Mini Peanut Butter Cookies
These Mini Peanut Butter Cookies are adorably tiny (about 1.5″ diameter) and make a great snack or small dessert. They are soft, chewy, and full of peanut butter flavor! Love cookies? Try my Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies next!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Mini Peanut Butter Cookies are a fun change from the typical cookie. You can pack these in school lunches, serve them for a snack, or eat them as a modest dessert option.
Here’s a few reasons why you’ll love making this recipe:
- No electric mixer needed. The recipe uses very soft butter that won’t require a mixer to cream into the sugar.
- Each mini cookie is only about 32 calories. Note that exact nutrition information may differ.
- These are soft chewy cookies that have all the flavor of full-size pb cookies!
If you want a cookie recipe that you can make without an electric mixer, this recipe is for you! You can also use this recipe to make full size cookies though. Just use a larger cookie scoop and bake them a bit longer.
Ingredients in Mini Peanut Butter Cookies
You won’t need much to make these mini peanut butter cookies!
Unsalted Butter – Use unsalted butter for these cookies. Peanut butter can be quite salty on its own, so it’s important to use unsalted butter so the cookies are flavored correctly.
Light Brown Sugar – Make sure to pack the brown sugar as you measure (yes, this is the complete opposite of how flour should be measured!) for accuracy. The brown sugar helps make these cookies perfectly chewy!
Granulated Sugar – Granulated sugar is included too.
Egg – Generally, it works best in baking if the ingredients are room temperature. I always forget to grab out a egg before I get started, but even taking the egg out 10-15 minutes in advance is really helpful! It will incorporate more easily into the dough and give better results overall.
Vanilla extract – Adds flavor to these simple cookies! Use a good vanilla (not expired!) for best results.
Flour – Use all-purpose flour here (bleached or unbleached is fine). Be sure to measure the flour correctly. A kitchen scale is the best way to measure. Otherwise, I gently aerate the flour before spooning some gently into a measuring cup (do not pack it in!) and leveling it with the edge of a butter knife.
Baking Soda and a little Salt – Baking soda helps the cookie rise and the salt enhances flavors.
Peanut Butter – And of course, peanut butter! Skip the “natural” or “organic” varieties here (anything that requires stirring before use). You want a conventional grocery store peanut butter such as original Skippy or a generic version.
Favorite Baking Tools
For these mini cookies, I use a tiny scoop that I love!
Mini Cookie Scoop: this Mini Cookie Scoop (1/2 tablespoon) from Amazon can be used in a variety of ways, but I particularly like it for these mini cookies!
If you don’t want to buy another scoop, use a simple 1 teaspoon measuring spoon and scoop rounded scoops. You can spritz it with a little baking spray if you are having trouble with the dough sticking.
Can I Make Any Substitutions?
I know the feeling when you are ready to bake, but are out of a particular ingredient. It’s frustrating! Here’s a couple of commonly asked questions about substitutions and whether I suggest trying them for this recipe.
Sugar: Don’t skip the brown sugar in these cookies! It adds flavor and helps the cookies stay chewy. You can however use light or dark brown sugar with good results.
Peanut Butter: I recommend a conventional peanut butter like the original style of Skippy or a generic brand. This style of peanut butter will include sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oil in the ingredients list.
Skip the natural/organic peanut butters that require stirring to use. You can always experiment, but results will vary! This recipe has not been tested with those styles of peanut butter.
Smooth or Chunky Peanut Butter? Either style will work! In fact, I really love chunky peanut butter in cookies. It’s like adding in another ingredient (chopped peanuts) with no extra work at all.
Mix-ins: If you want to change things up, add in some mini chocolate chips! Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of mini chips after stirring the dry ingredients into the dough. So good!
How to Make These Mini Cookies!
Here’s a summary of how this recipe is made. Find the complete ingredients list and full instructions within the printable recipe card below!
1 & 2: Gently microwave the butter until it is very soft, but not melted. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the softened butter and cream together until smooth.
3: Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
4: Add the egg and mix until just incorporated.
5 & 6: Add the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold everything together until combined. The dough will be soft and a bit sticky.
Optional, but recommended: At this point you can bake up the dough immediately, but it’s rather sticky so it may be hard to scoop. My suggestion is to chill the dough for two hours which makes it a lot easier to scoop!
7 & 8: Scoop cookies with a mini scoop or a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon (scoop rounded scoops).
Add a cross hatch design with a fork if desired and bake cookies one sheet at a time until the cookies are lightly crackled on top and the edges are turning golden, about 7-8 minutes. Cool completely before storing.
Quick Tip: To save time with the cross-hatch design, press your fork in one direction on all cookies first, then change direction and press all the cookies the opposite direction. Much faster than pressing the cookies one at a time.
How to Make the Dough in Advance
This cookie dough is easily prepared in advance. Simply prep the dough and then refrigerate until needed up to 3 days. When ready to bake, allow the chilled dough to sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes before baking until it’s easy to scoop.
How to Store the Cookies
These mini cookies store well over several days. Keep them in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days for the best flavor and texture. Be sure to cool the cookies completely before packing them up.
How to Freeze the Cookies
These cookies freeze great! Cool them completely, pack in a freezer safe storage container (or bag) and freeze for up to 1-3 months. Thaw at room temperature. They are so small they will be ready to eat quickly!
FAQS for Cookies
Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way we hope! If your cookies aren’t perfect, read through these troubleshooting tips to figure out what went wrong.
This problem could be one of two of things. First, the flour may have been measured incorrectly and too much was added. If you had a hard time getting all of the flour incorporated and the dough felt dry or crumbly, this was likely the problem. Pick up an inexpensive kitchen scale and use it every time you bake for perfect results!
The other scenario is that the cookies may have been overbaked. These cookies should be baked until they are just turning golden brown on the edges. Bake a test tray of 5-10 cookies to get the timing right for your oven before baking all the cookies.
This problem is usually caused by a dough that is too warm. Perhaps the butter was melted instead of just softened or perhaps you are working in a very warm kitchen. If the dough seems sticky and hard to work with, chill it a little longer in the fridge and the cookies should bake up much better. Also be sure you are softening your butter enough that it mixes up easily, but not so much that it melts or partially melts.
Cookies can burn if left in the oven too long of course, but if you have consistent issues with burnt edges and overcooked baked goods, it’s time to invest in an oven thermometer. If the oven temp is off it can very negatively affect your baking–and even the best recipes won’t work correctly.
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Mini Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature, 4 ounces
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar 3.5 ounces
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar 2.5 ounces
- ½ cup peanut butter 4.5 ounces
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup flour 6.25 ounces
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, add the butter and microwave in 5-10 second intervals (checking the butter each time) until the butter is very soft, but not melted. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and cream together with a fork (or a flexible spatula) until smooth.
- Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix until combined (use a spoon or flexible spatula). Add the egg and mix until just incorporated.
- Sprinkle the flour, baking soda, and salt over the mixture and fold everything together until combined and no streaks of flour remain. The dough will be soft and a bit sticky.
- At this point you can bake up the dough immediately, but it's rather sticky so it may be hard to scoop. My suggestion is to chill the dough for two hours which makes it a lot easier to scoop.
- After chilling, scoop the cookies with a 1/2 tablespoon (25MM) scoop and arrange on a baking tray 1.5" apart. No mini scoop? Alternatively, scoop slightly rounded scoops with a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon.
- Optional: Use a fork to gently press down the dough in one direction and then the other for a cross-hatch design. Do all the cookies one way and then the other (versus pressing each cookie one at a time) to save time.
- Bake cookies one sheet at a time until the cookies are lightly crackled on top and the edges are turning golden, about 7-8 minutes. Don't overbake.
- Cookies will be puffy and then flatten as they cool, showing off the cross hatch design. Cool completely before storing.
