Old-Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

See recipe card for exact amounts. 

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Peanut Butter: I use creamy peanut butter, crunchy peanut butter can be used. I haven’t tried this with natural peanut butter so I’m not sure how it would turn out. The cookies will most likely spread more. If you want to use it you could refrigerate the dough for 30-60 minutes before portioning it out.  
• Butter: Unsalted butter is perfect for this but you can use salted. 
• Shortening: Regular or butter flavor can be used. If you want to use all butter you can but the cookies may not have the chewy centers and slightly crispy edges you get from using a combination of butter and shortening. 
• Sugar: Equal parts white sugar and light brown sugar also help make our cookies soft and chewy. 
• Egg: I use one large egg that’s room temperature. 
• Flour: All purpose flour works best in this recipe. 
• Leavening & Seasoning: Baking soda and baking powder help the cookies rise and spread properly, while salt enhances flavor and balances the sweetness.

How to Make Old-Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
2. Cream the sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, shortening and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer.
3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Shape into 1 1/4″ cookie dough balls and place 3″ apart on an un-greased cookie sheet. Flatten the top of each cookie slightly in a crisscross pattern with a fork dipped in sugar.
5. Bake cookies 9-11 minutes or until edges just start to turn golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet after 5 minutes and put on a wire rack.

Tips

• Room temperature butter is an absolute must and the egg also mixes better if it’s not cold. Food Network has a great article where they explain this in detail. 
• The color baking sheet you use will effect the outcome of the cookies. Shiny, silver pans like I use will result in a softer and lighter cookie while dark pans will result in a darker and firmer cookie.
• I cream the butter, shortening, sugar and eggs with the hand mixer and stir the dry ingredients in with a spoon or rubber spatula.  
• I use a cookie scoop that holds about 1 tablespoon to scoop the dough, then I roll them into balls using my clean hands. Don’t worry about getting them the same size at first because you can add more to some or take away from some so they all end up about the same size. 
• These can be pressed down slightly with a fork, it’s not necessary to dip it in sugar as it won’t stick to the cookies. I do it so it adds a little sugar on the top because I like the way it looks and tastes.  
• While not necessary, you can line the cookie pan with parchment paper if you want. 
• These cookies might not look done when you take them out of the oven, that’s okay because they continue baking while the are on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. They also look puffy when the first come out and will fall as they cool. 

Variations

• About a teaspoon of vanilla extract can be added to the mixture before you cream it. 
• Chocolate or peanut butter chips can be folded into the finished cookie dough, about 1/2-1 cup. I add mini milk chocolate chips and the cookies don’t spread as much, so keep that in mind.

Storage

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. As with all home baked goods these are best within the first couple of days and start to dry out after that. 

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