Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

5 from 1 vote

These peanut butter cookies taste deliciously like your favorite classic peanut butter-packed treats, but with a secret ingredient that leaves them extra chewy and soft. Made with simple pantry ingredients in under 30 minutes!

Prep Time15

Cook Time12

Total Time27

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 197kcal

Author: Jennifer Fishkind

Ingredients

½ cup butter flavored shortening room temp
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar packed
3.4 oz box instant vanilla pudding mix unprepared
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk additional
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup granulated sugar optional coating

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream the shortening, peanut butter, and sugar together until smooth. Add the unprepared pudding powder, eggs, additional egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat for about one minute on medium speed.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a ½ cup at a time and mix until combined.
Use a medium cookie scoop to portion out the dough into balls and roll the dough between your palms. Roll the balls in granulated sugar.
Place the balls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet about two inches apart. Use a fork to gently press the balls flat, making two indents with the fork tines, criss-crossing the marks.
Bake for 9 to 12 minutes then let rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Notes

Storage:

To Store: Peanut butter cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
To Freeze Cookie Dough: Freeze the dough in balls until solid and then add them to a freezer bag.
To Freeze Baked Cookies: Let cookies cool completely, then add to a freezer bag. Store in freezer for up to 3 months.
To Bake From Frozen: Place frozen cookie dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and let sit at room temp while the oven heats up. Then add 1-2 minutes to the original cooking time.

Tips:

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Doing this will make easier to remove the cookies so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
Don’t over bake the cookies. When you take your cookies out of the oven, they may still look slightly under cooked but they will continue to bake on the baking sheet for a couple more minutes.
It’s important to use dry instant pudding mix. Do not make the actual pudding! Just add the dry mix!
Make sure you’re using instant pudding and not “cook and serve.” The coagulants in the “cook and serve” are different than the instant, containing a large amount of cornstarch. The texture will be altered and it won’t bake up as nicely.

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