About three years ago, I began a pursuit of peanut butter cookie perfection. Peanut butter cookies are Papa's (my husband) favorite. That was my inspiration.
Poor peanut butter cookies, you always play second fiddle to the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookie that always tops the cookie popularity contests (behind not-homemade Oreos!). You are the bridesmaid but never the bride.
But seriously, everyone eats chocolate chip cookies primarily for the chocolate. It's time for peanut butter cookies to take their rightful place at the top of the chart because they are deliciously simple and simply delicious.
There is so much to love about peanut butter cookies, but I need to remember that everyone has their own idea about what makes a cookie perfect. Some like crisp, some like cakey.
But who doesn't adore a cookie with thin, crisp edges and a chewy heart that bends, not breaks, when you bite it? For me, that is a cookie dream come true.
The recipe I'm about to share will deliver that and more. These cookies offer sweet and buttery perfection with a hint of salt in every decadent bite.
Not sadly, it took three batches of cookies to achieve my ideal. The first two batches were a B+ or better, but I wanted an A or an A+.
We could have easily eaten them all, but we gave most of them away. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to help with my research.
Peanut cookies came to us in about 1910 from the famed Alabama educator-agronomist George Washington Carver of the Tuskegee Institute. He published a cookbook with over 100 recipes using peanuts.
You can read information on this cookbook here… https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/gwcrecipe.htm. Carver encouraged farmers to grow peanuts as an alternative crop to cotton. Thank goodness it caught on!
Interestingly, Carver did not invent peanut butter! In 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the creator of Kellogg's Cereal, patented a process for creating peanut butter from raw peanuts.
He marketed it as a nutritious protein substitute for people who could hardly chew on solid food. I'm sort of glad I didn't know that until long after I became a peanut butter lover.
The first peanut butter cookies were simply drop cookies, and the recipe originated in about 1902. Sometimes, the cookie dough was rolled thin and cut into shapes. The early cookies did not have fork marks.
The first mention of creating the characteristic criss-cross marks with fork tines was made in the Schenectady Gazette newspaper on July 1, 1932. There was no explanation why. Today, we know that dense dough bakes more evenly when it is flattened this way.
I'm most definitely a science nerd. And a little bit lazy, er, I mean, I try to be efficient. I did some research about what makes cookies chewy. Cooking and baking actually involve a lot of science.
Here are some of the interesting things I found. It helped me locate the exact recipe for peanut butter perfection.
I use butter in everything. Julia Child was a role model for me. I love her quote, "With enough butter, everything is good." She also said, "Fat gives things flavor." (#truth!)
It turns out butter does make cookies taste great, but shortening makes them chewier. I don't use shortening very much, but I discovered that butter-flavored shortening is the secret.
I found the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe on a package of buttery Crisco sticks! And guess what? It uses only brown sugar, no white sugar at all.
Here is the difference. Brown sugar makes cookies chewier because it contains molasses which adds moisture. It's also somewhat acidic. That makes the proteins in the cookie dough firm up faster, creating a chewier texture. Who knew?
Sticks of shortening live in the cupboard, not the refrigerator. That means they are soft and ready to use immediately. First, I beat the shortening and brown sugar together.
Then I added the eggs, vanilla, peanut butter, and that little bit of milk Alton Brown suggested. When that was all fluffy, I added the baking soda and salt.
I only made one change to the original recipe: I increased the amount of salt by a smidge and used kosher salt.
Finally, I added the flour gradually at a slow speed. I beat the dough gently and stopped right when the flour was fully incorporated.
This is the hard part! The dough tastes as great as the cookies, maybe better. But I want the cookies to have a soft heart after they are baked. That felt like a very long hour as I anticipated my cookie nirvana.
When you allow time for the dough to chill, the center of the cookie starts out cold so it bakes more slowly which adds to the chewiness, the holy grail of peanut butter cookiedom.
Cover the cookie sheets with parchment paper. I learned this trick years ago when I managed a hotel. Every evening, we greeted the guests with fresh-baked cookies, perfect every time, thanks to the non-stick parchment paper.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place them 2" apart on the cookie sheet. You will see how much they spread and can adjust the placement after the first sheet is out of the oven.
The criss-cross mark of intersecting fork tines is an indication of peanut butter cookie authenticity! This step also flattens the dough ever-so-slightly. This way, they bake perfectly.
Here's a batch ready for the oven! Interestingly, this recipe called for an oven temperature of 375 degrees, higher than the first recipes I tried.
The suggested bake time is only 7 or 8 minutes. A quick bake in a hotter oven gave me the results I have been craving! Hooray!
It was very, very hard for me to wait until the cookies were cool. Any warm cookie can be chewy, but the real test comes when the cookies reach room temperature!
Can I bite one and see teeth marks? Oh, the suspense!
Oh, happy day! Perfection! Check out this soft-hearted cookie with just a hint of salt in each bite! Pure bliss! As you can see, I incorporated some, but not all, of the tips for chewier cookies.
In fact, I did the opposite of one of the suggestions by raising the oven temperature. Who knew? You've got to experiment!
Be sure to keep the cookies in an airtight container. Your cookie jar may be cute, but it's not the best place to keep a chewy cookie at its chewy perfection.
Another old-school trick is to put a slice of fresh bread in with the cookies. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread, and the bread will dry out! This is also a helpful hint if you've ever left cookies in the oven a wee bit too long!
Cooking and baking do involve some science. I've always said my kitchen is my laboratory and my playground.
And, for me, everything is always a labor of love. I hope you love these cookies as much as my "researchers" did!
A perfect peanut butter cookie with crisp edges and a soft, chewy middle that bends when you bite into it. Just a hint of salt in each bite.
Each of our daughters has a signature cookie that everyone loves. Maybe someday they will let me share them! I'll keep asking! What is your favorite cookie? Here is one of my all-time favorites! Chewy Oatmeal Cookies. Oh, and if you're looking for a killer bar cookie, this is hands-down my favorite! Lemon Pie Bars
If you liked this recipe, you are my people! Please share it on your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter! It would sure tickle me, and I would be ever so grateful!
If you haven't already, please look for me on Facebook and Pinterest. I share easy, delicious, family-friendly recipes there every week!
If you enjoyed a post, I'd love it if you would leave a review or a comment. It really helps my little business. ❤❤
Love, GB (Betty Streff)
Sign up for my newsletter and receive a free gift! A printable sign that would look great in your kitchen, framed above your sink, or just placed anywhere to remind us how lucky we are to have dirty dishes!
Sign up now!
Brown sugar is "white sugar" that has been cooked with molasses before it was cooled and granulated.
#facepalm
And, it bakes and tastes different. Thank you.
I can't wait to try this recipe. I love peanut butter cookies. Thank you fort this recipe. 😊
Aren’t you the sweetest? Thank you! I hope you love them!!
First you said use baking powder, then the recipe calls for baking soda. I'm confused.
I didn’t mean to confuse you! I made a list of suggestions I found. Then I went on to say I didn’t use them all.
Like I raised the oven temp but baked them for less time. I did use soda, not baking powder and the cookies are amazing!
I hope you try them! Thanks for taking tome to comment and again, so sorry to create confusion!!!
These look so yummy. As soon as lent is done, I am going to make them!! It says flour, but did you go with AP or bread flour?
I admire your discipline! God will reward you! I used regular old all-purpose flour! Six days after I baked them they were still chewy out of the Rubbermaid!!
The recipe calls for !/2 cups shortening. I'm assuming that is a typo for 1/2 cup? Please proof read your recipes. Thanks
Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I have corrected it.
I have been searching for the perfect peanut butter cookies recipe for my peanut butter loving family for MONTHS. This is it!! This is THE ONE!! Not cakey, perfectly chewy and actually tastes like peanut butter! Thank you SO MUCH!
Jess!! My stars, girl, you made my feet do a happy dance when you told me you love the peanut butter cookie recipe!🥰 you are the sweetest thing ever to take the time to reach out to me, you totally made my day! Thanks ever so much!
2 tsp of salt in this is insane. Especially considering the salt in the peanut butter. These tasted like salty, buttered flavored crisco 🙁 I don’t know, maybe I did something wrong but these were almost inedible. The texture was great though!
Oh that makes me so sad, it's been one of my top recipes- but everyone's palate is so different. I guess if you like it otherwise, take out the salt. Then let me know if that's better...........😥