth and then roll them in your 1/4 cup of granulated sugar until evenly coated.
- Place 8 dough balls on each cookie sheet, spaced about 2-3 inches apart.
- Using a fork, press down gently into each ball with the prongs, first horizontally and then vertically. This will give you that classic crisscross pattern!
- Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350°F (middle rack) until the tops are JUST golden brown.
- Every oven is different, hence the range! 13 minutes should give you barely golden cookies, with a soft center and lightly crisp edges. If your oven runs low, however, you may need closer to 15 minutes.
- Keep rolling, coating, and baking until all of your dough is gone! May take several rounds.
- Let sit for about 10 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
- ENJOY!
Notes
- Cookies will keep for up to 2 weeks stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Like I said before, these cookies will truly get better with time! You may find them even softer after the first week- it’s magic!
- The range of “25-30 Cookies” for the amount this recipes yields is dependent on how stingy you are with your cookie scoop. If you’re leveling off the scoop exactly, you may get closer to 30 cookies. If you’re like me and lazily (generously) scooping the dough up, you’ll end up with around 25!
*Josh Is Baking is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees or commissions by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
As one with z.e.r.o. baking skills, this recipe was super easy to follow and heavenly to inhale <3 Thank You!
Thank you Karen! Happy to hear they were super approachable–that was my goal!