You will love these soft peanut butter snickerdoodles! Enjoy a chewy cookie with a slightly crisp exterior, cinnamon-sugar coating, and a little crunch from chopped peanuts. I appreciate there’s no extra decorating required. These are sweet and simple, but mega flavorful!
Does anything really live up to the mighty snickerdoodle cookie? The answer is not much, but there are several variations of the cinnamon-sugar-coated treats that come close—like snickerdoodle cupcakes and snickerdoodle blondies. And it’s so much fun to play around with different flavors, including these maple pecan snickerdoodles and white chocolate chai snickerdoodles. Today, we’re adding peanut butter to the lineup!
Tell Me About These Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Testing This Recipe
Key Ingredients in Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Do I Have to Add Peanuts?
Yes. I don’t recommend leaving out the chopped peanuts because they add so much peanutty flavor. I actually prefer adding chopped peanuts over using crunchy peanut butter, which tends to dry out cookies. Give the peanuts a good rough chop.
Expect a Very Creamy Cookie Dough
Peanut butter acts more like a dry ingredient in cookies because it soaks up a lot of moisture. Since there’s not too much flour, the dough is really soft… like peanut butter frosting soft. You might even think you’re doing something wrong. Don’t worry, you’re not! After the dough comes together, chill it in the refrigerator for 3 hours. As it chills, the cookie dough solidifies and is much easier to shape.
Look how thick the cookie dough is after chilling:
Coating in Cinnamon Sugar
The cookies puff up in the oven, and then fall to their crinkly destiny as they cool. These cookies are fragile right after baking, so let them cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
3 Success Tips for the Best Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until completely creamed and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Add the chopped peanuts and beat until just incorporated. The dough will be very creamy and soft. Cover and chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, and up to 3–4 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Place remaining 1/3 cup (70g) of sugar into a bowl, and mix in the cinnamon. Roll chilled cookie dough into balls, about 1 heaping Tablespoon (25g) of dough each. Roll each ball generously in the cinnamon sugar and arrange on baking sheets about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 11–12 minutes or until the edges appear set and are very lightly browned. The centers will still look very soft.
- Remove from the oven. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cookies puff up in the oven, but slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cover and store leftover cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week. Their flavor is even better on day 2!
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