There’s a foolproof way to bake soft and chewy peanut butter cookies. Under bake them slightly. That’s it. Baking a batch of peanut butter cookies until they “look” done is deceiving and creates a crunchy result. I’ve had this recipe in my binder since my kids were little, and my oldest is 18. (Thanks to a commenter below, the mystery is not solved, these are from Crisco! added 10/8/10) Whenever my father in law visits, he asks for these cookies. My husband loves them, the kids love them, everyone loves them. They never make it off the cooling rack and into a container, they are always devoured too fast!
Smooth or Rustic?
As you can see from the picture, you can make your cookies nice and neat or give them a more rustic look, either way they taste great. For neat as a pin cookies, scoop the dough out with a cookie scoop and roll the dough lightly in the palms of your hands. For rustic, just release from the scooper and leave as is.
Shortening vs Butter
There is shortening in this recipe. I have used both plain vegetable shortening and butter flavored shortening, however I have never tried substituting butter. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” ;) If you would like to try with butter, I’d love to hear your results.
Baking Notes
When you bake these, start with a small batch and check them after 7 minutes. Mine are always perfect at 8 minutes. They will look a little underdone and puffy. Once you remove them from the oven and let them cool a bit, they will relax and settle.
If you would like to try my tweaked Nutella version of these, click over to Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies. They are fab! Or maybe you prefer a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie!
Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
from the back of the Crisco container
15 minPrep Time
9 minCook Time
24 minTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening (or butter flavored shortening)
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
- Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.
- Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (using a cookie scoop works great) 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to racks to cool completely.
Amanda Formaro
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