My favorite dough in this basic cookie dough series has to be this basic peanut butter cookie dough. It’s so easy and makes the most delectable soft, chewy, cracked top peanut butter cookies. You don’t even need to add anything to these cookies, but you sure could, if you wanted to.

This peanut butter cookie dough recipe is so super-duper simple and like all of my other basic doughs, it’s pretty much no-fail and uses only a handful of common ingredients. #winnerwinnerchickendinner

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How to Make This Basic Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

1. Make sure you have a stick of room temperature butter to start with. Then, in a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another minute.
3. Fold in the peanut butter and mix until smooth.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing with the electric mixer for a minute or so. Then with a rubber spatula, continue mixing until the flour is mostly incorporated. Avoid over-mixing the dough.
6. Once the dough is made, you can make the cookies as noted below, or freeze it for baking at a later time (see the freezing directions below).

Special Instructions for You

• For the highest success rate with this recipe, I recommend weighing the dry ingredients with a digital food scale. I know it’s kind of annoying, but it really helps – trust me. Using the correct amount of each ingredient will ensure you get the same results every time.
• Using an electric mixer will not only speed up the process, but it will ensure the butter and sugars are properly creamed prior to baking, which is important. You’ll want to cream the butter and sugars for 2 minutes. At first, the mixture will become crumbly; keep going. After a minute or so, it’ll start to smooth out and become smoother, light colored, and fluffy looking.
• You can use whatever size cookie scoop you want with this dough. It’s very stable and consistent. I often use a 1.5 TBS scoop to make smaller cookies, but my personal favorite is a 3 TBS scoop. For 3 TBS scoop size cookies, you’ll need to increase the baking time by a minute or so (to 10-ish minutes).
• This basic peanut butter cookie dough is a light and fluffy dough, so it’s not the best for handling or rolling into a ball. It’s more for just scooping, dropping, and baking. If you’re looking for a dense peanut butter dough you can roll for something like Hershey’s kiss cookies, this is the recipe you’ll want to use.

Basic Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

By: Kristine Underwood

This basic peanut butter cookie dough is rich, creamy, and packed with the classic, nutty flavor you love. Perfect for baking soft and chewy cookies, it combines simple ingredients for a delightful treat that's quick and easy to prepare.

5 from 9 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 9 minutes mins

Total Time 19 minutes mins

Course Sweets & Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 26 cookies

Calories 116 kcal

Ingredients

• ▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• ▢ 2/3 cup sugar
• ▢ 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth, not natural)
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 1¼ cup flour (all-purpose, spooned and leveled)
• ▢ 1/2 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1/2 tsp sea salt
• ▢ Extra sugar for sprinkling

US Customary or Metric

Cook Mode

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until smooth.
  1/2 cup unsalted butter, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• Beat in egg and vanilla and mix for an additional minute.
  1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Fold in peanut butter and stir.
  1/2 cup peanut butter
• Whisk the flour, baking soda, and sea salt together in a separate bowl.
  1¼ cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Add flour, half at a time, mixing with a rubber spatula until just combined.
• Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop dough and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
• Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with sugar.
• Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
• Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
• Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Notes

Make sure to read the cookie baking tips to get answers to common questions about baking cookies.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 cookieCalories: 116kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 2gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 118mgPotassium: 42mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 118IUCalcium: 8mgIron: 0.4mg