These crispy peanut butter cookies feature perfectly crisp edges with soft centers and have an unbeatable nostalgic taste!
Throwing it back with a vintage cookie favorite today! Remember those peanut butter cookies we all had as kids with the crispy edges and those melt-in-your-mouth centers? That’s exactly what we’re recreating today and it’s basically heaven in cookie form.
Like eat half the batch straight off the sheet pan kinda good is where I’m at.
Not gonna lie, these days I’m more of a coffee-with-my-cookie kinda gal, but these peanut butter cookies take me straight back to my milk-and-cookies days and a cold glass of milk is absolutely essential here.
Spoiler alert: these are like the most easy-breezy cookies ever and I’m betting you have most of the ingredients on hand right now!
*sprints to the kitchen*
These Peanut Butter Cookies feature…
- Crispy edges and a soft interior
- Tons of peanut butter flavor
- An easy dough made with simple ingredients that can also be made ahead of time
Making the Peanut Butter Cookies
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Peanut butter
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
Choosing Your Peanut Butter
I typically opt to make these cookies with creamy peanut butter, however, crunchy peanut butter also works well and gives these cookies a bit more texture!
I do not recommend using a natural peanut butter in this recipe as the oil separation tends to make baked goods a bit more cakey.
Tips for Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies
- Use two kinds of sugar – a little bit of brown sugar and granulated sugar gives these cookies that perfect texture level between crisp and soft.
- Cream butter – make sure your butter is softened to room-temperature and cream well with the sugars until smooth and creamy.
- Use room temperature egg – just like the butter, allow the egg to come to room temperature or submerge in hot water for about 2 minutes to quickly warm it. A room temperature egg will incorporate much easier into the butter.
- Measure flour correctly – I use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
- Use stand mixer or mix dough by hand – this recipe is both mixer-friendly and old-fashioned-bowl-and-spoon friendly.
- Flatten cookies with a fork before baking – gently flatten the cookies with a fork criss-cross before baking. This will help the cookies spread more evenly during baking and give them that signature peanut butter cookie look.
Recipe Variations
Try these ideas for a different twist on these cookies.
- Add chocolate – fold 1/2 cup semisweet, dark, or white chocolate chips into dough.
- Roll cookies in cinnamon sugar – skip the regular sugar and instead roll balls in cinnamon sugar for a little extra spice.
- Top cookies – try topping cookies with a powdered sugar glaze or caramel sauce.
Storing Dough
If you would like to make up the dough for these cookies in advance it stores well in refrigerator up to 6 days. Wrap the dough well in plastic wrap before storing and follow recipes instructions for baking cookies.
Storing and Freezing Baked Cookies
Allow cookies to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days.
To freeze cookies, allow to cool completely, then wrap well and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw cookies completely at room temperature and store up to 4 days.
One bite of these cookies will convince you that you don’t need any other peanut butter cookie in your life but these! The texture is an absolute DREAM with just the right amount of crisp + softness and of course, so much peanut butter in every bite.
Meet your new peanut butter heaven.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
More peanut butter favorites to try next!
Crispy Peanut Butter Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Additional granulated sugar for rolling cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place butter and sugars in the bowl of a large stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment OR in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Mix on medium speed or by hand until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix flour mixture into peanut butter mixture until dough is just combined.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator 2 hours or up to 6 days.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and preheat oven to 350F. Scoop dough into 1 inch balls and place on prepared baking sheets. Roll dough balls in additional granulated sugar and space apart on sheet pan. Use a fork to make a criss-cross indention in each ball, flattening them slightly.
- Bake cookies at 350F 10-12 minutes until edges of cookies are golden brown. Cool cookies on baking sheet 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was updated with new recipe adjustments and photos on 4/17/25.
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