Peanut Butter Cookies

This peanut butter cookie recipe is my favourite because they don’t turn out soft. Instead they have a tempting snap when you break them that gives away their slightly firm yet fudgy structure. They are by no means dry; the first few bites are crunchy with a texture that becomes velvety with every chew. I love making them with my homemade peanut butter for maximum peanut butter blast!

What Makes Peanut Butter Cookies Crispy?

The ingredient that makes these peanut butter cookies crispy is butter. This is was makes most cookies crispy.

How Can I Make Peanut Butter Cookies Soft?

Replace the butter with vegetable shortening. Or use a half and half mix of the two to get the best of both worlds. This would give you a cookie with a crisp exterior and a soft center. Experiment and find out what proportions work for you!

How to Get the Best Peanut Butter Cookies

• Have all ingredients at room temperature Creaming cold butter is difficult and will likely leave lumps behind. Using cold eggs straight from the fridge can cause the dough to curdle. This can result in greasy pockets throughout the cookie’s structure when baked. When you use room temperature ingredients, they incorporate much smoother resulting in an even textured cookie.
• Do not over-mix the dough It’s easy to mix the dough too much for fear of not incorporating the ingredients enough. But over-mixing will give you a tough cookie. Over-mixing can also cause a lot of cracking all over your cookie. A little cracking is okay, but over working the dough can make them look shattered.
• Chill the dough before forming—then chill again This is a step that you absolutely cannot skip. When just mixed, this dough will be quite soft and difficult to roll into balls. Chilling for at least an hour not only firms up the butters in the dough, it also allows the dough to autolyse. Normally a term that points to bread making, autolyse occurs when the flour absorbs the moisture in the dough over time, thus resulting in a less sticky, easier to handle dough.
• Transfer the cookies to cooling racks immediately after baking Like all other cookies, these will continue to cook if you leave them on the baking sheet to cool. Instead, transfer them onto a wire cooling rack right when they come out of the oven. This will prevent them from getting too crispy or even burning.

I hope these tips help. Now go and bake a batch of these and share them with your favourite people–just not the ones with peanut allergies!

Print Recipe

Peanut Butter Cookies

These peanut butter cookies turn out slightly crispy with a smooth, velvety crunch. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk.

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

American

Keyword

Cookies, Peanut butter

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

12 minutes

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter soft
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cups All purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Course Dessert Cuisine American Keyword Cookies, Peanut butter Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 12 minutes Passive Time 1 hour Servings cookies Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter soft 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 egg room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup peanut butter 1 1/4 cups All purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. In a mixer bowl cream butter with both sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Beat in vanilla. Add peanut butter and beat until just smooth.
2. In a smaller bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the peanut butter mixture in 3 additions. Beat on low speed until combined but do not over mix.
3. Cover the dough directly with plastic and chill at least 1 hour. Do not skip this step as the dough will be much easier to handle and the cookies will bake properly.
4. Preheat oven to 350F/177C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and begin rolling dough into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball. You will end up with 20-24 balls. Arrange on baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart and press a crisscross pattern into each one with the tines of a fork.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies look slightly dry on top and bottoms are lightly golden. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store at room temperature in an airtight container up to 5 days or freeze up to 3 months.