Peanut Butter Cookies without Brown Sugar
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These peanut butter cookies without brown sugar are super soft and so chewy! You only need 8 simple ingredients and one bowl to make these cookies, and you don’t even need to chill the cookie dough. I’ve tested this recipe with dairy as well as dairy free to make sure they’re perfect both ways.
Recently, I was really craving soft and chewy peanut butter cookies but realized I had run out of brown sugar, so I decided I needed to make a recipe peanut butter cookies without brown sugar for times like this!
While brown sugar adds a caramel-like flavor and provides a lot of the chewy texture in a cookie, I’ve tested these cookies many times to get them perfect!
The result uses just the right ratios of butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and flour to still give you that chewy texture without the use of brown sugar.
Featured Reader Review
“These cookies are fantastic! Easy to make and bake up looking exactly like your picture. Melt in your mouth delicious. Going in the rotation for sure. Thanks!”
Terri
If you’re out of brown sugar and want more cookie recipes without it, check out my chewy chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar!
Ingredients Needed
- Butter: regular or dairy free works great in this recipe – I like to use salted butter.
- Peanut Butter: use a smooth peanut butter like Kraft, Skippy or Jif. I don’t recommend using natural peanut butter with the oil on top because that will change the texture of the cookies!
- Chocolate chips: I tested these no brown sugar peanut butter cookies with semisweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips too and both are amazing!
How To Make These Cookies
Beat butter and peanut butter together until silky smooth.
Toss in remaining wet ingredients.
Add in your dry ingredients! Here is where you can add chocolate chips if you want to 🙂
Scoop and bake!
Look at those chewy insides!
Recipe Developer Tips
- Because we aren’t getting the moisture from brown sugar in this recipe and we really don’t want dry cookies, it’s extra important not to overmeasure your flour. The best way to do this is to use a kitchen scale.
- Take the cookies out of the oven while the middles still look slightly underbaked. This is the secret to getting perfectly soft and chewy cookies that actually stay soft for days. Once I started doing this I swear it changed my life!
- Peanut butter cookies can puff up in the oven, so if this happens I will bang the baking sheet against the counter a few times to flatten them out.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this recipe, let me know how it went in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!
Baking FAQ
These are the topics I’m asked about most frequently:
You can get these answers and more in my frequently asked questions post!
Peanut Butter Cookies without Brown Sugar
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup (105) butter (vegan or regular, softened)
- ½ cup (130 g) creamy/smooth peanut butter (SEE NOTES)
- ⅔ cup (133 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons (150 g) all-purpose flour (SEE NOTES)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, beat peanut butter and butter together until smooth.
- Add in the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, then mix in the egg and vanilla extract.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in. It is important not to over-mix the dough!
- Use a cookie scoop or your hands to form 1.5 tbsp-sized balls of dough and bake one tray at a time for 8-13 minutes. The middles will look soft and the edges should look set, but not golden brown (if the edges are brown the cookies are already over-done!).
- When removing the cookies from the oven, gently but firmly bang the pan on the edge of the counter a couple times if they look too puffy. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Equipment
Notes
The calorie information provided for this recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.
Photography by: Callan from The Cozy Plum
Haven’t tried them yet, but look delicious!!! Looks exactly like your photos and make me want to skip the cooling wait! If it is as good as it looks, totally doing this again!
These cookies are fantastic! Easy to make and bake up looking exactly like your picture. Melt in your mouth delicious. Going in the rotation for sure.
Thanks!
Thanks of your review Terri! So happy you enjoyed these cookies!