The Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe: Quick and Easy

Whether you've been baking for years or just learning your way around measuring cups and scales, this peanut butter cookie recipe is for you. It's soft, slightly chewy, and will leave your house smelling like a fancy bakery. But perhaps most important of all, these cookies are surprisingly easy to whip up — and will probably become your go-to pick-me-up treat to keep the Sunday scaries at bay.

8 ingredients you will need

You don't need any out-there ingredients for peanut butter cookies. In fact, you probably have everything you need already in your kitchen.

• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (or 1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup of peanut butter
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • Substitute for 1/4 cup of unsweetened apple sauce, for a plant-based version
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda

Pssst... For a memorable stocking stuffer gift, add all the shelf-stable ingredients to a pretty jar, along with the baking instructions hand-written step by step.

How to make peanut butter cookies, step-by-step

You don't need to know expert baking hacks to go nutty over these cookies. This peanut butter cookie recipe is refreshingly simple:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar with a stand or hand mixer until the mixture is light and airy.
3. Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla extract and mix until well incorporated.
4. Slowly in the flour and baking soda until you have a smooth dough.
5. Scoop the dough using an ice cream scoop and lay it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper (this recipe yields 20 cookies).
6. Make those characteristic grid-like indentations on the cookies using a fork: press down the ball of dough once, then again rotating the fork 90 degrees.
7. Optionally, sprinkle white granulated sugar on the cookies.
8. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn brown.
9. Let the cookies cool until they firm up, then transfer them to a wire rack.

The most crucial step in this recipe is to not over-bake the cookies. Since they need to firm up on the (hot) baking tray, they will continue to cook from the residual heat. That's why you should only bake the cookies until they're almost done, or else end up with too-hard cookies.

Although baking is a near-exact science, you can still give these cookies your own twist. For example, you can add a handful of chopped peanuts (or chunky peanut butter) to the dough. Or sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the cookies before they go into the oven.

Let the baking (and savings!) begin

Baking your favorite treats at home is a great way to save money in the kitchen while savoring the best things in life. Find a Save Coupon Book near you to score the best deals on items you love. Great discounts await!