Does anything really live up to the mighty snickerdoodle cookie? The answer is not much, but there are several variations of the cinnamon-sugar-coated treats that come close—like snickerdoodle cupcakes. And it’s so much fun to play around with different flavors, including these maple pecan snickerdoodles and white chocolate chai snickerdoodles. Today, we’re adding peanut butter to the lineup! Another reader, Destiny, commented: “BEST COOKIE RECIPE I’VE EVER USED! They turned out so soft and amazing! These cookies were gone in two days… I used peanut butter chips instead of peanuts. I will be making this recipe again! ★★★★★“

Tell Me About These Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles

Testing This Recipe

Key Ingredients in Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles

Do I Have to Add Peanuts?

Yes. I don’t recommend leaving out the chopped peanuts because they add so much peanutty flavor. I actually prefer adding chopped peanuts over using crunchy peanut butter, which tends to dry out cookies. Give the peanuts a good rough chop. That recipe comes from King Arthur Baking’s cookie cookbook, and proved to be the best jumping-off point for today’s variation. Instead of all brown sugar, I swapped in some granulated white sugar, just so the brown sugar flavor didn’t overpower anything. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar, for that classic snickerdoodle flavor, and a little extra flour, as over-spreading was an issue after rolling the dough in cinnamon-sugar.

Peanut butter acts more like a dry ingredient in cookies because it soaks up a lot of moisture. Since there’s not too much flour, the dough is really soft… like peanut butter frosting soft. You might even think you’re doing something wrong. Don’t worry, you’re not! After the dough comes together, chill it in the refrigerator for 3 hours. As it chills, the cookie dough solidifies and is much easier to shape. Look how thick the cookie dough is after chilling:

Coating in Cinnamon Sugar

The cookies puff up in the oven, and then fall to their crinkly destiny as they cool. These cookies are fragile right after baking, so let them cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Arrange about 3 inches apart on your lined baking sheet and bake:

3 Success Tips for the Best Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles

This recipe is part of my annual holiday cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. Every year since 2013, I work on a handful of new cookie recipes and publish the 10 best ones for readers to enjoy. It’s the biggest, tastiest event of the year on my website!

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