Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

5 from 1 vote

This old-fashioned Amish recipe makes the best soft, thick and chewy homemade peanut butter cookies!

Course Cookies

Cuisine American, Amish

Keyword easy peanut butter cookies, homemade peanut butter cookies, soft peanut butter cookies

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Chilling Time 2

Total Time 2 30

Servings cookies

Calories 150kcal

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the shortening and peanut butter. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until completely combined. Add eggs; beat until fluffy.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture; mix until thoroughly combined.
Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
Place about ½ cup of additional granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Using a cookie scoop (about 1 ½ tablespoons), roll dough into balls and coat in sugar. Arrange the dough balls 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball by using a fork to make a crisscross design. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or just until the cookies are a light golden brown color, the edges are set, but the centers are still slightly soft. Cool on the baking sheets for about 3-5 more minutes, and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For soft peanut butter cookies, pull the cookies out of the oven when they still look slightly under-baked in the center. They will firm up as they cool, but will remain nice and chewy on the inside.
Chilling the dough for about 2 hours yields the thickest, chewiest peanut butter cookies.
Use a processed peanut butter (like Jif or Skippy) rather than all-natural peanut butter. The processed nut butters do not separate, which yields a better quality cookie.