Salty Peanut Butter Cookies
thick, fluffy salted peanut butter cookies
Peanut butter cookies are my dad’s favorite. For as long as I can remember, that man could pack away a giant plate of soft, fork-imprinted peanut butter cookies, preferably studded with little peanuts from a jar of chunky peanut butter.
When brainstorming creaming method cookie recipes, I kept coming back to the simple peanut butter cookie. The creaming method is perfect for peanut butter cookies. Thick, soft cookies lifted by the extra air whipped into in the batter and perfect warm from the oven with a big glass of cold milk.
a couple notes on these salty peanut butter cookies
This is a very simple, straight-forward recipe. It calls for no steeping herbs in butter or laminated doughs. Just butter, lots of brown sugar, your favorite peanut butter, eggs, and a few staple dry ingredients and you’re well on your way to peanut butter cookie heaven.
To contrast the sweet and salty flavors, I wanted to punch the salt up a little bit in this recipe. To do this, I used salted butter. I rarely ever use salted butter in baking because salt amounts vary from brand to brand so it’s much harder to control the amount of salt being added to a recipe (and it’s especially hard to write recipes that will work for all different people buying all different brands of butter), but here we’re making an exception. We are also finishing these cookies like all my best cookies, with a generous sprinkle of flaky salt.
I like to scoop giant cookie balls right after mixing the dough and then pop them in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before baking. You can also place the scooped dough on a sheet tray directly into the freezer and then transfer to a Ziploc bag when frozen and have freshly baked peanut butter cookies on hand whenever a craving strikes. If you are interested in why I encourage chilling cookie dough, you can read more here.
Salty Peanut Butter Cookies
makes about 12 large cookies cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (120 g) cake flour
1 1/2 cup (190 g) all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup (226 g) salted butter, cold and cubed
1 cup (200 g) brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
flaky salt, for finishing
Procedure:
In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar for 3-4 minutes, until smooth and creamy.
Add the egg and egg yolk and mix again until homogenized. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and mix once more until everything is fluffy and well-mixed.
Gradually add in the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed, just until no dry spots remain.
Use a large (1/4 cup sized) cookie scoop to portion dough and place on a parchment-lined sheet tray. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Place chilled cookie dough on a parchment-lined sheet tray, leaving about 2” of space between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until the edges are golden and the tops are dry. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with flaky salt and then let the cookies cool completely on the pan.
