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These Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies are light as air, not too sweet, and full of peanut butter flavor. They're perfect for sharing at the holidays as well as year round.
I've often written fondly about how my mother would turn our house into a cookie making factory at the holidays. It sometimes seemed like every surface in our home was covered in cooling cookies. I could never imagine going through all that trouble now, but I don't have nearly as many people in my life as she did.
What was so remarkable about it was the spirit of generosity. She wasn't selling the cookies, she was just making them to share with other people, to bring them joy. What kind of world would we create if we were all willing to give more energy to creating joy for others? I think that's a world I'd like to live in.
What makes these cookies so awesome?
These crunchy peanut butter cookies are a cookie jar classic. They're light and crisp instead of chewy. They almost have the snap of a British biscuit, but they're not as dense. The peanut butter brings a hint of salt to balance out the sweetness. You'll find yourself reaching for just one more every fifteen minutes or so.
These are a simple cookie to bake as well. Cookies don't always need to be elaborate. Something straightforward but delicious is just as good. I recently made these for my last ever work meeting, and I definitely made a favorable departing impression. Everyone exclaimed at how light and crunchy they were. You've gotta give them a try.
Magical Properties of Peanut Butter
Peanuts, and by extension, peanut butter are ruled by the planet Jupiter and carry masculine or projective energy. It's used to draw in wealth, prosperity, and new opportunities. Peanuts also grow underground, so they can be used in grounding and stability spells. Use peanut butter in a spell where you want things to hold together. You could also carve sigils or symbols into the peanut butter on your sandwich before putting the other piece of bread on to add some extra manifesting energy to your lunch.
For more on the magical properties of the ingredients in this recipe, check the Kitchen Magick page.
Tips for making Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies
These cookies come together much like any other cookie, by creaming together butter and sugar, then mixing in vegetable oil, peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla. We then mix in our dry ingredients. This is a very sticky cookie dough, so you definitely want to chill it before baking.
I use a cookie scoop to portion out my cookie dough, leaving plenty of space for the cookies to spread. You'll flatten out your balls of dough and make the distinctive cross hatch pattern by simply pressing a fork into each dough ball two times. Cross the lines at a 90-degree angle. If you find the dough is sticking to the fork, I put a spoonful of flour into a small dish and dip my fork into the flour between each cookie.
You'll then bake these for about 15 minutes. Remember, these are crunchy cookies, but you also don't want burned cookies. They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a few minutes after you take them out of the oven. Then just let them cool on a wire rack and store in an air tight contaienr.
I think an old school sweetened peanut butter is best here. They are cookies after all. You're free to use crunchy or smooth peanut butter, whichever you prefer.
These Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies are one of my all time favorites. I hope they become a favorite of yours as well.
Looking for more awesome cookie recipes? Try these Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies or some No-Fail Sugar Cookies.
PrintCrunchy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 50 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1-⅓ cups peanut butter, creamy or chunky, your choice
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1-⅓ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine flour,baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed. Let it mix for about three minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low and mix in the vegetable oil and peanut butter, then add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
- Finally, mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
- Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill for half an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Scoop out the cookie dough in ping pong ball scoops leaving a couple of inches between each one. Gently flatten the cookie dough with a fork in a criss cross pattern and bake for about 15 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for three minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Keywords: Peanut Butter, Cookies
Recipe adapted from I'm Just Here for More Food by Alton Brown.
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Jessanne says
I'm pretty sure the flour amount is wrong. It's much too liquidy. Are you sure it's not suppose to e 2 3/4 cup flour?
Renee says
Hi Jessanne. I'm sorry you had some trouble with this recipe. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll have to retest it to be sure. If you can, I'd definitely recommend using the weight measure rather than the volume measure, as this will always be more accurate.