Big Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies
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.
They’re soft, supremely chewy, and have an old-fashioned peanut butter cookie flavor.
I have 20 peanut butter cookie recipes on my site and another 10 in my cookbook, but none quite like these.
Most of my cookies are thicker, puffier, and on the softer rather than chewier side. And none have big valleys and canyons running through them.
These 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. 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.
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 it’s not, and 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.
It’s a very easy recipe to memorize because it starts out with 1/2 cup each of butter, peanut butter, granulated and brown sugar, along with an egg and vanilla. Add in the flour, baking soda, and using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form 12 equal-sized mounds of dough.
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.
Before baking I rolled 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 them 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. Bake your cookies until they’re done and watch your cookies, not the clock, when evaluating doneness since oven, dough, and preferences vary.
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.
Big Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies
Here's the peanut butter version of a molasses crinkle cookie. They're soft, supremely chewy, and have an old-fashioned peanut butter cookie flavor. The cookies are large in diameter, but not very thick, and disappear quickly since it's a small batch recipe, making just 1 dozen large cookies. 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. The dough is very soft so handle it gently, and it must be chilled so the cookies don't spread and bake together into one giant paper-thin cookie. The cookies begin crinkling in the last minutes of baking and continue to do so as they cool. They break apart so nicely at the crinkles and it's so easy to keep breaking off section after section.
Yield: 12 large cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: about 12 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, for dough chilling
Ingredients:
1 large egg
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural or homemade, too runny)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 cup granulated
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
granulated sugar, for rolling
Directions:
- 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 plasticwrap, 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.
- 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.
Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
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