I have a strong passion for baking cookies. I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely love it, and have numerous recipes for various cookies that I have perfected the recipes to. This peanut butter cookie though, is where it all began.
I always loved baking, I think it’s my favorite thing, right along with breakfast. Those are just my specialties.
When I was a young adult in my teens and early 20’s I always made cookies, pies, and cakes – always from the box though. In those early years I think a bag of flour would last me forever. I threw away the bag before I had a chance to use it all! It was all about convenience food, something fast, and if I wanted a cake I picked up my favorite box. Or I bought a pie or cake ready made!
When I started experimenting in the kitchen with cooking and food in general, I realized there were many pantry staples I just didn’t have. So I started stocking up the more and more I cooked, the more things needed and stored away. Flour, sugar, oils, and spices were all things I started collecting. I started getting more fearless and ready to experiment.
One night I decided I wanted some cookies, but I didn’t have a premade mix, and to be honest I didn’t really want one. So I found a peanut butter cookie recipe that had everything I already owned in my pantry, and that’s when I realized that making cookies from scratch is so much more convenient! They taste so much better, you use things you already have, and it makes a much bigger batch!
Now, I have no idea where I found that original peanut butter cookie recipe, but through the years it’s been changed and perfected in many different ways. This recipe is always requested by my family and friends. When there’s a bake sale, this is always what I get asked to make.
When I made this particular batch my husband had just come home from work and was leaving on a quick errand. He grabbed a cookie and says “Oh my God, that’s good” and grabbed a second. He’s had these countless times, but they still elicit that same reaction! My 3 year old is obsessed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so these are right up his alley and are his favorite of all time. He’s my sneaky little cookie monster, he comes downstairs in the middle of the night and takes one bite out of each cookie, just so no one else will eat them!!
Needless to say, it’s very rare I share this recipe. This is one of my very near and dear to my heart recipes, I hope you love it as much as we do!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
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| First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Next, in a smaller mixing bowl, combine your butter or margarine and your sugars. |
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| This is when you “cream” your sugars. I had to look that up when I first started baking from scratch. It’s basically where you combine these ingredients until the sugars and butter are a smooth “creamy” texture. |
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| Still creaming! Yes, I use a fork to combine everything when I make cookies. When I use a whisk everything gets stuck in the middle, and if I use a hand mixer it beats it too much even on the low setting. So I’m left to use a fork until I purchase this beauty! It has a “cream” setting where it makes your batter the perfect texture that you’re after. I want it in any color, it doesn’t matter! |
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| And it’s creamy! You don’t want it grainy at all, nice and smooth! If you beat it too high, your initial batter will be too dense which equals hard cookies. Yuck! This is why I use a fork! |
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| Now add your vanilla. The important thing with cookies, and even cakes and pies, is to combine each ingredient one at a time. If you throw it all in there together, the texture of your cookies will be all wrong. |
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| Now add the egg. |
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| Once the egg is added and mixed it’s nice and smooth. |
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| Now for the peanut butter. One thing I do remember about the original recipe was it called for creamy peanut butter. I wanted a little bit of chunk in these babies, so I replaced it with all chunky. To me, it was a little too dry. So I played with the measurements of each a little until I got to this. It’s perfection. |
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| Mix peanut butter until smooth. |
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| Now, in a separate bowl combine all your dry ingredients. Flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Sift together until well blended. |
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| Now, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. I usually add half at a time, stir together until just blended, then add the next half. |
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| Do not overmix! Once again, that will yield hard cookies! |
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| You want to mix until just when you can’t see most of the flour anymore. Now, cover this bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This helps the cookies to be a little thicker. I bake them at a low temperature so they are a soft and chewy texture, so they can sometimes spread too thin if not refrigerated. Before I refrigerated them I would bake them at 300 degrees, but they would end up pretty flat most of the time, still tasty but I like the thickness of cookies! |
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| Now, once they have been chilled for the appropriate time, line a cookie sheet with foil and form little balls with the dough. I usually use an ice cream scoop, and I don’t fill it up all the way. I like all my cookies to be about the same size. |
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| When they are this size, I usually place about 8 balls on the cookie sheet at a time. This way they don’t run into each other and make one big cookie! |
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| Now, grab a fork and dip it in sugar and press the well known X in the cookie with the fork. |
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| Bake for 10-12 minutes, the middle will still be soft but the edges will just barely be crispy. |
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| This makes about 18 cookies this size. What a strange number, right? No matter, they will ALL be gone by the next evening! |
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| These are HIGHLY addicting! |
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| Enjoy! |
Hi Mama Harris, I’m Anne from Life on the Funny Farm (http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.com) visiting from Jilly’s Weekend Blog Walk.
Ohhh, these look so good! I love PB cookies, but haven’t had them in awhile. Pinning this! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Anyway, it’s nice to “meet” you. I hope you can pop over to my blog and say hi sometime if you get the chance.
Hi Anne! Thank you for stopping by, I followed you back! Thanks for pinning it, and let me know how you like them if you try them!
Looking forward to reading more about you!
I improved the recipe slightly. Add 1/4 teaspoon corn starch and cook at 350 for 9 to 10 minutes. Gives the edges a bit more crisp.
You’re welcome ^_^
I wish I lived near you so I can “test” your food, give honest reviews for your blog lol and of course just to eat, cause this also looks good
HaHa thank you Mayra! That would be fun! When we all do a function together, I should be sure to bring some samplers! 😉
Love love love peanut butter cookies! I am going to have to try these! I am a new follower from the GFC Party!
I hope you have a great weekend!
Michelle
http://www.delicateconstruction.com
Thank you for stopping by!
Growing up they were always a favorite for me as well! Nice to meet you!
Yummmm! My daughter is nearly 5 and she’s a PB fanatic! I know she would love these. Thanks so much for linking up to the Aloha Friday Hop. I’m your newest follower. Hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks for coming by! I followed you as well!
Sounds like she has a lot in common with my 3 year old! 🙂
New follower from the blog hop please come follow me back 🙂
http://lifewithtwinsandadramaqueen.com/
Hi! Thanks for the visit, will be following you back!
oh my gosh…a definite winner!
Thank you! Nice to meet you!
Oh wow, I love the pics! I was drooling all over my laptop….thanks for sharing!
Haha!! thank you!
These look delicious!! I love peanut butter cookies! New follower from the weekend blog hop!
Leslie @ Sincerely, Leslie
Hi Leslie, thank you! I followed you back!
I really, really love peanut butter cookies! These look really good. I plan on making them soon! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you! If you try them let me know how you like them!
YUM!!! They look delicious. Something about cookies around autumn/winter that gets me so excited!
Hi Charlotte! Me too! The cold & cozy weather always gets me into the baking spirit!
These remind me of the ones my mom would make growing up, love them! Thank you so much for linking up to Sunday’s Sweet Confessions over at mommy’s sweet confessions! Have a great day!
Aww, thank you!
Ooo, they look thick and puffy! Love.
Oh yes, love puffy cookies!!
You are a runner up in the 12 Days of Christmas link up! Congrats! Stop on over and grab and button. http://www.theeaseoffreeze.com
I just made the dough, and it’s in the fridge. I can not wait to taste the end result! 🙂
Cookies are in the oven! Mmmmmm my apartment smells SOOOOO good!
They turned out beautifully! I used Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy Peanut Butter, which is a bit sweeter than the regular kind. Great recipe, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the updates and the review! I’m happy they worked out well for you, careful they’re adducting!!
These were so yummy! Kept recipe as is but made into 36 smaller cookies, only 86 calories each! Baked 10 min. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi, My name is Salina and I just wanted to drop a line and tell you that I’m making these as we speak(8:51 pm) 8/23/2013 but I have to tell you this. I made a double batch and instead of using 2 1/2 cups of flour I used 1 1/2 cups and added a cup of instant vanilla pudding out of the box and I didn’t use the nutmeg and the batter taste AWESOME!! The batter was not at all dry like I figured it was going to be (thank god);) Yes I am waiting for the first batch to bake before I post, that’s why this comment hasn’t yet been posted at the time I said. For somebody that doesn’t like peanut butter cookies (husband) he loves them …GREAT!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I do recommend adding the vanilla pudding to the mix
Hello again! So, I have been making these a lot since I commented last time, and I usually use Peter Pan Honey Roasted Creamy Peanut Butter and leave out the nutmeg. However, I accidentally bought the crunchy kind last night, and it was a very FORTUNATE mistake. This time, the cookies are better than any other time I’ve made them. SOOOOO good! My next door neighbor also asked me for the recipe. I’m afraid you may have started something!
I use to be a Baker at Tim Horton’s… Back in the day when we actually baked our own stuff. Back when Tims was good. We had the best peanut butter and peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies.
This recipe I tried today at home and it is the closest thing to what I use to make.. Like I mean almost exactly the same. Same texture. Same taste. I just found it was a bit more sweet.. Which could be just me putting in a bit too much sugar or brown sugar. I will try again with a bit less sugar to see if I can do it bang on to what we use to make.
Thank you for the post and excellent recipe.
Hi Dustin, thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! This recipe is a favorite with my family and anyone I make it for. I’m so glad you enjoyed it, I’d love to hear if it’s close to what you’re looking for with a touch less sugar. Thanks again!
We LOVE LOVE LOVE Peanut Butter cookies!!! It is Thanksgiving Eve, we are making cookies and Pies. Seen your cookies and we are going to make them today!!! Thank You sooooooooo much for putting your receipes out there for everyone to use!!!
Oh, you’re so welcome! Enjoy! I love cookies for the holidays. 🙂
I love your recipe it is not too greasy or overwhelmingly peanut buttery. I reduced total sugar to 3/4 cup, rolled the balls in white sugar then pressed with fork. My reaction to these was the same as your husband. I gave some to a friend and she kept updating me how many she’d eaten.
I just had to finally stop what I was doing and give you props! Your homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe is THE BEST. I can’t even bring myself to buy cookies at bakeries because they won’t taste as good as what I make at home. LOL! I look forward to making this one to. BIG THANK YOU!
Oh, I love this comment so much! Thank you, the chocolate chip cookies are a favorite around here too!
Thank you so much for sharing! I can not find my old, warn out, Betty Crocker today, and my baby girl (4 year old) wants peanut butter cookies now! I’m not afraid to admit that I try to say yes as much as possible. This recipe saved the day!
Oh, that’s awesome! I’m so glad to save the day for you and your little one. Enjoy!
Out of curiosity, what award did this recipe win? The title says “Award-Winning, but doesn’t mention any specifics. I’m conducting a bake-a-thon with only contest and award-winning recipes, but need more info as to what contest it won.
I improved the recipe slightly. Add 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon corn starch to the dry ingredients and cook at 350 for 9 to 10 minutes. Gives the edges a bit more crisp. Actually this works for most smooth surface cookies. Add a touch of corn starch and cook at a slightly higher temperature for a slightly less amount of time. Perfect for dunking. I use this addition for my chocolate chip cookies. For a long time I kept it to myself but as I get older I think more people should know about this trick.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll have to test it myself!