Old-Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Blame it on having a sweet tooth. Or, blame it on the boredom of being stuck in the house during this pandemic. But, I had to bake some Old Fashioned Soft Peanut Butter Cookies. Since I was able to find a jar of peanut butter in the store and already had all of the other ingredients on hand, I had no excuse not to.

Since this was my first time baking peanut butter cookies, I was on a quest to come up with a recipe that will produce the softest, most tender, and chewiest cookies. After studying recipe after recipe, after recipe, I decided to come up with my own.

This recipe has a slightly higher peanut butter to flour ratio than most other recipes. Since it’s a peanut butter cookie, I definitely wanted to peanut taste to come out.

Also, in order to keep the center of the cookies softer and more chewy, I baked them at 330 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of the traditional 350 or 370 degree Fahrenheit that most recipes call for.

Lastly, as I form each cookie, I roll it in a bit of sugar, then top it with some more sugar after I use the fork to shape the cookie. That extra bit of sugar adds a little caramelization to the cookie.

Here are the ingredients:

2 Sticks (1 Cup) Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
1 ¼ Cups Sugar, plus extra sugar for sprinkling on top
1 ¼ Cups Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ Cups Peanut Butter
3 large eggs
2 Cups Flour
¼ Teaspoon Salt

Steps to tender peanut butter cookies:

Preheat oven to 330 degrees Fahrenheit. This is slightly lower in temperature than most recipes, but will help prevent the dough from drying out in the oven.
Line the baking sheets with Parchment Paper or a Sill Pad. Either will work. If you have neither, grease your baking sheet with a little butter.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugars in a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract. Stir in the peanut butter. Add the eggs, one by one. Stir the baking powder into the flour. Next, gradually add the flour to the peanut butter batter.

For easy handling, refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough into 1-1/2 inch balls. Dip each ball into some of the extra sugar.

Space the balls about 2-3 inches apart. I baked 9 cookies per baking sheet, and ended up with 27 cookies.
Using a fork, make the traditional crosshatch design.

Sprinkle some additional sugar on top of each cookie.

Unbaked Peanut Butter Cookies

Bake for about 17 to 18 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing from the baking sheet. Keep in mind that the cookies will be too soft to pick up until they have cooled down.
So, once the cookies are cool enough to pick up, they will be soft on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside.

Peanut Butter Cookies fresh out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Old-Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

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