Criss-Cross Peanut Butter Cookies are one of my all-time favorites, and I particularly like this recipe. Also known as Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies, these are the quintessential American style peanut butter cookies. They have crispy edges with soft centers and loads of peanut butter flavor. This recipe has double the peanut butter.
Weight of Sweetened Peanut Butter
This recipe has a lot of peanut butter and is designed for sweetened peanut butter like Jif, Skippy, etc. If you only have unsweetened peanut butter, you may want to try a different recipe -- maybe one that calls for ½ cup. Also, the best way to measure peanut butter is with a scale. Peanut butter is dense, so ½ cup weighs around 4.6 oz (128 grams) rather than 4 oz, which is the volume of a typical half cup. Creamy is the best choice, but if all you have is crunchy you can use that.
Small Batch Criss-Cross Peanut Butter Cookies
The printable recipe is for a full batch, but since I make these so often for myself I often scale the recipe down to ¼ of itself and make a very small batch. Here are the measures for Small Batch Criss-Cross Peanut Butter Cookies. I sometimes use bread flour.
- 30 grams softened unsalted butter (2 tablespoons plus 1 ½ teaspoons)
- 25 grams dark brown sugar (2 tablespoons)
- 25 grams granulated sugar (2 tablespoons)
- 65 grams creamy peanut butter (¼ cup)
- 14 grams of beaten egg (about 1 tablespoon)
- ⅛ teaspoon EACH salt, baking soda, and vanilla
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour or bread flour (42 grams)
- A few tablespoons of peanut butter chips (optional)
For the small batch, just mix the butter with the sugars, then stir in the peanut butter and egg. Once that is well mixed, stir in the salt, baking soda and vanilla. Mix well and stir in the flour and baking chips (if using).
European Style Butter Peanut Butter Cookies
I recently made some European style butter chocolate chip cookies using Président brand butter. My nephew loved them so much my sister-in-law asked for the recipe and has been making them too. The French butter makes the cookies a little sandier and crumblier.
Words From 2024
This recipe has a lot peanut butter. I put it up against the Classic Peanut Butter Cookies recipe on Allrecipes.com which is double but has a lower ratio of peanut butter and includes baking powder. Those spread more and are lighter in peanut butter flavor. Both good! The texture is better when completely cool.
Recipe
One Bowl Criss-Cross Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened (115 grams)
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed (100 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 1 cup peanut butter, sweetened type (260 grams)
- 1 large egg (extra large okay too)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour (170 grams)
- 1 cup peanut butter chips (these are optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C). Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper or leave ungreased/un-lined.
- Beat the butter and both sugars together. Beat in the peanut butter and egg; Scrape sides of bowl and beat in the salt, baking soda and vanilla. When well blended, add flour and stir until it is blended. Stir in the chips if using.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls (or scoop with a 1 tablespoon size cookie scoop) and arrange on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. At this point you can roll them in sugar or sprinkle sugar of the top if you'd like. Flatten balls with a fork dipped in sugar (which never sticks, so I prefer lightly dampened with water) to make criss-cross patterns; Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.
- **If you only have salted butter you can use that, but reduce the salt in the recipe to about ¼ teaspoon.
- **If you have some, try adding about ¼ teaspoon of chipotle powder to the batter.
Sue says
I made these again and used part PB chips and part Reese’s Pieces for the add ins. They turned out so good! I gave them away and they received rave reviews from the recipients.
Qujulana says
Hi, my husband & son love pb cookies so I'm on it! Will report the resorts I too will try the smuckers honey pb in the cookies cause I love it without the cookies!:) Thanks,*Q*.
Hannah says
I should make these and send them to my younger daughter.She loves p b and chipolte anything.Mexican hot chocolate is good and they add some cayenne pepper to it.
Katherine says
WOW! Great PB cookie! I added chocolate chips instead and they were awesome. I also made the cookies larger (2 inch balls) and the thick chewy texture was yummy. Thanks a ton! Great website.
Heather - Ghost Baker says
Looking at this recipe and a few others, I tried a variation yesterday to make them even more peanut buttery! The biggest change was doubling the amount of creamy peanut butter in place of peanut butter chips - I was interested to see how that might taste. I think they came out very well.
I also made some with different kinds of chips, but I definitely preferred the no-chip version the best. Maybe next time I'll try a little more salt to make them more like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookie. Thanks for a great recipe!
http://tinyurl.com/6gmcgf (pb packed cookies)
Anna says
Thanks Cindy! If you liked this version of the cookies, I dare you to try the chipotle version. It's this recipe plus 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (McCormick). Sounds crazy but it very good.
CindyLou says
I just found your blog and I love it. I have not made peanut butter cookies in years. My husband loves them poor thing, because I like peanut butter, but don't care for anything made with it. The pictures of your criss-cross peanut butter cookies looked so---good just had to make them. When my husband saw I was making the cookies he was grinning from ear to ear. You made a happy camper out of him. They was so easy to make, turned out beautiful. I ate three and enjoyed them very much. Thank you for the lovely picture, and cookie recipe.
Sue says
Oh My!!! I finally got around to making these and all I can say is, they really are “the-best-in-the-whole-wide-world-sorry-but-that-is-true peanut butter cookies"!!! My son is going to be so thrilled to find these in the box when they arrive! Thanks for another OUTSTANDING recipe!
Anna says
Liz, thanks for the tip! I will try the Smucker's with honey.
Liz says
Anna,
I just thought I would chime in about the natural peanut butter, since I saw a mention of it recently. There are two different companies that I know of that are making natural peanut butter that they sweeten with honey. Smucker's is one, and the other is from Arrowhead Mills. So, if you find the plain peanut butter to be too intense (I do too!), this might be a better fit for you. Definitely not as sweet as Jif or Skippy, but I think the honey-sweetened peanut butters are really tasty! Also, I have found that my peanut butter cookies are much more fluffy and tasty since I made the switch.
Enjoy!
Clumbsy Cookie says
Hope you had a great 4th of July Anna! I have this cookies in the oven now, but since we don't have peanut butter chips here I've added sesame seeds, chopped almonds and dark chocolate chips. The plain dough tastes like the inside of peanut butter cups, I could eat the all thing raw. Can't wait for them to finish baking. Cheers! Rita
Katie says
These look great. Perfect for munching on in the afternoon.
Therese B. says
Hi Anna!
I am having a creative rut ALSO....
I have a BUNCO party next week. Farmers Market is the theme. I wish you could come too!!!
And bring your puppy...he is soooooooo CUTE!
I LOVE peanut butter cookies!!!! These look righteous!!
Congrats on the frosty paws contest....he is STAR!!!!!! Are you going to watch the Doggie reality show that is coming on the tube? That show looks cute!
Cathy C says
One word describes this.... YUM.
Cheers
Cathy
http://www.wheresmydamnanswer.com
Rasee says
Hi, Anna. Because I live in Thailand we don't have a lot of the ingredients available in the States, peanut butter chips being one of them. Can I just add more peanut butter? Or just skip the chips? (Can I use chocolate chips instead?)
Katrina says
So this is NOT the Old Fashioned PB recipe? I made those and the KA's Triple Plays today, will try to get them posted tonight. I actually really like them both, but (and don't be mad--just kidding)I think I like the Old Fashioned ones a little better. Check out my blog later. 😉 Thanks for the recipes.
VeggieGirl says
Such classic pb cookies, with the criss-cross. Yum!
bakingblonde says
YUM!!! I love the pics and updates daily!