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If you’re looking for a great peanut butter cookie, here it is.
Chunky Peanut Butter? You Bet
I love peanut butter, but I wasn’t crazy about most peanut butter cookie recipes.
In some of the recipes, I even substituted chunky peanut butter because I prefer it to the smooth variety. However, I still never flipped over the cookies. Until now.
Butter Is The Key
Many of the recipes I used in the past contained vegetable shortening.
Shortening has no taste so won’t impart any in a cookie. That’s a good choice when you have other ingredients that are highly flavored and want that flavor to stand out. Shortening also gives a cookie a different texture than butter mainly because it’s pure fat. Butter is about 80% fat with water and milk solids. Again, shortening is a good choice if you want a nice airy and crisp texture in a cookie.
But in this cookie, butter is the key to not only the texture but the taste. This is a rich and chewy cookie, however, bear in mind that if they cookies are left uncovered, they will crisp up. Therefore, if you want to preserve some chewiness, put them in a tightly covered container after they’ve completely cooled.
Plain Or With Chocolate
Since I’m a nut for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I wanted to introduce some chocolate into these cookies. I split the dough in half and kept some plain though.
I generally use mini morsels because they disperse better in batters and doughs. However, I realized after the fact that I was a little too “cheap” with them so there wasn’t much chocolatey flavor. In the recipe I have given amounts that I think would be more reasonable and not stingy. If you want more or less, let your eye be your guide. The amount of chips won’t affect the basic cookie nor the formula. You can add other flavor chips too. If you really love peanut butter, then peanut butter chips would be in order here. If you really want to go radical, then combine peanut butter and chocolate chips!
The Recipe
Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
OPTIONAL
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips see NOTES
Instructions
- With an electric mixer, cream butter peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; stir into butter mixture.
- Stir in the chips, if using. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 ℉. Line several cookie sheets (I needed 4 large) with parchment.
- Roll dough into balls about 1-inch diameter and place on the prepared sheets about 2-inches apart. Flatten with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern (dip the fork in flour periodically as it will stick to the cookies).
- Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies begin to get golden around the edges. Leave on the sheets for 1 minute then remove to a rack to cool completely.
Mercedes says
When do I add the peanut butter? If I were to cream it in 1st step, would it reduce the chunkiness of the peanut butter?
Judith Hanneman says
With the butter and the sugar Mercedes. It doesn’t reduce the chunkiness of the peanut butter–at least when I did it but I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment.
Claudia Lamascolo says
I have been for this recipe cant wait to try it! my son is going to love these huge peanut butter fan!
Judith Hanneman says
They are soooo good!!!