Peanut Butter Cookies

They’re like warm, soft melt-in-your-mouth nuggets of peanut buttery goodness. These classic peanut butter cookies are made with Big Spoon Roasters peanut butter to create soft, chewy and delicious little treats that come together in one bowl in just 20 minutes!

I’m not going to try to convince you that this is the best peanut butter cookie on the internet, though I honestly believe it to be, nor am I going to add some obscure (for a peanut butter cookie recipe) ingredient to these cookies to make them elevated or unique. I just need to have a recipe for this childhood favorite cookie of mine on my site. And obviously I’m going to think that my peanut butter cookies recipe is the best because I’ve made it exactly to my liking….which I’m pretty convinced you’ll like too.

To me, a peanut butter cookie is childhood baking with my grandma, and it will always be that every time I bite into one. So though this recipe is simple and straightforward, it comes packed with memories and love. 

a note on the peanut butter

I am an ambassador for Big Spoon Roasters nut butters which means two very important things.

1) These peanut butter cookies are crafted with the best possible quality nut butter out there, and

2) I get to get creative in my kitchen with the rest of the Big Spoon Roasters handcrafted nut butters to make all sorts of other recipes!

In this recipe I used their Peanut Butter with Wildflower Honey and Sea Salt which makes for the perfect peanut butter cookies!

how to make peanut butter cookies

Preheat your oven to 350℉(roughly 180℃) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Start with your softened butter in a large bowl and beat it together with the granulated and brown sugars until lighter in color (1-2 minutes). This can be done by hand, or with an electric mixer.

Then add the egg and whisk, by hand, beating until the mixture becomes silky. This is the last stage that you want to add any air into the batter. The reason I emphasize beating by hand is because using a machine could potentially cause you to add too much air and make these cookies a fluffier texture than what we’re going for. We want soft, chewy, and a bit dense, for lack of better word, peanut butter cookies! You’re welcome to use the machine the whole way through, but it could risk affecting the final texture of your peanut butter cookies. 

Once your egg is incorporated, switch from a whisk to a spatula to mix the rest of the batter. Add the peanut butter, as well as the vanilla extract. Fold until combined.

Add the all purpose flour and baking soda to the same bowl and mix until you don’t see any more bits of flour. 

Using a 1” cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon, form the dough into balls rolling each dough ball in your hands. You should have 24 balls of peanut butter cookie dough (with a tiny bit leftover to snack on because duh). Place the dough onto the cookie sheet at least 2” apart. Score each ball with a fork horizontally and then vertically, slightly pressing down as you score them.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will seem slightly soft still when you remove them from the oven. This is what you want! Allow the peanut butter cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. There, they will finish their process of firming up ever so slightly, to create the most perfect texture!

Serve and enjoy! These peanut butter cookies are seriously everything I dreamt they would be in my mind when I created the recipe. When you make them, be sure to tag me on instagram @karisscorner and let me know if they are as nostalgic for you as they are for me!

Can baking be therapeutic?

I often talk about baking being a therapeutic hobby but I’d like to share more about why I feel that way as well as how it can become a relaxing hobby for you!

When I bake, it’s my creative time. I may put on my favorite nostalgic movie or tv show in the background, or a Spotify playlist titled “French café” and leave my troubles behind.

Sometimes I pour myself a glass of wine and light a candle. Then, with the mood set, the mixing of batter, kneading of dough and smoothing of icing is my only care in the world.

When I say baking is therapeutic, sometimes people respond saying “not for me it isn’t!” I completely understand why someone might feel that way. There have been plenty of times where I spend hours on something only for it to fail or something breaks that shouldn’t or I forget to clean as I go and am left with a disastrous kitchen to clean. 

So I should in reality, have a caveat to my “baking as therapy” claims…

Baking is therapy when you curate the experience to be relaxing.

How do you curate that relaxing experience for yourself, you ask?   

How to make baking therapeutic…

1.  Prepare your mind–know that it’s okay if the cake doesn’t rise, or the butter wasn’t chilled enough. Shift your mindset from seeing your failures as mistakes to seeing them as opportunities for learning.
2. Prepare your space–I cannot and will not bake on top of a messy kitchen. If I were to do this I would be starting from a place of stress! Take an extra 10 minutes to clean any dishes in the sink and wipe down the counters, this small effort will pay you back greatly in brain space and clarity.
3. Clean as you go! I’ll tell you the one way to make baking stressful and tiresome, is to not clean as you go! After I use each ingredient that I no longer need, I put it away. 

After each major step in the process, I wipe down the counters and put dishes that are no longer needed in the sink. If there is chill time or baking time I don’t sit, I do the cleaning then. Make this shift and you’ll really notice the difference! 

By the way, this last tip really helped me when I was on The Great American Baking Show–and the crew that cleaned up behind us made a point to tell me that my workspace was always so clean they didn’t have much to do! 

I would reply by saying “it’s how I stay sane in this tent!”

Additional suggestions:

*Maybe try printing off the recipe instead of looking at it on your phone, tablet or laptop and use this time to unplug from technology for a few hours

**Invite friends or family over to share your creation with you. Time spent with loved ones over food is a universally special experience

And that’s how I discovered baking for my mental health. If you try any of these suggestions, let me know how it went for you! I’m really invested in spreading this message to others in hopes that baking will enhance your lives more than it already does!

Happy Baking Babes!