The peanut butter cookies recipe your family will love!

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I’m the cookie maker in my family. Each Christmas season, I am the one in charge of making the cookies for our family. I’ve tried various recipes for different types of cookies. Some are great; others not so much. This peanut butter cookies recipe is one that has been around for a couple of decades because it is so easy and delicious!

After my toffee cookies, these peanut butter cookies are my most requested cookies from my family. Just like with my toffee cookies, the state of the butter when making the cookie dough makes all the difference.

I will also give you a heads up that this is a smaller cookie recipe that makes about 2 dozen cookies. Usually I double it when we are sharing these cookies with others.

Be sure to plan just a bit ahead with this peanut butter cookies recipe because the dough needs to chill in the refrigerator at least an hour before baking. (You can bake them without the chill time, they will just be a bit stickier as you are trying to shape them into balls and flatten them.)

Like with most cookie recipes, this one begins with creaming the sugars and butter. My family likes these peanut butter cookies a bit on the flat side that are soft inside with a slight crunch on the outside. In order to get that consistency, the butter should be almost all melted, instead of just softened. If you like thicker, fluffier cookies, then only soften your butter instead.

Once your butter is ready, add in the sugar and brown sugar. Mix the butter and sugars together until well combined (creamed). You can do this by hand or with a mixer.

When it is all combined, stir in the peanut butter, egg and vanilla. Stir or beat until smooth. For measuring the peanut butter, my favorite tool is a cylindrical measuring cup because then you can just push out the peanut butter and not have to try and get it out of your regular measuring cup or scoop.

In a separate bowl combine your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

Stick the dough in the fridge and let it chill for at least one hour. (I have chilled it overnight and even frozen this dough and thawed it a bit as well.) After it’s chilled, the dough will look something like this:

Shape the chilled peanut butter cookie dough into about 1-inch balls. Put them a couple inched apart on an un-greased baking sheet. I use parchment paper because it makes for easy clean-up!

Flatten each ball by crisscrossing the cookie with the tines of a fork that have been dipped in sugar.

Bake at 325-degrees for 10-12 minutes until the peanut butter cookies are a bit darker and set.

Let them cool for 1-2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. The peanut butter cookies will come out a bit “poofy” and settle after just a minute or two. Using a cooling rack helps these cookies get their slightly crispy outside. Store flat in a container for the best results. These peanut butter cookies are so soft inside, that they break apart easily if stored in a zip-top plastic bag.