Easy Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

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If you like your peanut butter cookies to have the perfect balance of salty and sweet that will just melt in your mouth, you must make a batch of these homemade peanut butter cookies immediately!

Broken bits of a homemade peanut butter cookie.

This is a recipe that I’ve wanted to bring you for a while. I’ve been making this homemade peanut butter cookie recipe for close to 10 years now. Although I’ve tried other peanut butter cookie recipes, I always come back to this as my standard – my husband’s all-time favorite. I like to make a big double batch of them if we’re going on a weekend trip to do double duty as filling snacks and treats for whoever it is we’re visiting.

Fortunately, this is a quick and easy peanut butter cookie recipe (just how I like it). All you need is a bunch of shelf-stable ingredients I bet are already waiting in your kitchen, like flour, sugar, eggs, peanut butter, and baking soda. After a little mixing and a little baking, you will have a delicious batch of homemade peanut butter cookies that are going to make your kitchen smell amazing.

You should also check out my 3-ingredient classic peanut butter cookie recipe here. It’s a good one, folks!

I hope you get to give them a try and if you have any little people in your life, invite them to bake these with you because kids make everything taste better.

Labeled ingredients for homemade peanut butter cookies.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Shortening
  • All-purpose flour
  • White sugar
  • Eggs
  • Brown sugar (light or dark brown sugar)
  • Smooth peanut butter
  • Baking soda

How to Make Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

Dump all ingredients except flour in mixing bowl and mix.

So what we’re gonna do is dump everything, except the flour, into a large bowl.

Mix that up really well with an electric mixer, unless you have massively muscled arms. I’ll be using a mixer…

Add flour to mixing bowl and mix again.

Add in flour and mix again.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Use cookie scoop to shape into balls.

Your cookie dough will be a little crumbly looking like this. Use a cookie scoop or just your hands and make balls that are about an inch and a half in size.

Place dough balls on prepared baking sheet.

Place on the prepared baking sheet about two inches apart.

Now, y’all know I don’t care for kitchen gadgets all that much and normally I’d say “Why use a dough scoop when your hands work perfectly well?” But after making three and four hundred peanut butter balls at a time, I’m a believer in the dough scoop. I actually own two of them because Katy likes to help and my kids really love peanut butter balls.

Press down on balls with sugar-covered fork.

Next, take a bowl and put a little extra granulated sugar in it. Dip your fork in the sugar and mash down slightly on each peanut butter cookie dough ball.

Continue to dip fork in sugar and press down on each cookie.

Then dip in sugar again and repeat, continuing to do so until your batch of homemade peanut butter cookies is ready for the oven.

You don’t want to completely smoosh them, just mash them down one way and then the other to get a nice criss-cross design.

Bake and then place peanut butter cookies on wire rack to cool.

Bak at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

Remove them from the cookie sheet and place them on cooling racks or just a plate (or clean countertop) to cool. Eat at least one warm though! Cooling the cookies allows them to harden, as they’ll be soft straight out of the oven.

Peanut butter cookies with a glass of milk.

I highly recommend enjoying one of these homemade peanut butter cookies with a glass of milk. Enjoy!

Storage

  • Store your peanut butter cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
  • You can also freeze the cookie dough for up to 2 months.

Plate of homemade peanut butter cookies.

Recipe Notes

  • If the cup of smooth peanut butter isn’t enough peanut butter flavor for you, go ahead and add a cup of peanut butter chips as well.
  • Are chocolate peanut butter cookies more your style? You can also add a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to your cookie dough.
  • While I prefer smooth or creamy peanut butter in this cookie recipe, you can use natural peanut butter. Just make sure you give it an extra good stir before adding it to your cookies to blend in the oil at the top. Crunchy peanut butter isn’t the right texture for these cookies.
  • We regularly flatten peanut butter cookies with a fork as the dough isn’t as soft as other cookie doughs, so this ensures each cookie spreads evenly.

You may also enjoy these other peanut butter treats:

No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Peanut Butter Pie Made the Old-Fashioned Way

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (No Baking Necessary)

Peanut Butter Brownies with Peanut Butter Fudge Icing

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookie Bars

Plate of homemade peanut butter cookies.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

This easy homemade peanut butter cookies recipe makes cookies with the perfect balance of salty and sweet that will just melt in your mouth.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cookies, peanutbutter

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar dark or light, I prefer dark
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract I use the fake stuff
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup smooth peanut butter

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, place all ingredients except flour.
    1 cup vegetable shortening, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup smooth peanut butter
  • Mix until smooth and creamy with an electric mixer.
  • Add the flour and mix until well combined. The cookie dough will look a little crumbly.
    3 cups all-purpose flour
  • Form or scoop into balls about an inch and a half in diameter (can make them really big if you prefer).
  • Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
  • Dip a fork or potato masher into extra granulated sugar and press into each cookie to form a criss-cross design.
  • Bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly brown around the edges.

Notes

You can also add in a cup of peanut butter chips if you like!
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

 

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119 Comments

  1. Made these with my two best baking assistants (my 10 and 4 year old)
    My college sophomore and high school sophomore are too busy to bake with me these days. Can’t wait to taste our creation.

    Here is my joke:
    If athletes get athletes foot what do astronauts get?

    Mistletoe 🙂

  2. Sweet Christy, I just took your peanut butter cookies out of the oven and my house smells peanutty good! Thanks!

  3. Christy,
    I have tried several of your recipes with such great results! We are loving the peanut butter bars! I have made them 5a times since you posted this! My 3house kids just love them!

    Anyway, here is our joke: Where do bees go to potty? A BP station! Haha

  4. Two muffins were baking in an oven.

    The first one says: “Man, it’s hot in here.”

    The second one says: “Holy cow, a talking muffin.”

  5. Now I’m craving peanut butter cookies! My favorite joke that makes me laugh every time, is a knock knock joke. It goes like this:
    Knock knock.
    Who’s there?
    Interrupting cow.
    Interrupting …then before they can finish it, you say “MOO!”

  6. My sister was a single parent when her girls were young. While watching a Dodge truck commercial one day, her youngest asked her mom if they could buy a new Dodge truck. Her mom replied “We can’t afford a Dogde”. Alyssa replied, “Not a Ford (afford), a Dodge!” So funny!

  7. Hi Christy, I love your site! Just wondering, is it ok to substitute margarine for shortening in your cookie recipes? It seems cheaper in my area. Thank you!

    1. Girrrrl, you fit right in here because I am all about being cheap! I often substitute margarine for shortening and it works out just fine 99% of the time. If you do it and it ever doesn’t work out, just make sure you blame it on the wind, government, or some type of alien like paranorml-ish activity :). Other than that, go for it!

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