Peanut Butter Cookies
I love peanut butter cookies because they are simple, fairly healthy and of course chewy. I much prefer chewy cookies to crunchy cookies.
My kids love these cookies too, which you may think is not surprising since they are, after all, COOKIES, but you need to know that my kids can sense a “healthy treat” from a mile away, and once they sense it’s not completely junky, they often flatly refuse it.
Not so with these cookies: they love them. I rarely need to store these cookies – between the four of us, we usually polish them off on the day I make them. This recipe makes about 20 cookies, so if you need more, double the amounts.
Ingredients:
1 + 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 TBS vanilla extract
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder , baking soda, and salt.
Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and continue beating until fluffy.
Beat in the peanut butter, the egg, and the vanilla.
Mix the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture until well incorporated. Peanut butter cookie dough will be a bit crumbly:
(Now comes the fun part, especially for the kids.) Roll the dough in your hands into 2-inch balls.
Each ball contains about 2 TBS of mixture – you can measure them if you’d like.
Place the dough balls on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, and flatten them gently with a fork, making a crisscross design:
This is what the shaped cookies look like:
Bake for about 10 minutes. To make sure they are chewy, the cookies’ edges should be slightly browned, but the top should not look completely baked. That’s OK: we want to let them finish baking outside of the oven.
After removing from the oven, allow cookies to remain on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
I’m sure you won’t be shocked if I tell you that these cookies go incredibly well with a cold glass of milk.
As I said, peanut butter cookies don’t usually last longer than a day at our house, and they do taste best on the first day, but if you do need to store them, they keep for 2-3 days in a well-sealed plastic container.
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Cath Lawson responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 10:32 am →
Vered – Those look lovely. I’ve decided to make the effort and do some baking the week before Christmas, so I’m going to try these. I love baking but I don’t do it often, as I get too tempted to eat the stuff as I’m making it.
Aydan responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 10:45 am →
What kind of peanut butter do you use? I had trouble the other day with a no-bake cookie recipe not really hardening up, and I think it might have been because I used organic peanut butter instead of the conventional kind, which tends to be stickier. Do you think that would matter here?
Also, Cath, that happens to me too. Last time I made cookies for myself I had to give them away before I ate them all in much too short of a time frame!
MomGrind responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 11:28 am →
Cath, I know what you mean.
I usually bake no more than a dozen cookies and there are four of us so not too bad.
Aydan, I’m guessing it does matter. I use organic peanut butter but it’s from Whole foods and has the same consistency as non-organic (no oil on the top) – I have no idea how they manage it but they do. If I had to choose between conventional and the “regular” organic, I would choose regular peanut butter for baking. It’s not as healthy but I only bake those once a year so don’t think it’s a big deal.
Computer Addict responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 2:54 pm →
Yum!
Tara@Sticky Fingers responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 3:36 pm →
Oh good lord in heaven Vered, those look divine!
And ‘if you need to store them’? Even if the children didn’t manage to polish them off, I’m confident their dad and I would with a nice hot cup of tea!
Patricia responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 5:59 pm →
Oh I am so happy I made fresh peanut butter cookies on Sunday last….because I am salivating right now..My partner loves anything with peanut butter…and pb cookies make up easily with alternative, Gluten Free Flours…
Mouth watering, finger licking good…
have you got good ideas on how to get the last of the goo out of the fresh peanut butter jar??? That is the task that truly befuddles me….but then the container is not recyclable here….and who wants to waste pb?
yum yum….
MomGrind responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 7:13 pm →
Computer Addict, I agree.
Tara, they are great with tea, coffee, milk…
Patricia, I use a spatula but it’s not 100%, just do my best!
Julius responds:
Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm →
Hello there! I love your blog! especially this post. I hope I could share your pictures and the recipe on my blog as well. I’ll give you proper credits and links. I just want to share this with my readers. Pretty interesting. I love cookies especially anything that has peanut in it
Davina responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 12:00 am →
Hi Vered.
I too prefer chewy cookies over crunchy ones. Your photos make my mouth water, but then again, I can eat peanut butter off the spoon too. These would make an ideal breakfast in a pinch (pssst don’t tell anybody I said that).
Lance responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 4:22 am →
Vered,
Mmmm….peanut butter cookies are some of my favorites! Now I’m hungry for them! No one else really eats them much in our house (hmm…this could be a very good thing!!).
Dr. J responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 6:40 am →
Those look great!! I wish I could be able to smell them as they come right out of the oven! I feel pretty confident as a cook, but I’ve never ventured into baking. Maybe your beautiful creations will encourage me to venture into that! Thank you!
MomGrind responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 9:39 am →
Julius, no problem as long as you credit me and link back to this post.
Davina, I love it off the spoon too!
Lance, I was really surprised that my kids loved peanut butter cookies. I didn’t expect them to!
Dr. J, I much prefer baking to cooking… I only cook because I have kids and want to feed them “proper” food, otherwise I would eat fruit, veggies and nuts and baked goods
and be very happy.
Michelle @ Find Your Balance responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 2:24 pm →
Who doesn’t love peanut butter cookies? I bet you could even use 1/2 whole wheat flour and your kids would never be the wiser!
Dominique responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 6:42 pm →
Woo.. they look extremely yummy.. so many new cookie recipes to try out this xmas
Marelisa responds:
Posted: December 16th, 2009 at 10:03 pm →
Those look really good Vered, plus they have the added bonus of being simple to make. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opened up a cookbook determined to learn how to cook, only to close it promptly upon reading a list of ingredients I’ve never heard of before in my life.
Dot responds:
Posted: December 17th, 2009 at 8:21 am →
Your photos are awesome. I can’t understand why you’re not fat. I can see the MomGrind Cookbook slowly filling out as we go along.
Lori Hoeck responds:
Posted: December 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am →
I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies, but dang it, Vered, your photos are very enticing!
MomGrind responds:
Posted: December 17th, 2009 at 11:40 am →
Michelle, I’m pretty sure my kids would detect whole wheat flour in anything
but it’s definitely worth a try.
Dominique, I know what you mean.
Marelisa, I agree! I only make simple recipes.
Dot, it’s the portions – I never make large amounts, just enough for all family members to taste and enjoy.
Lori, unlike chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies are a “you either love it or hate it” kind of thing.
Natural responds:
Posted: December 19th, 2009 at 7:10 am →
those look absolutely delicious. i’ve eaten so many cookies over the past few weeks – blame the holidays. i had nothing to do with it.
i’ll eat peanut butter cookies, but i’m not a big fan of them. with milk, yes.
Jannie Funster responds:
Posted: December 19th, 2009 at 9:27 am →
I’ll take that stack of five please!
And I love your granite counters. When we do our next house I want those and I’ll try never to take them for granite.
MomGrind responds:
Posted: December 19th, 2009 at 11:30 am →
Natural, peanut butter cookies have such intense flavor that not everyone likes them.
Jannie, I read somewhere that granite is supposedly toxic but since it seems like everything is toxic these days, I try not to worry about it too much.
J.D. Meier responds:
Posted: December 21st, 2009 at 1:42 am →
You create perfect visual storyboards that I can taste with my eyes.
Nurit responds:
Posted: December 25th, 2009 at 9:43 am →
How funny. I was taking a break from my peanut butter cookie post writing, to find this! Great minds…
Best of Sources of Insight 2009 - Sources of Insight responds:
Posted: January 4th, 2010 at 12:52 am →
[...] Power of the Pause – OMG, Vered’s Peanut Butter Cookie’s look so good! But wait … let me use the power of the pause and to *choose* my best response [...]