Bean

The New Classic Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

by:
October 13, 2016
4
10 Ratings
The New Classic Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies
Photo by Posie Harwood
  • Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Author Notes

If you combine a lot of excellent things (peanut butter, cookie dough, brown butter, and roasted salted nuts), it stands to reason that the end result will be impressively delicious. This cookie recipe, adapted loosely from the recipe from the back of the Jif jar for classic PB cookies, proves the point. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup roasted, salted peanuts
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. While the oven preheats, toast the peanuts on a baking sheet until just beginning to brown (about 10 minutes). Let the nuts cool, then roughly chop them.
  3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling the pan constantly, until it begins to brown and smell nutty. Allow the butter to cool before proceeding with the recipe.
  4. Once the brown butter is cool (or not hot at least if you are impatient!), beat the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla together. Add the egg and beat well.
  5. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.
  6. Add the peanut butter and beat until combined. Stir in the chopped, toasted nuts.
  7. Drop the batter in heaping spoonfuls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using the back of a fork, press gently down in a cross-hatch pattern on top of each cookie and flatten the cookie to about 1/2" thick. If you want, sprinkle with flaky sea salt and raw sugar. Bake until golden, between 8-12 minutes depending on the size of your cookie (don't overbake!).
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • tnevins
    tnevins
  • Jasser Abu-Giemi
    Jasser Abu-Giemi
  • kumalavula
    kumalavula
  • Nancy
    Nancy
  • Suzanne Truong Hoyer
    Suzanne Truong Hoyer

Popular on Food52

22 Reviews

Laural
Laural May 19, 2021
Way too dry. I knew from the dough consistency and refrigerated dough after attempting to see if baking a few proved them to be ok. They are not. More like granola. Might try adding more butter or coconut oil to get to a dough consistency. Fingers crossed.
 
Mary A.
Mary A. July 15, 2020
Delicious! They are fragile but I underbaked them just a bit and let them cool completely before removing them from the pan. This helped them stay whole.
 
thrington
thrington May 9, 2020
Why are my cookies so crumbly? They just fell apart. I don't think I deviated from the recipe. I am baking at normal altitude.
 
Cheryl
Cheryl May 7, 2020
These cookies are sublime and more addictive than I like. Shortbread, toasty nuts, browned butter Deliciousness. I added milk chocolate chips after first batch and chilled the dough for about an hour. This was a winner for us. We like them frozen. Yummy!!!!
 
Sara A.
Sara A. May 4, 2020
Sad to say these were so dry. Flavors were good but consistency was chalky and they fell apart. Maybe I cooked too long (15 min) but they were only just golden at that point.
 
Sara A.
Sara A. May 4, 2020
Sad to say these were sooooo dry. Flavors were good but consistency was chalky and they fell apart. Maybe I cooked too long (15 min) but they were only just golden at that point.
 
tnevins
tnevins September 15, 2019
These are lovely - I made them exactly as described. They have a rich, almost sandy texture when warm from the oven and more depth of favour compared to my usual recipe.
 
joslin
joslin December 1, 2018
These . are . delicious!!
 
Emily
Emily December 3, 2017
Hi. I made these tonight, and was wondering what kind of consistency they are supposed to be. chewy? soft?
 
Jasser A.
Jasser A. November 19, 2016
My dough was extremely crumbly. I'm not sure where I went wrong as I followed the steps perfectly. I wonder though if you're suppose to refrigerate the dough before cooking it.
 
kumalavula
kumalavula October 27, 2016
easy and quick to throw together as a spur of the moment craving.
nice, deep flavor with the browned butter.
 
Nancy
Nancy October 21, 2016
For step 5 I think you need to change the last sentence to 'add to the wet ingredients' .I am making these today!
 
Lorenza
Lorenza October 17, 2016
Do you have an opinion re the benefit of chilling the dough overnight before baking?
 
Posie (.
Posie (. October 17, 2016
I actually wouldn't suggest it -- the dough can get sort of crumbly if it's too chilled.
 
TKT
TKT October 17, 2016
Does the recipe use Jif-type peanut butter, or natural (no sugar added, etc)?
 
Posie (.
Posie (. October 17, 2016
Great question! I used natural creamy.
 
joslin
joslin December 1, 2018
I always use organic, natural that usually I grind myself at the market. It makes a little drier crumb but works so beautifully in this lovely recipe.
 
Suzanne T.
Suzanne T. October 17, 2016
What is brown butter and where can I find it?
 
Nancy M.
Nancy M. October 17, 2016
You make it from regular butter. Google a recipe for it. It's not hard to make.
 
Posie (.
Posie (. October 17, 2016
Suzanne, brown butter is simply butter that has been cooked until fragrant and brown in color. If you read through the recipe instructions step-by-step, you'll see that the recipe shows you exactly how to do it! Enjoy!
 
Suzanne T.
Suzanne T. October 17, 2016
I misread the ingredients! I mixed up brown sugar and unsalted butter - doh!
 
Joy W.
Joy W. October 15, 2016
Note: Weigh 8 oz of flour for this receipe. Cooks 10 mins in my oven. Make sure to keep at 1/2" deep; about 1 1/2" in diameter.. Does make about 24 cookies.