Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies — These soft peanut butter cookies are the peanut butter version of a molasses crinkle. They’re soft, supremely chewy, and have an old-fashioned peanut butter cookie flavor!
Table of Contents
I love crinkle cookies. When I see those big crevices, my eyes light up and I know I’m in for a chewy treat.
I love molasses crinkles, but peanut butter crinkles sounded so good. These simple peanut butter cookies are soft, supremely chewy, and have an old-fashioned peanut butter cookie flavor.
It’s a very easy peanut butter cookie recipe to memorize because it starts out with 1/2 cup each of butter, peanut butter, granulated and brown sugars, along with an egg and vanilla. Add in the flour, baking soda, and then scoop into balls.
When I eat cookies, I’m a breaker, not a biter, and these cookies break apart so nicely at the crinkles. Half the fun is them breaking apart. I told myself, oh just break off that little piece there. And then that other little piece over there came off so effortlessly, too.
And then breaking off another section. And another crinkly seam. So good.
Ingredients for This Recipe
This easy peanut butter crinkles recipe calls for just nine basic ingredients. To make these old-fashioned chewy peanut butter cookies, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Creamy peanut butter
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies
When I say these are easy peanut butter cookies, I mean it! Full instructions are provided in the recipe card below, but here’s an overview:
- To make the dough, simply beat together the wet ingredients, then mix in the dry.
- Scoop the cookie dough into balls, then chill them for at least 2 hours.
- Before baking, I roll the dough through granulated sugar because I like my crinkle cookies with the ever-so-slight crunch of a sugary coating. It’s very minimal, but a nice touch.
- I baked these chewy and soft peanut butter cookies for 12 minutes. If you’re an oven door watcher, the cookies begin crinkling about 9 minutes into baking, and the longer the bake, the more they crinkle, and continue to do so as they cool.
Tip About the Batch Size
These soft peanut butter cookies are large in diameter, but not very thick. They’ll disappear quickly since it’s a small batch recipe, making just 1 dozen cookies.
Recipe FAQs
The difference between this dough and most other cookie dough is that for the amount of butter and peanut butter used, adding more flour would be expected. However, more flour isn’t added, so the dough is very soft and limp. Extra flour would firm up the dough and would cause the cookies to bake thicker with smoother rounded tops.
By keeping the dough on the wetter and softer side, the cookies spread more, bake thinner, and as they rise and then fall in the oven, crinkles develop.
I haven’t tried the recipe making smaller cookies, but if you do, you’ll need to reduce baking time, but by how much, I don’t know. Part of the appeal is their softball-like size.
Yes, baked cookies will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
You want to use a creamy peanut butter from a brand like Jif or Skippy. Don’t use natural or homemade peanut butter in these cookies, as both are too runny for this recipe.
I haven’t made this recipe using gluten-free flour, so I can’t say for sure. But I’ve had readers report success using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, so it’s worth a shot!
You must chill the dough. If you don’t, the already soft and spread-prone dough will spread to epic levels and you’ll have one giant paper-thin cookie that baked together on the baking sheet. Not good, so chill it.
Storage Instructions
Baked peanut butter crinkles will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Or, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
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Old-Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter, not natural or homemade, too runny
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
- ½ cup granulated
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- granulated sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl with electric mixer), combine egg, peanut butter, butter, sugars, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and creamed, about 4 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, divide dough into 12 equal-sized mounds. Roll the mounds into balls, and flatten just slightly. Dough is very soft, limp, and mushy so be gentle with it.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake too thin, flat, and will spread far too much.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- Dredge each mound dough through granulated sugar, coating liberally.
- Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. I bake 8 cookies per sheet; do not crowd because the cookies spread considerably.
- Bake for about 12 minutes (start checking at 10 minutes), or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake because cookies firm up as they cool. If you’re an oven door watcher, the cookies begin crinkling about 9 minutes into baking, and the longer the bake, the more they crinkle and continue to do so as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made these last night and they are surprisingly delicious for such a simple cookie. I didn’t want softball-sized cookies so I used a Pampered Chef medium scoop and they were perfect.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you loved the cookies!
Peanut butter cookies have been my favorite since childhood. These are my favorite of all time. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these are your favorite of all time!
I have made these cookies sooo many times with great results! I know recipe by heart,but as I sit here watching these cookies crinkle I had to come say how great these really are!!
I’m glad to hear that you love these cookies and make them often!
This peanut butter cookie is the bomb! I have tried many pb cookie recipes and this by far is the best! Big chewy and crinkles as pictured. Thank you!
Glad you think these are the best PB cookies!
I was hungry for peanut butter cookies and came across this recipe in my search. I am gluten free, so I used Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 baking flour. I also added chocolate chips because chocolate makes everything better in my humble opinion;) They were really yummy! Even the gluten-eaters in my family like them. I never know if GF flour will work in a ‘regular’ recipe, but it did with this one. One more thing, I put the cookie dough balls in the freezer for 15 minutes instead of the fridge for 2 hours because I did not want to wait that long!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad that the GF flour worked well!
Hi :)! This recipe seems perfect and all the comments I have read seem to be 99.9% positive! I was just wondering, do you think peanut butter with the little peanut pieces would work? We don’t have smooth peanut butter. I would love to make them, because in Australia (or at least in the part that I live in) PB cookies aren’t that popular so I would love to try them! I love peanut butter, and I love cookies, so they should be delicious
Stella :)
Yes I am sure than chunky peanut butter will work. Enjoy!
Dear Averie,
I would like to ask if I should cream until light and fluffy like most cookie recipes call for, or if not, what should I be looking out for? Also, Could i replace about 2tbsp of the sugar with honey (I’m all out of sugar *gasp*) Thank you for your help!!
I would not add honey because it will alter the recipe results.
Step 1. answers your question.
Enjoy!
Thank you for your super quick reply averie! sorry i’m pretty new and not sure what creamed means? Thank you once again!
Bea
Light and fluffy.
Thank you!!!!!! I am always looking for a better recipe and this was PERFECT! My boyfriend tends to be super picky and he DEVOURED them while I was at work. He made sure to save me one! ;-)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And passed the picky boyfriend test, too :)
Any recommendations for peanut butter.. I’m looking at a jar of jif natural and Skippy natural with honey. I don’t want to waste my time. Just tried two recipes earlier that didn’t work out well. Thanks.
I bake with Jif usually. Not the ‘natural’. Just the very old-fashioned one most of us grew up eating as kids.
These have become a staple for me! They’re by far the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever had, plus I love how easy they are to put together, so they’re great for when I want to impress friends but don’t feel like putting in a ton of effort! Something interesting though is that I’ve found they turn out slightly different depending on where I make them…the first time I made them I was living in Edinburgh, Scotland, and they turned out just as wonderfully crinkly as yours. Since moving back home near Toronto, Canada, I’ve made them quite a few more times, but they’ve never turned out quite as flat and crinkly as they were in Scotland (though of course still very delicious). I don’t know if it’s my oven (it does seem to do weird things with baking times and such) or the abundant moisture in the Scottish air or what! I’ll have to experiment with flour ratios and chilling times and such. Thank you for this amazing recipe!!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it’s your favorite PB cookie recipe!
That’s interesting about making them in different countries. I have a few recipes that I have cooked while traveling internationally and they come out close, but not quite the same. Not in a bad way, just slightly different and I attribute it to climate, oven variance, as well as ingredients, especially flour. Flours around the world have different gluten contents and that could definitely be the issue with the crinkling. LMK if you figure it out!
I have made these cookies so many times with fantastic results! Love this recipe!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it comes out great for you every time you make them!
Hi Averie,
These cookies look great! I can’t wait to try them. Do you have any high altitude baking instructions for these?
Sorry I don’t because I live at sea level and am not familiar with what you’d need to do. You could probably google for some tips though!
I am no fan of peanut butter cookies, but they are my partner’s favorite cookies. For his sake, I’ve been on a quest to bake the perfect peanut butter cookie. I’ve tried at least 6 different recipes; then tried tweaks on those I thought had potential. None produced all the characteristics I wanted in a peanut butter cookie. Then I tried your recipe.
I did make a few revisions before baking, but none to significantly alter the cookie recipe (converted the recipe to metric measurements for accuracy and consistency; substituted vanilla paste for extract; increased amount of vanilla; decreased baking soda; substituted crunchy peanut butter and increased amount of peanut butter). This cookie gave me all the characteristics I wanted: nutty flavor; sweet but not overly so; slight crunch, with a moist chewy texture. And the cookie is beautiful. I’m as much about aesthetics as I am about flavor and texture.
Many thanks for this delicious peanut butter cookie.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Oh! And I forgot to ask. I’m a cookie dough freezer, and I was wondering with these, do I coat them with sugar before freezing? Or will the frozen dough balls pick up the sugar just fine if I coat them after pulling them out of the freezer? (And by the way, these cookies are still crazy soft and chewy on day 2! And they’re just covered in plastic wrap, not even air tight. But now the problem is I can’t stop eating them. Sigh.)
Or will the frozen dough balls pick up the sugar just fine if I coat them after pulling them out of the freezer? <--- Yes do it that way, sugar sticks great to semi-frozen things b/c of the condensation on it so that's how I'd do it. Glad the cookies are still super soft!
Ok, so I never make peanut butter cookies because I hate that they’re always crunchy. Crunchy cookies are my nemesis. So I was super excited, but apprehensive, to try this recipe, because chewy cookies are my life. I am happy to report that these are everything I hoped they would be! My husband wasn’t excited for these because he doesn’t like peanut butter cookies, but when I took him a piece of one after I finished baking them, he followed me back to the kitchen saying, “Ok, I take it back, THAT is a good peanut butter cookie. I need another one.” Yay! They were so easy and turned out perfectly. Everything is right in the world.
Awesome comment and story-telling! Crunchy cookies are also my nemesis and no cookie recipe on my site will ever turn out crunchy for you (provided they’re not overbaked). Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
I have made these three times in the past week, and they have been a huge hit with my roommate and my fiancé!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!