A soft peanut butter cookie with a sweet peanut butter filling, drizzled with more peanut butter. This copycat Crumbl peanut butter cookie recipe is a peanut butter lover’s dream!
Make sure you have a cold glass of milk or chocolate milk handy!
Homemade cookies are one of my favorite treats. I love seeing the creative flavors and combinations of cookies that keep popping up at the local Crumbl shops around me.
I also love making cookies, so I just can’t justify spending five dollars for just one when I could make a dozen for the same cost. I’m always looking for tried and true recipes for copycat Crumbl cookies, and there’s a bunch at Cooking with Karli. That’s where I got the inspiration for these delicious cookies!
I made a few changes, but the biggest one is that I changed up the middle. Adding a bit of powdered sugar and freezing the dollops makes a sweet and creamy filling that is unbeatable!
How to make the best filled peanut butter cookies:
- FILLING – Stir together the peanut butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Make 11 dollops onto waxed paper. Freeze while you prepare the cookie dough.
- DOUGH – Cream the butter and sugars with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Preheat your oven to 350 while you assemble the cookies.
- ASSEMBLE – (Make just 3 cookies at a time; keep the filling in the freezer.) Take about 1/2 cup of dough and form a 4″ disk. Place a dollop of the frozen peanut butter filling in the middle. Form the dough around it. Flatten slightly and roll in the sugar.
- BAKE – Place 3 of the dough disks on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone liner. Bake at 350° for about 16 minutes, or until crackly and barely golden brown on the edges. Repeat till all cookies are baked.
- DECORATE – Let cookies cool on wire racks. Melt the peanut butter and place it in a small ziplock bag. Snip the corner and drizzle the peanut butter over each cookie.
PRO TIPS AND VARIATIONS:
- If you use unsalted butter, add an additional 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the dough.
- For best results, use creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. If you use chunky peanut butter, you will need to add additional peanut butter or the dough and cookies will be dry.
- I ended up with 11 cookies, but you may end up with 10 or 12. If you run out of filling, you can bake the cookie as is, or just use a spoonful of peanut butter.
- For a more thick peanut butter cookie, don’t flatten the dough into a disk. You will need to increase the baking time by a couple of minutes.
- If your cookies aren’t perfectly round, as soon as they come out of the oven place a bowl or large cookie cutter over the top. Swirl it around of the edges of the cookie, and it will force it into a perfect circle! 🙂
Can I make smaller cookies?
Yes, you can. Make 22 dollops of peanut butter filling that are a scant teaspoon each. Use just 1/4 cup of dough. Decrease the baking time to 10-12 minutes. I don’t recommend making them any smaller; the filling doesn’t stay soft.
More recipes for peanut butter lovers :
- Peanut Butter Cookie Lasagna
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
- Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
- No Bake Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars
- Cornflake Candy Recipe
- Peanut Butter Sheet Cake
Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Dough
- 1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 cups all purpose flour (15 ounces)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt
Topping
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (for rolling the cookie dough balls)
- 3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- For the filling, combine the peanut butter and powdered sugar in a small bowl and stir until well mixed. Drop by 1 1/2 teaspoon dollops onto waxed paper. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
- For dough: in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars for about 2 minutes with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs, vanilla, and cup of peanut butter.
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt; add to the wet ingredients. Stir until no streaks of flour remain. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Take about 1/2 cup of dough and flatten it in your palm or on the counter to a 4-inch disk. Add a frozen peanut butter dollop to the center and wrap the dough around it. Seal the edges.
- Flatten the cookie dough balls slightly and roll in sugar. Place 3 cookies on a cookie sheet lined with silicone or parchment paper.
- Bake cookies for 15-17 minutes in a preheated oven at 350°, just until set. Let cookies cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat the process until all the cookies are baked.
- Heat the 3 tablespoons of peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds until it is runny. Place it in a ziplock bag and snip a small hole in the corner. Drizzle it over the top of the cookies in a circular motion.
Notes
- Only remove 3 peanut butter dollops from the freezer when you are ready to bake. Leave the rest frozen until you are ready to form the cookies and bake them.
- As written, this makes very large cookies! You should be able to get two or even four servings out of one cookie, but the nutritional info is calculated for an entire cookie.
- If you use crunchy peanut butter in the dough, add an additional 1/3-1/2 cup of peanut butter or your dough will be dry.
- The secret to a soft cookie is to not overbake! Cookies may appear underbaked, but they will continue to set up after you remove them from the oven.
- You can store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. It’s best to store them without the drizzle because it will smear.
Nutrition
Try this Crumbl peanut butter cookie recipe and let me know how it turns out. I think you’ll be thrilled that you can make and enjoy it at home for a fraction of the cost!
they were easy to come together, the dough was smooth, the cookies are huge, i think next time i will decrease the size, not that i didnt eat the whole thing, they were good, not too sweet, and the right amount of peanut butter flavor. i did not make the drizzle because i didnt know if it would harden up enough to put into a zip lock bag and not get messy. Great recipe..thank you. i will definatly have this on my rotation for when i want to make peanut butter cookies..i love the filling, it makes it totally perfect..
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It makes me so happy that you loved them so much Connie! They do get messy if you put them in a bag with the drizzle on them. You can put the drizzle in a ziplock, snip the corner, and just add the drizzle when you are ready to eat one. 🙂
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