Easy Homemade Soft Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

I'll just start by saying if you add a dark chocolate Hershey's kiss to the top of some of these while they cool, you have found heaven on earth, my friend. I spotted this recipe on the back of our jar of crunchy peanut butter, and decided to give it a try. Well worth it! These Soft Peanut Butter Cookies are easy to make, and oh so tasty!

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter (This is not a sponsored post,  but I do recommend using the Jif. I've used store brands of peanut butter before and had poor results)

- 1/2 cup shortening

- 1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

- 3 T milk

- 1 T vanilla extract

- 1 egg

- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

- 3/4 t baking soda

- 3/4 t salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 

In a large bowl (I used my KitchenAid stand mixer), combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat until well blended with an electric mixer. 

Add egg, beating until just blended.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed mixture, beating at low speed until just blended. 

Drop by rounded spoonfuls (I used a cookie scoop) 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a criss-cross pattern with the back of a fork. (I didn't do that to all of the cookies, which made some of them fluffier, which we liked)

Bake 7 to 8 minutes, or until just set and beginning to brown. Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire baking rack to cool. 

Note: I added dark chocolate peanut butter Hershey's kisses to some of the cookies as they cooled on the baking sheet. Perfection!

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite recipe featuring peanut butter? Here are a few more of mine:

Nutella Peanut Butter Chocolate Croissants

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Chocolate Reese's Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I hope you'll click your "Pin It" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments, Facebook shares, and Tweets!