Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies uses brown butter in the cookie dough to enhance the nutty flavor in these soft and chewy peanut butter cookies.
Classic peanut butter cookies with a tasty spin. Brown butter to create a depth of nutty flavor and to create a chewy texture.
Ingredients in Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies
- All-purpose flour- spooned and leveled to reduce unncessary flour in the cookie dough.
- Baking powder
- Unsalted butter, browned - directions for how to brown butter below and in the recipe card!
- Creamy peanut butter
- Light brown sugar, packed
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Egg
- Salt
RELATED: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
How to Make Brown Butter
To brown the butter, add it to a skillet and allow it to melt on low heat.
Raise the temperature to medium-low and stir the melted butter until frothy and small brown bits form on the bottom of the skillet.
Once the brown bits form, remove the butter from the heat and transfer it to a heatproof bowl immediately to prevent the butter from burning.
Allow the butter to turn back to a softened stage in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or use the freezer to speed up the process.
How to Make Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies
Preheat the oven and prepare the cookie sheets- Preheat the oven to 350º and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Combine the wet ingredients- Cream together the cooled browned butter and the brown and granulated sugar until smooth.
Spoon the creamy peanut butter into the mixture and beat until well blended.
Stir in the egg and the vanilla extract.
Mix the dry ingredients- Combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.
Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat until combined and all dry ingredients are moistened.
Prepare the brown butter peanut butter cookie dough for baking- Roll the dough into one-inch balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Use the tins of a fork to flatten the cookies. Turn the fork to create a criss-cross pattern on each cookie to give it a signature peanut butter cookie look.
Bake the cookies- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheets before transferring them to an air-tight container.
TIP: Avoid overbaking the cookies so they do not become hard. Cookies continue to bake once they are out of the oven while they are in the cooling process.
Allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet right out of the oven to prevent the cookies from crumbling. They will be very soft and they will continue baking as they cool. Patience is key!
Store the baked cookies in an airtight container.
📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter - browned*
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar - packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Make the Brown Butter and Prepare the oven
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Brown the butter in a skillet by allowing it to melt on low heat.
- Raise the temperature to medium-low and stir the melted butter until frothy and small brown bits form on the bottom of the skillet.
- Once the brown bits form, remove the butter from the heat and transfer it to a heatproof bowl immediately to prevent the butter from burning.
- Allow the butter to turn back to a softened stage in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or use the freezer to make the process faster.
- Make the Cookie Dough
- Cream together the cooled browned butter and the brown and granulated sugar until smooth.
- Spoon the creamy peanut butter into the mixture and beat until well blended.
- Stir in the egg and the vanilla extract.
- Combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.
- Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat until combined and all dry ingredients are moistened.
- Roll the dough into one-inch balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Use a fork to flatten the cookies down. Turn the fork to create a criss-cross pattern on each cookie.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheets before transferring them to an air-tight container.
- Allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet right out of the oven to prevent the cookies from crumbling. They will be very soft and they will continue baking as they cool.
- Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on third-party calculations. Actual values may vary due to ingredients, measurements, and serving sizes.
© Mama Needs Cake
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Dana is an experienced recipe creator who crafts easy and delicious recipes for all levels of home cooks.
Her recipes range from classic comfort foods to healthy and nutritious meals, and she is always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to bring flavor and variety to the table.
I'll take a whole batch for me please! Love that it is using brown butter, it gives a different taste! So yummy! thanks
Such an easy cookie recipe. I have to give them a try. Love peanut butter.
I'm convinced more than ever that browned butter makes everything better, including peanut butter cookies!
I always thought I made the best peanut butter cookies. Well, that is until my boys tasted your recipe. I decided to try the brown butter version and it made such a big difference. From now on I'm following your recipe!!
Get in my belly! haha I seriously love these. The brown butter just puts them over the top. And a great tip about not overbaking these - I've made that mistake in the past. Thanks!
I Havien't used Brown butter before What does it consist of.
Hi Pearl, brown butter is butter that has been melted into a skillet and sauteed until the butter turns a brown color. Browning butter creates a deeper flavor in baking.
The taste is good but the cookies are just to friable for me to make them again.
I struggled with this recipe. Followed it to the letter, and my cookie dough was kinda dry and sandy. I thought perhaps it would sort itself out during baking, but the cookies were also dry and fell apart easily. I remembered that Claire Saffitz said that browning butter was essentially boiling it and therefore removing some water, so she would add 1 tsp-1 tbsp back into the recipe. I want to try this recipe again, either adding water back in or using a peanut butter with more oil.
@Emily, I made these last night and experienced the same. I was surprised by how dry the dough was and although very tasty the cookies do fall apart when baked. I will try it again with more butter next time. Another brown butter recipe I use for chocolate chip uses 3/4 cup.
I have a chocolate chip recipe from a chef and after browning and cooling the butter he adds heavy whipping cream to bring the butter back to 1 cup. I made his recipe and my family absolutely loved them.
@Sarah, @emily,
I’ve been obsessed with brown butter since discovering how easy it is if you know how to replace the lost moisture.
As a general rule of thumb, for every stick of butter called for in a recipe, you need to add 1 tablespoon of water back to the butter after you brown it. The easiest way to do this is to wait for the brown butter to cool slightly, and simply add the tablespoon of water to the melted butter. I hope this helps
Made two batches of these cookies tonight. Followed the recipe to the letter. I cannot overstate how dry and inedible they came out. After discovering the Saharan nature of the first batch, I added more melted butter to the remaining batter in an attempt to rescue this recipe. The additional butter made little difference, and I was left with yet another tray of disappointingly chalky and floury peanut butter cookies.
As with other reviewers, I agree these were very, very dry. After two trays, I added maple syrup to the rest of the dough and they came out much better. The flavor is delicious though and dunking in milk or coffee is never a bad thing!