Classic Peanut Butter Cookies with Natural Peanut Butter

Learn how to make classic peanut butter cookies with natural peanut butter with this easy recipe. These are thicker and spread less by tweaking the amount of flour and they are finished with that signature criss-cross pattern you expect on peanut butter cookies.

This is a typical peanut butter cookie recipe from my mom's recipe box. It's a riff on the classic peanut butter cookie that many of us in North America grew up eating. Sometimes, you'll find the recipe on the back of the label on a jar of regular peanut butter (like Kraft peanut butter).

The cookie recipe below is quite different than these 3-ingredient flourless peanut butter cookies, which are gluten-free and made with three basic ingredients (peanut butter, sugar, and an egg). On the other hand, the recipe below uses both butter and peanut butter, as well as eggs, flour, and baking soda (a chemical leavener).

Ingredients

• butter—I tested these peanut butter cookies with unsalted butter. If you use salted butter, you may reduce the amount of salt added to ensure the cookies aren't too salty
• peanut butter—I used Kraft all-natural, unsweetened smooth peanut butter (the kind you have to stir). Using regular peanut butter may make these cookies sweeter
• sugar—I like to use both granulated and light brown sugar, but you can also opt to make these cookies with all granulated sugar or all brown sugar
• eggs—all my recipes are tested with large eggs and if you use a different size, the results may vary
• leavening agents—these cookies are made with baking soda, not baking powder. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure the difference between these chemical leaveners
• salt—I used Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt in this recipe. If you are using table salt, use half the amount
• flour—these recipes were tested with bleached all-purpose flour, but you can also use unbleached flour.

Please see the recipe card for the exact list of ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• Peanut-free: use a natural nut butter alternative like almond butter or sunflower seed butter (please note that if you make these with sunflower seed butter, the cookies may end up green from the baking soda but will still taste great!)
• Chocolate—you can incorporate chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in this cookie dough (up to 175 grams or 1 cup). I prefer dark (semi-sweet) chocolate in these cookies, but white chocolate is also lovely, as in these bakery-style peanut butter cookies with white chocolate
• Shortening—If you make these cookies with shortening instead of butter, they will be thicker and spread even less (because the melting point of shortening is higher than butter). If you choose to use shortening, reduce the flour to 125 grams (1 cup) to ensure they spread enough.

Testing Notes

Often, the key to a thicker cookie is to use slightly more flour. When I was developing this recipe, I tested making the cookie dough with less flour, using 125 grams (1 cup) of all-purpose flour, to using more flour, 188 grams (1.5 cups) of all-purpose flour:

• Peanut butter cookies made with less flour spread more. They are thinner, softer, and slightly chewy.
• Peanut butter cookies made with more flour spread less. They are thicker, chewy, more firm.

I also tested if pressing the scoops of peanut butter cookie dough with a fork before baking was necessary and, clearly, it is, but mostly for aesthetic reasons. Peanut butter cookies don't spread if you don't press them with a fork before baking.

There's absolutely nothing wrong if you choose not to press the scoops of dough with a fork (or the palm of your hand), but the cookies won't spread much as they bake. They will be taller and rounder, mimicking the shape of the cookie scoop.

How to Make Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe is great for beginners because it's easy to make, fairly quick, and you can mix the dough by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula, with an electric hand mixer, or with a stand mixer.

Step 1: Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 1). Add the egg and vanilla (image 2) and beat the mixture until it's well mixed, smooth and fluffy (image 3).

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt (image 4) then add it to the mixer bowl (image 5) and stir it in to form a thick dough (image 6).

Step 3: Portion out the dough into scoops using a small cookie scoop (around 30–35 grams) (image 7). Evenly space the scoops on a parchment paper-lined half sheet pan —you will be able to fit 8 scoops per half sheet (image 8) to allow room for air flow and spreading. Use a fork to flatten the mounds of dough (image 9).

Note: Some bakers like to roll the scoops of peanut butter cookie dough in granulated sugar before pressing with a fork. This can prevent the fork from sticking to the dough and also will help the surface of the cookies dry out and crack a little as they bake.

Step 4: Your cookies will have a criss-cross pattern on the surface after pressing with a fork in both directions (image 10). Bake the peanut butter cookies until the edges are set and the surface looks dry (image 11).

Baking with Natural Peanut Butter

A lot of people don't realize you can bake with natural, unsweetened peanut butter. Natural peanut butter is made with ground peanuts only. It doesn't contain any emulsifiers or stabilizers, so it separates over time, where the lower-density peanut oil rises to the top and the solids sink to the bottom.

In order to bake with natural peanut butter, you must ensure that the oil and solids are evenly mixed together. To do so, you can

• use the handle of a large wooden spoon by hand (difficult)
• use an electric hand mixer inserting only one whisk attachment to the mixer (see image).

Note: using an electric mixer to mix natural peanut butter is faster and easier, but also a little tricky and can result in the peanut oil splashing everywhere if you don't have a firm grip on the jar of peanut butter. You can also transfer the contents of the jar to a bowl, mix with the hand mixer, then transfer it back. This is a "safer" option!

Peanut Butter Cookie Tips

The signature criss-cross pattern we have come to expect on peanut butter cookies is not just for aesthetic reasons. If you don't press down the scoops of peanut butter cookie dough with a fork, the cookies don't spread out when they bake and remain rounded, a shape similar to how they were scooped.

Pressing down peanut butter cookies with a fork in two directions creates a criss-cross on the cookies before baking and ensures they spread and aren't too thick.

The criss-cross pattern we expect to see on our peanut butter cookies might also be a good way to signal an allergen: peanuts. Bakers reserve this technique almost exclusively for peanut butter cookies. It may be tradition, but it also signals that these cookies are made with peanut butter.

Tip: If you find the fork tines are sticking to the cookie dough too much, coat the back of your fork in a little flour. Brush off the excess using a pastry brush before baking the cookies.

You should also play with the baking time to achieve the desired texture. To make the perfect peanut butter cookie that isn't too dry or crisp, the baking time should be around 10 to 12 minutes at 350 ºF. Any longer, and you will end up with crisper cookies. That's oka too!

Peanut Butter Cookie FAQs

Other Easy Drop Cookie Recipes to Try

This recipe, believe it or not, is actually a variation of my recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies, which yields a thick, chewy cookie. Once you have a good base recipe, you can make so many variations and adaptations of it:

• thick chewy oatmeal cookies with milk chocolate chunks and peanuts
• blueberry oatmeal cookies with white chocolate
• chocolate chip cookies with pecans

If you are looking for even bigger, thicker peanut butter cookies, try these thick chewy peanut butter cookies made with white chocolate chunks and chopped nuts. And for a flourless version, try these gluten-free peanut butter cookies, which can be made with any nut butter, including natural peanut butter, almond butter, sesame butter (tahini), and sunflower seed butter.

If you tried this recipe for classic peanut butter cookies made with natural peanut butter (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

AuthorAuthor : Janice Lawandi

A recipe for thick chewy peanut butter cookie made with natural peanut butter

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24

Calories 129 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• ▢
  OXO balloon whisk
• ▢
  ¾ oz scoop
• ▢
  Sheet pan

Need measurements in CUPSUse the button options below to switch from Metric to US measurements! It's that easy!

Ingredients

 

MetricUS

 

0.5x1x2x3x

• ▢ 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• ▢ 125 grams all natural, unsweetened smooth peanut butter
• ▢ 100 grams granulated sugar
• ▢ 100 grams light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg(s)
• ▢ 2.5 mL pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2.5 mL baking soda
• ▢ 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• ▢ 188 grams bleached all-purpose flour use 125 grams (1 cup) flour for softer cookies that spread more OR use 188 grams (1 ½ cups) flour for chewy thicker cookies

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 °C).
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, peanut butter, and the sugars for several minutes, starting on low and slowly increasing the speed to medium. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
• Add the egg, and beat until it is incorporated, then the vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda and salt. For chewy/softer/thin cookies, add 125 grams of flour. For thicker chewy cookies, add 188 grams of flour. Whisk the dry ingredients together then add them to the mixer bowl. Beat until combined.
• Scoop the cookie dough with a cookie scoop onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, press with a lightly-floured fork to make a criss-cross pattern, and then bake for 10–12 minutes for chewy cookies or for 13–15 minutes for crispier cookies.
• Let cool several minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

• For the peanut butter:
  • I like Maranatha brand all-natural unsweetened peanut butter, which you can purchase on Amazon.
  • I have also used Kraft Natural peanut butter and it works great too (it's made from peanuts only and has nothing else added)
  • To scoop cookies, I use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop Amazon
  • Peanut-free: use a natural nut butter alternative like almond butter or sunflower seed butter (please note that if you make these with sunflower seed butter, the cookies may end up green from the baking soda but will still taste great!)
  • Shortening—If you make these cookies with shortening instead of butter, they will be thicker and spread even less (because the melting point of shortening is higher than butter). If you choose to use shortening, reduce the flour to 125 grams (1 cup) to ensure they spread enough.
  • Chocolate—you can incorporate chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in this cookie dough (up to 175 grams or 1 cup). I prefer dark (semi-sweet) chocolate in these cookies, but white chocolate is also lovely, as in these bakery-style peanut butter cookies with white chocolate
• If you don't press down the scoops of peanut butter cookie dough with a fork, the cookies don't spread out when they bake and remain rounded, a shape similar to how they were scooped.
• If you find the fork tines are sticking to the cookie dough too much, coat the back of your fork in a little flour. Brush off the excess using a pastry brush before baking the cookies.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
•  

Nutrition

Calories: 129kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 70mgPotassium: 47mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 130IUCalcium: 9mgIron: 1mg

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