Chewy, soft and full of nutty, peanut butter flavor. These whole wheat peanut butter cookies are drool worthy. We use crunchy peanut butter for added texture.
Jump to:
These peanut butter cookies are a family recipe that we adapted to use fresh whole wheat flour. And they have been a favorite of ours for many years. We hope you’ll love them too.
Our whole wheat cookie series wouldn’t be complete without a peanut butter cookie recipe. You’ll find the rest of the cookie recipes made with whole wheat flour in our series below:
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Snickerdoodle cookies
- Soft molasses cookies
- Oatmeal raisin cookies
- Orange coconut cookies
- Cut out sugar cookies
- Double chocolate cookies
- Peanut butter cookies (this recipe)
What's Cool About This Recipe
- Chewy: These whole grain peanut butter cookies have a soft and chewy texture.
- Whole grain: We use 100% whole wheat flour. Our favorite type of wheat flour to use is soft white wheat flour.
- Easy: This recipe is super easy to make. There is no chilling required, and you only need one bowl.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Whole wheat flour: We use flour milled from soft white wheat (whole wheat pastry flour), hard white wheat or spelt.
- Baking soda: Make sure your baking soda is fresh so your cookies will rise properly.
- Salt: Helps balance the sweetness.
- Butter: We usually use unsalted butter but salted will also work.
- Brown sugar: We like to use raw brown sugar. If you don’t have brown sugar you can use cane sugar with a little bit of molasses (1-2 teaspoons molasses per cup of sugar).
- Egg: Keeps the cookies soft and helps hold them together.
- Peanut butter: You can use crunchy or creamy peanut butter. We use natural peanut butter, just make sure you stir the jar well before using. The easiest way to stir natural peanut butter is to open the jar, transfer all the contents, including the oil on top, into a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer and beat it until well combined. Pour back into the container.
- Vanilla: Adds another layer of flavor.
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
You can add ½ cup of ad-ins such as:
- Chocolate chips
- Peanut butter chips
- Chopped peanuts.
Instruction Photos
Overview of instructions with photos. See recipe card for quantities and full instructions.
Step 1: Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar together.
Step 2: Add the egg and vanilla extract, mix until lightened in color and fluffy.
Step 3: Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, mix until combined.
Step 4: Using a 1½ tablespoon cookie scoop or two spoons, scoop out the cookie dough. Place the cookie dough balls 2-3 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
Step 5: Use a fork to press a criss-cross pattern on top to flatten the cookies.
Step 6: Bake at 325°F for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are set and the tops are no longer shiny.
Serving Suggestions
Whole wheat peanut butter cookies go great with:
- Milk
- Chocolate milk
- Lattes
- Teas
- Ice cream
Storage
Store baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.
How to Freeze
To freeze baked cookies: place the cookies into a freezer safe bag or container, label and freeze for up to 3 months (if the cookies are soft, freeze them in a single layer, on a tray before placing into the bag).
To freeze cookie dough: Arrange scoops of cookie dough close, but not touching on a parchment paper lined tray or plate, freeze for 1-2 hours or until the cookie dough balls are firm. Place the cookie dough into a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
To bake frozen cookie dough: remove however many cookie dough balls you want to bake. Place onto a cookie sheet and bake according to recipe instructions (you may need to bake them 1-2 minutes longer to account for the frozen dough).
Tips From Our Kitchen
Our number one tip for making cookies is to do a test bake: after you mix up the dough, bake 1 cookie to see if it spreads too much or too little. That way you can adjust the dough if needed before you bake the whole batch of cookies.
Cookies that spread too much and are thin need more flour.
Cookies that don’t spread and stay in a rounded shape have too much flour and need some liquid such as milk to thin it out.
We like to err on the side of less flour at first, because it is easier to add more flour than to add liquid to the dough.
This recipe can be made with hard white wheat flour, but you will need less flour than the recipe calls for.
When using fresh ground/milled flour, be sure to let it cool off before using in your cookie dough recipe.
FAQ
The lines on peanut butter cookies are from pressing a fork into the cookie dough ball before it is baked. If you don’t do this step the cookies can stay rounded like a biscuit.
Related Recipes
📖 Recipe
Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Fork
Ingredients
- ¾ cup packed (157 g) brown sugar light or dark
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup (140 g) peanut butter crunchy or creamy
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (180 g) soft white wheat flour whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F with the rack in the center, or upper third position.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, mix ¾ cup packed (157 g) brown sugar ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter ½ cup (140 g) peanut butter together until combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, beat until lightened in color and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add 1½ cups (180 g) soft white wheat flour ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¼ teaspoon sea salt, mix until well combined.
- We recommend doing a trial bake before baking the whole batch of cookies, see the note section below.
- Using a 1½ tablespoon cookie scoop, or two spoons, scoop out the cookie dough. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Using a fork, press down on the cookies to make a crisscross pattern.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are set and the tops are no longer shiny.
- Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
We calculate these nutritional facts using an estimate and they can vary drastically between ingredients used and measuring technique. So, they are not intended for medical use.
Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you!