With a higher proportion of peanut butter to flour than many recipes, this cookie is just about perfect. Chewy with a moist interior, it’s kind of like a drink of water when you are thirsty but better!
Peanut Butter Cookie Craving
I have eaten peanut butter cookies that are heavy, peanut butter cookies that are dry, peanut butter cookies that masquerade as peanut butter cookies with only a whiff of actual peanut butter. I have eaten peanut butter cookies that have just a few ingredients but no staying power and crumble the next day.
I worked on this recipe until it checked all the boxes. It satisfies my cravings for a “peanut butter cookie”, a cookie I could confidently leave in a cookie jar or take to the “back to school night” bake sale table. The kind I would add to a lunch bag for a special treat to share with a neighbor, or grab for a mid-afternoon snack when I passed through the kitchen. I like to pack a few of these in the car for a day trip to Philadelphia or Washington, D.C.
Margarine Over Butter
This is an interesting cookie in that I prefer the use of margarine over butter. It just seems to help the peanut butter stand out a bit more. When I used real butter, the cookies had a different texture and didn’t taste as good. Isn’t that odd? The water in the margarine gives a tiny spring to the dough and gives it just the right chewiness. Of course, you can use real salted butter, but don’t be afraid to try the margarine. It works well with peanut butter. I used to avoid it and then I found it useful in a few of my recipes.
Peanut Butter Cookie Swirl
Using a french coil spring to press into the top of the dough ball is a bit like the romantic side of my personality. I like the swirls. When I was a little girl, I would put on my Sunday skirt and turn around and around and then sit down and hope that the skirt would be in a pretty circle around me. In some aspect or another, we are all still childlike. Peanut butter cookies seem to be that part for me. They are a cookie we are familiar with as children, but still reach for as adults. They satisfy both the sweet tooth and the growling stomach.
Peanut Butter Cookie
With a higher proportion of peanut butter to flour than many recipes, this cookie is just about perfect. Chewy with a moist interior, it’s kind of like a drink of water when you are thirsty but better!
Ingredients
- ½ C (4 oz) margarine
- ⅓ C (2.2 oz) shortening
- 1 C minus 2 T (7 oz) light brown sugar
- 1 C (7 oz) white sugar
- 1 ½ C (11 oz) Jif creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ¾ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 C + 2 T (10 oz) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375*F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream fats and sugars. Add peanut butter and mix. Add eggs and vanilla then mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix well.
- Using a #30 cookie dough scoop, place scoops of cookie dough on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Press down on top of each cookie with a circular spring egg beater or fork, dipped in sugar, just enough to make an imprint. Sprinkle with a little extra granulated sugar on top. Bake for 8-9 minutes or just until the edges are lightly browned.
Notes
- We prefer Jif creamy peanut butter.
- Your peanut butter cookies will stand out on the bake sale table if you use the spring coil whisk imprint. I have also used the block end of the meat mallet to make a checkered top.
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