Peanut butter snickerdoodles combine two popular cookie flavors into one irresistible creation. Follow my instructions for perfectly soft, tender cookies with a crisp cinnamon sugar coating. No chilling required! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Snickerdoodles With a Peanut Butter Twist
These peanut butter snickerdoodles were one of my biggest pregnancy cravings before Ella was born. As you might’ve guessed from the name, they’re a perfect hybrid of peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles (I almost called them “peanutdoodles” but thought that might inspire an image of a poodle-crossed puppy!). With a distinct peanut butter flavor and a subtle tang from cream of tartar and a sweet, cinnamon sugar coating, they’re absolutely irresistible.
These are thick cookies that should be soft and melt-in-your-mouth in the center. Make sure you follow my instructions though, because it’s so easy for peanut butter cookies to come out dry and crumbly if you’re not careful!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Why choose one flavor? This recipe combines two of the most popular cookie flavors into one tasty hybrid creation!
- No chilling required, though you can certainly chill your dough if it seems too sticky or soft.
- Thick, soft texture. If you like thin and crunchy cookies, try my butter crunch cookies instead!
- Simple to make. Cream the wet ingredients, then gradually add the dry ingredients. Once your dough is cohesive, all you need to do is scoop, roll, bake, and enjoy!
What You Need
- Peanut butter. I like using creamy peanut butter, but if you like texture, crunchy peanut butter will work just fine. I’ve been meaning to try this recipe with “natural” peanut butter (the kind where the oil separates) but haven’t gotten around to it yet. If you do, please let me know how it works for you, but I fear it could make the cookies a bit more dry than they should be.
- Flour. Be very careful to measure your flour the right way, as over-measuring here can make the cookies dry and crumbly.
- Cream of tartar. A classic snickerdoodle ingredient, this adds that signature tang. If you’ve ever been curious about what this ingredient really is, check out my post: what is cream of tartar?
- Egg + egg yolk. Using an extra yolk makes for soft, tender peanut butter snickerdoodles. If you were to add the egg white, your cookies would spread too much while also having a texture that’s too cakey. Save it for meringues, macarons, or candied almonds if you don’t want to waste it!
- Cinnamon sugar. We’ll make our own cinnamon sugar to roll the cookies through before baking.
SAM’S TIP: Don’t let your butter get too soft or melty, or your cookies will spread too much in the oven.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
- Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together. The mixture should look creamy and smooth when combined.
- Stir in the eggs and vanilla until incorporated.
- Whisk the dry ingredient together in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients. This is a dry cookie dough, so adding the dry ingredients gradually is very important! If you were to add them all at once, your dough would be crumbly and difficult to combine.
- Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar in a separate bowl for rolling.
- Scoop and roll the dough through the cinnamon sugar before placing on parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake until the centers are just slightly underdone, then remove and let cool on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack.
SAM’S TIP: You must be so, so careful to not over-bake your cookies! These peanut butter snickerdoodles should actually be slightly under-baked and cooled on their baking sheets for the best texture; otherwise, they will be dry and crumbly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Several things can cause this, including starting with butter that’s softened a bit too much, adding a whole extra egg instead of just the yolk, over-working the dough, or working in a particularly warm kitchen.
If this happens to you, try popping your dough in the fridge for a bit to see if that helps (note that chilling will not help the egg mistake though, you can always try adding more flour but the texture of the cookie won’t be as good as it should be).
It’s extremely important to NOT over-bake these peanut butter snickerdoodles! Of course, over-measuring the flour is just as detrimental as usual, but over-baking is the typical cause for dry peanut butter cookies.
To avoid this, make sure your peanut butter snickerdoodles appear slightly underbaked when they come out of the oven, then allow them to finish baking outside the oven on their cookie sheet. The bottoms should be pale; a golden color actually means they are overdone.
You can, but there are some caveats. Cookies made with chilled dough won’t spread as much in the oven, and they will be very difficult to scoop. Because of this, I recommend rolling the dough before chilling. I talk more about this in the recipe notes below.
If you’re a snickerdoodle fan, I’d like to hear how you like this peanut butter version (and check out my snickerdoodle cake, too!)!
Enjoy!
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Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup (145 g) creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
For rolling
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) combine butter, peanut butter, and sugars and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy and well-combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (145 g) creamy peanut butter, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- Add egg, yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon table salt
- Gradually (in 3 or 4 parts) stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture, pausing periodically to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are well-combined.
- In a separate, small dish, prepare the cinnamon/sugar for rolling by whisking together the sugar and cinnamon.¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- Scoop dough by rounded 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoops (about 36g) and roll between your palms to form a smooth ball. Roll thoroughly through the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookie dough balls at least 2” apart. Keep dough covered as it rests on the counter between batches.
- Transfer baking sheet to center rack of 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake cookies, they may look slightly underdone in the centers and this is fine, they will continue to cook as they cool. Overbaked cookies will be dry and crumbly (if overdone, bottoms will be golden brown, too, this is a good indicator that they’re overbaked but of course it’s not possible to check this til they’ve cooled).
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying.
Notes
Storing
Allow cookies to cool completely then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Cookie dough – making in advance
Cookie dough may be made up to 3 days in advance and covered and refrigerated BUT note that the cookies may not spread as much and the dough will be quite difficult to scoop. I would recommend scooping the dough and rolling it and storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator rather than leaving it in the bowl, note the cookies may not spread quite as much.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Shelly
Do you know if the brand or type of peanut butter makes much of a difference? I usually keep natural PB – the kind that likes to separate – on hand. I like it because there’s nothing but peanuts and salt but once the oil is mixed back in, it’s thinner than other brands. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Shelly! I have not personally tried it with natural peanut butter so I can’t say for sure how it would work. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Katie
I made these and they were a huge hit! They were a wonderful combination of peanut butter and snickerdoodle cookies. So so good, thank you for the amazing recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you enjoyed them so much, Katie! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 🩷
Angelina
I just made these and they were freaking delicious. Absolutely insanely so good. I’ve been making your recipes for years and they don’t disappoint. I normally don’t like things too sweet but I did this recipe as written and it came out so, so amazing. To be honest, it was hard for me to wait for them to cool down before I tried it. I can tell that tomorrow they’re going to be even more delicious. 🤤 Thank you for your love of baking and cooking and for sharing it with the world. We so appreciate you.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Angelina! 🙂
Sabrina
I read this recipe today on instagram and just made it! It tastes so SO good! Thank you so much for the recipe 🫶🏽
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sabrina! 🙂