The Best Triple Peanut Butter Cookies in the World

The cookies turned out great! Thank you! Have tried 3-4 of your recipes, always amazing!

Reader Susan

Why These Cookies are So Excellent

Peanut butter lovers, these cookies really are for you.

Let’s count the ways I shoved peanuts into these guys:

1. one cup of natural, organic peanut butter (you can use your favorite peanut butter here)
2. one ounce of peanut butter powder
3. 3 oz of chopped peanut brittle, either purchased or homemade like my bacon peanut brittle (and you can leave out the bacon if you want)

Aside from the aforementioned three kinds of peanutty goodness and the chocolate and using Brooks’s base recipe, I think what makes them so spectacular is the long refrigerated overnight rest I gave the dough before shaping and baking.

Pro-Tip

Letting the dough “ripen” in the fridge does a world of good to your cookie dough:

It allows all the flavors to mingle.

It allows the flour to fully hydrate before baking, making for a much more consistent cookie and one with a bit more chew.

It allows the sugar to go into solution with the water in the dough (from the butter, egg white, and vanilla).

It gives the fats in the dough (butter, peanut butter) a chance to solidify, preventing overspreading

Another change that takes place, and thank you PJ Hamel from the King Arthur Flour Blog, Flourish, for this:

You’ll also find that chilling the dough allows the flavors to concentrate a bit as some of the liquid evaporates out of the dough–you know things tend to dry out in the fridge, and that’s what happens to your dough. It dries out just enough to concentrate the flavors.

PJ Hamel from King Arthur’s Blog, Flourish

So, pretty much no matter what kind of creaming method drop cookie you’re making–chocolate chip, oatmeal, or even the best peanut butter cookies ever–giving your dough a bit of a chill, from an hour or two up to a few days, can transform a good cookie into a great one and a great cookie into the best cookie.

How to Make Them

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need:

• butter: a relatively small amount since there is plenty of fat in the peanut butter. Still, you’ll need 1 stick. I use unsalted and then add salt to taste. Peanut butter cookies need a good amount of salt to bring out the nuttiness
• sugar: for sweetness, tenderness, and browning
• brown sugar: same as granulated, but with a touch more depth of flavor thanks to the molasses. I used dark brown sugar here, but dark or light will do just fine
• honey, maple syrup, or sorghum syrup: you only need a tablespoon, so it’s not strictly necessary, but I do like the added subtle flavor. I used sorghum, but honey or maple syrup would both be lovely substitutions
• vanilla extract: rounds out the flavors
• salt: as I said earlier, peanut butter cookies need a fair amount. I use Morton’s brand kosher salt
• egg: you need 1 large egg. The egg provides structure, some emulsifiers from the yolk, and browning
• natural peanut butter: I specify natural peanut butter here because so many recipes say not to use it. I found it worked just fine, but if all you have is “conventional” peanut butter, that will work too
• baking soda: balances the acidity of the brown sugar and sorghum/honey
• peanut powder: adds a little bulk and texture as well as reinforces the peanutiness
• flour: provides the structure and the basic “crumb” of the cookie. Use all-purpose here
• peanut brittle: chopped pretty finely. Use homemade or storebought

Procedure

This is a creaming method cookie, and it’s pretty straightforward to make:

1. Cream together the butter, sugars, optional sorghum/honey/maple syrup, salt, and vanilla until nice and creamy. I add in the vanilla and salt in this step rather than later. Since fat carries flavor, it makes sense to get those flavors going ASAP!
2. Mix in egg until well combined.
3. Add peanut butter, peanut powder, and baking soda and cream another minute or so.
4. Beat in flour on low speed just until combined.
5. Stir/knead in the chopped peanut brittle by hand.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour or up to 2-3 days. No more than that though.

To Bake

Portion into even sizes of about 1 1/2 tablespoons each. There’s a cookie scoop exactly that size, and I love it.

You should be able to get 40 cookies from this recipe.

Rolling in Sugar

You’ll note in the recipe that I mix sugar with a touch of salt for rolling the cookies in before criss-crossing with a fork.

I love to add a pinch of salt to all my sweet toppings because it brings balance to the whole escapade, but you can leave it out if you like.

After you scoop your cookies, roll them into balls between your palms.

Then roll the balls in the sugar (or sugar/salt mixture).

PRO TIP: For easy rolling in sugar, put the sugar in a large zip-top bag. Place a few dough balls at a time in the bag, and shake to coat. No mess!

Place them on the baking sheets, 15 to a sheet, press them into thick discs with your palm or the bottom of a glass, and then make the traditional peanut butter cookie criss cross with the back of a fork.

Because of the peanut brittle, there will be some parts that won’t press down, and you may get some cracking around the edges, but all will be well.

Carry on.

You’ll need 3 half-sheet pans. If you only have 2, here’s a tip for you:

PRO TIP: To immediately reuse a hot cookie sheet, run it under cold water for a few seconds and then dry it off.

If you scoop your cookies onto a hot sheet pan, they could end up over-spreading, and then the edges will burn. Boo.

For the Black Bottoms

Melt your preferred chocolate (dark or milk, and yes you can use chips if that’s all you have) along with 10% of the weight of the chips in coconut oil.

So if you have 4 oz chocolate chips, you’ll add 0.4oz coconut oil and melt that together on medium power in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between.

What you’re doing is making your own coating chocolate, which means it will set up nice and shiny without having to worry about tempering it.

If you want to simplify things even more, use your favorite coating chocolate or chocolate candy melts.

If you baked on Silpat, you can let your cookies cool chocolate bottoms down. They’ll release completely once they are 100% cool.

If you don’t have Silpat, just let the cookies cool with the chocolate sides up.

I just made these cookies and we are inhaling them! I went ahead and baked them all and will freeze a few already baked. Next time I will try freezing a few cookie dough balls. Jenni, girlfriend, these are excellent!…I used all the accoutrements and ingredients I have bought for other projects of yours, and the whole process was entirely enjoyable! The scale, silpat mats, sorghum, peanut powder, etc., etc. are just marvelous! Thank you so much! I’m off to share with neighbors!

Reader Rebecca (You Can See her full comment in the comments section below)

Q & A

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

A Note About Measurments

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.

Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend. If you’re unsure, please read my post about how to use a food scale.

And there you have it. I know you will love these cookies. If you’re a peanut butter cookie fan, these really are the ultimate.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read today. 

Have a lovely day.