The ‘Much-More’ Peanut Butter Cookies

With 2 cups of peanut butter in the cookie dough, this extra soft cookies will steal the spotlight. I’m using the same cookie dough as my bakery-style peanut butter chunk cookies, a cookie recipe I’ve grown to love so much that they’re now the only peanut butter cookies I bake. Today’s cookies are easy to make. Completely packed with flavor, and boast a deliciously crumbly criss-cross pattern on top. You will love them!

More than other types of cookie, these are quite sensitive to being over-baked. Some might like them darker, but I prefer mine a little less, which allows for the flavor of the salt and butter to come through. Peanut butter cookies are nothing new in our kitchens. Along with oatmeal raisin cookies and chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies rank high on recipes list!

Meet your new favorite peanut butter cookie recipe. Less Flour, More Peanut Butter

I call these The Much-More very peanut butter cookies because they’re packed with 2 cups of peanut butter in the dough. By the way, did you know that nut butter can take the place of flour in some recipes? These flourless almond butter cookies require just 5 ingredients. Almond butter provides enough structure and stability so there’s no need for any flour at all. If you’re looking for a gluten free peanut butter cookie, use that recipe and replace the almond butter with peanut butter.

How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies

Description

Packed with double the peanut butter, these very peanut butter cookies boast a dense flavor, remarkably soft texture, thick center, and a deliciously crumbly edge. Chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour to prevent excess spreading.

________________________________________

Ingredients

•           2 and 1/2 cups (310g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)

•           1 teaspoon baking powder

•           1 teaspoon baking soda

•           1/2 teaspoon salt

•           1 cup (230g; 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

•           1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

•           3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar

•           2 large eggs, at room temperature

•           2 cups (500g) creamy peanut butter*

•           1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

•           1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar for rolling

•           optional: 1/2 cup (65g) finely chopped peanuts

________________________________________

Instructions

1.         Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2.         Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.

These cookies get their special flavor from using salted butter. With butter-rich cookies like these, using a top-quality salted butter is the key to their crisp, crumbly texture and salty-sweet flavor.

Make sure the butter is cool to touch, not overly warm or melted. Here’s what room temperature butter really means. Use more granulated sugar than brown sugar. When making chocolate chip cookies, I always prefer to use more brown sugar than white sugar because it produces a softer cookie. With peanut butter cookies, however, the peanut butter already makes the cookies soft. More brown sugar made them EXTRA soft, so they fell apart. Too much of a good thing.

Add the eggs and beat on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the peanut butter and vanilla, then beat on high speed until combined.

3.         Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, then mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the peanuts, if using. Dough will be thick and soft. The cookie dough comes together in about 10 minutes. Don’t over-mix it.

4.         Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator (and up to 2-3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, though, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.

5.         Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.

6.         Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and then roll the balls in granulated sugar. Use a fork to make a crisscross indent on top of each. Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes until very lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.

7.         Remove from the oven. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

8.         Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

________________________________________

Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1-inch (3cm) thick, wrap in plastic, and chill the cookie dough. Chilling the cookie dough is important, but this dough is thick so it doesn’t need hours inside the refrigerator. A quick 1 hour of chilling will prevent the cookies from over-spreading. (The dough can be made up to five days in advance; and stored in the refrigerator.)

Cut the rectangle of dough in half and place one piece between two large sheets of parchment paper. Roll the dough until it is between 1/3 - 1/2 inch (1.25cm) thick. Each dough ball is about 1.5 tablespoons. Peel off the top piece of parchment paper and, using a 2-inch (5cm) round cookie cutter cut out circles of dough, or roll it under palms place them on the prepared baking sheet at least 1/2-inch (2cm) apart.

Indent fork marks on top for that classic peanut butter criss-cross cookie.

Add granulated sugar on top of each cookie for an extra sparkly crunch! Bake until the edges are set, about 12 minutes.

Roll the second piece of dough, put them on the other baking sheet. (Scraps can be gathered up and rerolled to make additional cookies.) Chill the baking sheets of cookies in the refrigerator or freezer until firm.

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven.

Standard temperature for baking

According to the conversion of Fahrenheit (°F) to Celsius (°C),

°F = (9/5)*(°C ) + 32

By making celsius as subject,

°C = (°F - 32)*(5/9)

Therefore, 1°F = 17.22°C

At minus 40 degree Celsius both Celsius scale and Fahrenheit scale gets equal.

Beat the egg in a small bowl with the teaspoon of water. Remove one sheet of cookies from the refrigerator or freezer. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg wash then use a fork to cross hatch a pattern on the tops of the cookies. Bake the cookies until the tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheet in the oven midway during baking. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Repeat process for the rest.

Storage: The unrolled dough can be chilled for up to 5 days or frozen for up to two months. Once baked, the cookies will keep for up to four days in an airtight container.

You will love the crumbly-crisp edges, packed with flavor and extra soft cookie like anything.