Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
An all-time favorite, these cookies are perfect after school with a glass of cold milk.
Our guarantee: These golden-blonde cookies are slightly soft and mildly chewy (rather than crunchy), with satisfying peanut butter taste.
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup supermarket-style smooth peanut butter
- 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water*
Directions
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1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. |
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2) Beat together the shortening, sugars, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter till smooth. |
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4) Drop the cookie dough by tablepoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here), leaving 2" between them. |
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Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 15 mins.
- Baking time:
- 12 mins.
- Total time:
- 27 mins.
- Yield:
- about 2 dozen cookies
- Recipe comments (13) »
Tips from our bakers
- This recipe was developed to use traditional supermarket-style peanut butter. If you use all-natural peanut butter, grind your own, or use low-fat or low-salt peanut butter, the cookies won't turn out as described.
- For a pretty circular design on top of your cookies, flatten with the end of a food processor's plastic "pusher" (if it has a circular design on the end).
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size 1 cookie (28g)
Servings Per Batch about 24 |
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| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 120 | Calories from Fat 60 |
| Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat | 6g |
| Saturated Fat | 1.5g |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 10mg |
| Sodium | 140mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 14g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1g |
| Sugars | 7g |
| Protein | 3g |
| * The nutrition information provided for each recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information. | |
Reviews
07/10/2009
Excellent. I used "butter flavor" shortening as I do in every recipe that calls for shortening and it was soft and chewy with just a slight crispiness around the edges. Made 16 - 3" cookies in one batch.
06/25/2009
06/12/2009
05/23/2009
This recipe was just okay. I will probably go back to the Better Homes and Gardens recipe I usually make (the 1st time I've felt that way about one of the guaranteed recipes). I liked the texture, and I liked that the dough was substantial enough that you didn't have to refrigerate it before shaping and baking it. I felt that the flavor was blah. Maybe the shortening that gives it such a nice texture detracts from the flavor?
05/20/2009
These cookies are fantastic! Like a couple of the other reviewers, I used all-natural peanut butter despite the warning not to, and they are among the best peanut butter cookies I've ever had and came out exactly as described. I also used organic non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, so they were trans fat-free. They were so good that they were gone within 24 hours (thankfully I had some help eating them, because I easily could have polished them off by myself!)
05/18/2009
I made these with natural nut butter, instead of the supermarket kind. I substituted liquid sweeteners (agave syrup and corn syrup) for the white and brown sugars. They came out great - soft and chewy in the middle, a little crunchy around the edges.
Thank you for sharing your "natural" substitutions with all our bakers! Irene at KAF
05/17/2009
I followed the recipe exactly, and these came out wonderfully. I baked at 325 in a convection oven for 13 minutes, and they are perfect. I used the food processor plunger instead of a fork, and the cookies look great! I also sprinkled them with colored sugar because they are for a wedding and I wanted to fancy them up a bit. I put one chocolate chip in the center of some of them right after they came out of the oven, and it looks cute. These are definitely worth making, and so fast and easy.
05/15/2009
I love this recipe, and find it very forgiving. First of all, in spite of the caveat, I often use natural peanut butter (it's just what I keep around), and find that the cookies are still great. Second, I have a good friend who's vegan. I love baking, and usually make sweets only when I have company, so when she comes over, I either have to bake vegan or knowingly exclude her from dessert fun. So. This recipe is great for that, since it's already dairy-free. To replace the egg: mill one TBSP whole flaxseed, and beat it will with 3 TBSP water until it turns into a gooey texture. You can un-wrinkle your nose now. The PB flavor totally masks the flax. I've added chocolate chips and almonds, and I've made them into vegan PB&J thumbprint cookies by adding 2 extra TBSP flour (as per a KAF staffer's rec), and baking according to the thumb print cookie recipe. Awesome. KAF always has the best recipes.
05/13/2009
These are excellent peanut butter cookies! very easy to make. I used milk instead of water in the recipe. The cookies came out great!
05/04/2009
I make a ton of cookies and these did not work so well for me BUT I think the problem was I used all natural peanut butter not the store bought kind with all the extra ingredients besides peanuts; so I think my oil content was low as a result. The flavor was good but they were not soft on the inside but rather crumbly. I bought some Jiff (YUCK) and I am going to try the recipie again.
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