Try this Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (250g) creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (125g) chunky peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (1 stick 113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups (160g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar for rolling cookies in
- Carbohydrate 0.160874027529762 g
- Cholesterol 8.91458333312622 mg
- Fat 0.229669305509991 g
- Fiber 0.000184027777777778 g
- Protein 0.346738333161949 g
- Saturated Fat 0.078572222193848 g
- Serving Size 1 1 cookie (5g)
- Sodium 5.61240971678556 mg
- Sugar 0.160689999751985 g
- Trans Fat 0.0359415763865588 g
- Calories 5 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190 degrees C).
- In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butters, butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until well blended.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamedmixture.
- Scoop dough into balls. (I used a 3-tablespoon scoop). Roll each dough ball in granulated sugar.
- Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Press each ball once with crisscrossing fork tines.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned. Do not overbake!
Peanut butter carries the structural burden in these cookies, functioning simultaneously as fat, binder, and primary flavor source. Combining both creamy and chunky styles introduces deliberate variance into the crumb structure, ensuring pockets of texture alongside a cohesive dough. Softening the unsalted butter to 65 degrees Fahrenheit allows it to emulsify properly with the sugars during creaming, trapping air that chemical leaveners will later expand. Skipping this temperature window or melting the butter outright collapses the matrix, yielding greasy, flat rounds instead of thick, substantial cookies.
Achieving structural integrity requires careful attention during the mixing phase, particularly when incorporating the all-purpose flour. Overmixing develops the gluten network excessively, transforming a tender melt-in-your-mouth bite into a tough, bread-like chew. Whisking the dry ingredients separately beforehand distributes the baking powder and salt uniformly without requiring aggressive agitation once wet and dry components meet. Scooping uniform portions using a 3-tablespoon measure guarantees even thermal absorption during the baking process.
Marking the dough balls with a fork serves a functional purpose beyond visual tradition by flattening the dense mass to a uniform thickness of approximately half an inch. This physical compression prevents the center from remaining raw while the exterior over-browns at the 375 degrees Fahrenheit oven setting. Monitoring the bake time closely between 8 and 10 minutes remains critical; pulling the sheets the moment the edges show pale golden coloring prevents moisture from evaporating entirely from the interior.
Adapting this formulation for alternative dietary needs requires targeted ingredient swaps rather than wholesale restructuring. Replacing standard wheat flour with a 1-to-1 gluten-free baking blend containing xanthan gum maintains adequate binding properties without altering the liquid ratios. Natural peanut butter containing only nuts and salt should be avoided unless stabilized, as excess oil separation destabilizes the fat-to-sugar balance required for proper creaming.
