Recipe- Best Peanut Butter Cookies Ever

These are the best peanut butter cookies ever! Use your favorite store-brand peanut butter and a combination of white and brown sugar. For the best cookie shape, let the dough chill for at least three hours before baking.

If there is a Hall of Fame for cookies, peanut butter cookies hold a place of honor, along with chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. They also happen to be my mother’s favorite cookie, the one cookie she requests when I’m in a cookie making mood.

The cross-hatch pattern on top is the defining touch for a peanut butter cookie. One look and you know what the cookie is, right?

You can use either smooth or crunchy peanut butter for this recipe. Smooth peanut butter will give you a smoother consistency. Crunchy will give you some bits of peanuts throughout the cookie.

You can chill the dough for less time than the 3 hours the recipe calls for, but it does help the cookies to keep their shape if the dough is completely chilled, which it should be by the 3 hour mark.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, 112 g), unsalted or salted, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
1/2 cup (110 g) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (130 g) peanut butter
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups (160 g) all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using salted butter, omit the salt)

Method

* Make the cookie dough: Beat the butter until creamy, 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and white sugar, beat for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and the egg.

* In a separate bowl, vigorously whisk together the dry ingredients—the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar butter mixture.

* Chill the dough: Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

* Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

* Shape the cookies: Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place the balls of dough about 3 inches apart on un-greased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. (It helps to dip the fork in sugar to keep it from sticking to the dough.)

* Bake: Bake at 375°F (190°C) until light brown, about 9 to 10 minutes. (Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool in their baking sheets for a minute. After a minute, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Note: For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F (150°C) for 15 minutes.