The Best Peanut Butter Cookies

These are the best peanut butter cookies ever! Thick, chewy and studded with peanut butter chips and mini Reese’s candy.

I really love peanut butter desserts like Chewy peanut butter blondies, No-bake peanut butter pie, and peanut butter blossoms! But I realized that I haven’t shared one of my favorite recipes for peanut butter cookies. They’re thick and chewy and studded with peanut butter chips and Reese’s pieces.

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies

The Secret to Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

I’ve tried at least 20 recipes for peanut butter cookies over the past 5 years. Most of them were gritty, dry and crumbly. Some of them were too flat while others had a strange taste. It was frustrating, to say the least.

My husband was the ultimate taste tester, and NONE of them passed the test until he took a bite of one of these!

I figured out that the key to chewy peanut butter cookies with an intense peanut butter flavor was a higher ratio of peanut butter, an extra egg, and some flavor-enhancing mix-ins.

The dough itself is soft and sticky. Don’t be alarmed, they bake up beautifully. To make it slightly easier to work with you can refrigerate the dough for an hour but it’s not necessary.

Peanut Butter cookie dough with Reese's Pieces

How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies

In a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, mix peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Then add the sugars and mix until combined. With mixing speed on low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine.

In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. While mixing on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until combined.

Fold in peanut butter chips and Reese’s Pieces and then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.

Once chilled, form balls of dough, then roll in sugar and place onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle tops with a pinch of coarse kosher sea salt, if desired. (I like to press in a few extra peanut butter chips and mini Reese’s pieces to the balls of dough right before I bake them and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt for a finishing touch.)

Place in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes at  375 degrees. Remove and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely, about 7-10 minutes.

*Note that the temperature for these is not your standard 350 degrees- it’s 375. Bake them for 10-11 minutes, no longer. They will look slightly underdone, but that’s ok. As they cool, they will firm up. DO NOT be tempted to leave them in the oven any longer.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

PB Cookie Recipe FAQs

Can I use Almond Butter instead of Peanut Butter? Yes, you can substitute almond butter in any peanut butter recipe because it has a similar consistency and buttery taste! 

Can we use crunchy peanut butter? If you only have crunchy peanut butter then that is totally fine, if you decide you want to do that instead of adding ground peanuts go for it!

How to ground the peanuts? You can either pulse them in a blender or in a food processor until it is the texture of coarse bread crumbs. Some people have even suggested freezing the peanuts ahead of time so that they don’t immediately turn into powder when you try to grind them.

What kind of peanuts should you use? You can use whatever type of peanuts you want, it might be best however to just use plain unsalted and unroasted peanuts. The salted ones could give it a super cool flavor dimension to it though.

How do I know when my peanut butter cookies are done?  The edges will be slightly brown/ golden but since it is hard to see because of their darker color you can use the poke test. Poke the side with your finger and if it leaves an indention then the cookies need more time. But if they don’t indent they are done! 

Peanut Butter Cookies on cookie rack

How to Store Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

These cookies can last up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. But the prepared cookie dough will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator

This peanut butter cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. The best method for freezing cookie dough balls is to roll the dough into balls and leave them on the tray until they are solid. Then you can place them in a freezer-safe bag or Tupperware container.

Enjoy with a big glass of milk, because they’re peanut butter cookies after all!

Looking for more delicious peanut butter recipes? Try these:

 

Did you try this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ rating below and share it on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies | lifemadesimplebakes.com

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

These are the best peanut butter cookies ever! Thick, chewy and studded with peanut butter chips and mini Reese's candies.
5 from 5 votes
Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 30 cookies
Calories: 170kcal
Author: Andrea
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter*
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter - (1 stick) room temperature
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar - packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp kosher sea salt
  • 2/3 cup Reese's Peanut Butter Chips
  • 1/3 cup Reese's Mini Pieces Peanut Butter Candy
  • 1/2 tsp coarse kosher sea salt - for sprinkling tops (optional)

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add sugars and mix until combined.
  • With mixing speed on low, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine.
  • In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. With mixing speed on low, gradually add dry ingredients, mixing until combined. Fold in peanut butter chips and Reese's Pieces. Cover dough with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.
  • Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  • Using a standard size cookie scoop, form balls of dough, then roll in sugar and place onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle tops with a pinch of coarse kosher sea salt, if desired.
  • Place in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes. Remove and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely, about 7-10 minutes.

NOTES

* I personally use Skippy Natural Creamy peanut butter.
- I prefer these without any chocolate in them. However, you can easily add or swap peanut butter chips for chocolate chips and Reese's pieces for chopped peanut butter cups.

Nutrition

Serving: 30serving | Calories: 170kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 147mg | Potassium: 90mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 110IU | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg

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About the Author

Andrea

Hi I'm Andrea!

Hotelier turned Food Blogger to help make your life simple, one recipe at a time.

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Comments:

  1. 5 stars
    I just made these and taste tested one. They are unquestionably five star and the absolute best peanut butter cookies I have ever made. I followed your directions exactly and they turned out fabulous–moist, deliciously peanut buttery and beautiful to look at. Rolling in sugar was an inspired touch. Thank you so much for sharing this!!

    1. I’ve seen them at Walmart, my local grocery store..I would google your location to see who has them. Hope you do find them!

  2. 5 stars
    These really are the best!! Love peanut butter cookies! I like that these have both the peanut butter chips, but also the reese’s pieces. They are super soft & delicious!