Does natural peanut butter ever work in cookies?

June 15, 2023 5:23 AM

I haven't had much success baking with natural peanut butter, but I've recently come across some recipes that claim they work well with it. I'm a little suspicious, because from what I've heard the reason natural peanut butter doesn't work well is because the oils aren't evenly distributed. Has anyone had success with a natural peanut butter cookie recipe? I'd love to make some with my homemade peanut butter.
posted by wheatlets to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

Response by poster: Also - if your answer is that it isn't worth using homemade peanut butter because there won't be much of a change in flavor, that's a useful answer too. I'm just trying to make the best peanut butter cookies possible and I thought homemade was the way to go, because the peanut butter is so much better.
posted by wheatlets at 5:25 AM on June 15, 2023

Best answer: (Previously, about peanut butter blossoms)
posted by box at 5:32 AM on June 15, 2023

My wife used to make peanut butter blossoms using Jif or Skippy but one year she used natural peanut butter and we found that they have a much stronger peanut flavor (due, one supposes, to there being fewer non-peanut ingredients in the natural stuff). I don't remember the oils being particularly an issue, or the texture of the resulting cookie being particularly different based on the difference in peanut butter used.
posted by gauche at 6:14 AM on June 15, 2023

Have you tried one of the natural peanut butters that is labeled "no stir"? Those don't separate in the same way that the ones where the oil rises to the top do.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:14 AM on June 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

I wonder if you could use roasted ground peanuts? They certainly make delicious stew
posted by glasseyes at 6:30 AM on June 15, 2023

I've made these with natural peanut butter. They were kind of dry as cookies, but the people I gave them to really enjoyed them.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 6:40 AM on June 15, 2023

I just posted my peanut squares recipe that uses whole roasted peanuts and a food processor over on toot.cat, like 20 minutes ago. You can make cookies with the same recipe, just form the dough into balls and press down with a damp fork and bake for 10-13 minutes.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:10 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

In normal cookie dough, the fats/oils are emulsified with sugar, usually aided by lecithin in eggs. Jif/Skippy/whatever works well because it's pre-emulsified with industrial magic.

If you're OK experimenting, I suspect adding extra lecithin (nothing weird, just a soy extract in powder form) and beating it into the peanut butter (food processor, hand mixer, etc), then creaming it with sugars and egg with would do the trick really well. Or just use extra egg yolks.

I do this method for a homemade vegan cashew butter bar cookie. Without lecithin it sometimes breaks and gets oily on top. With lecithin it's never a problem.

FWIW, it's always a lot easier to under-emulsify than to overdo it. Creaming fat + sugar, you'll know if you've done it right because it will get fluffy and magical.
posted by woof at 7:12 AM on June 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

My usual peanut butter cookie recipe is this:
1 egg, beaten
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheet, top with a pinch of coarse salt. Bake at 400F for 7 minutes, until edges crisp. Cool on pan for 3 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. They will firm up as they cool.

Works great as an quick and easy recipe with Skippy or Jif, but for natural peanut butter, I have to *really* cream the peanut butter and sugar together, then add the egg and vanilla. It works, and the cookies turn out, but if while creaming the peanut butter and sugar together, you find yourself wondering "Has it been long enough?" the answer is no. Like woof says above, you'll know it when it happens.
posted by xedrik at 7:25 AM on June 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

My go to peanut butter cookie recipe a gluten free one from Smitten Kitchen.

I always make it with local Teddy brand all-natural peanut butter, usually the super chunky kind, because that's what I keep in the house, and it works just fine. Just stir the peanut butter first if it has started separating. I've never needed to spend ages emulsifying, but I also tend to rotate my peanut jar form time to time if I am not opening it right away- lay it on one side, then another, etc- that helps it stay mixed

(I am usually making these for adults, so I usually also short the sugar in the recipe a little, as well as using the less sweet peanut butter- they end up intensely peanutty and are always well received.)
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 10:43 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've never actually baked with non-natural peanut butter. It didn't even occur to me that this could be an issue in baking! I just make sure the peanut butter is thoroughly stirred before using.
posted by desert outpost at 11:01 AM on June 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yes. I went off a King Arthur recipe that is no longer on their website - there is a similar one but the ingredient ratios are a little different. Mine are as follows:
1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
1.5 cups peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 - 3 tsp of vanilla extract, as you like
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
extra sugar for rolling

I have made it repeatedly with natural peanut butter (teddy but I imagine it doesn't matter) until achieving The Perfect PB Cookie.

For me, the key is to make sure the peanut butter is well mixed before it goes in, and then when I cream the PB with the butter sugar and vanilla, and also after adding the eggs, I let my kitchenaid really go to town on it, mixing it fully and getting a tiny bit of air into it. Followed by a thorough but less aggressive mixing-in of the dry ingredients.

I make the cookies small, using a one-inch scoop, dip the tops of the balls in sugar, mash them down with my cookie press or a fork or whatever. I have settled on 355 fan for about 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The recipe makes a ton, halve it or freeze the extras, they freeze extremely well. I have a bunch in my freezer right now. I think in a few minutes, there will be fewer : )
posted by acanthous at 11:04 AM on June 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

My preference for cookies and for sauces is to use the fresh ground peanut butter that you can find at some grocery stores. It has a much clearer peanut flavor than the premade stuff, with the tradeoffs that it doesn't keep well and is not very smooth.
posted by tuffet at 1:24 PM on June 15, 2023

Seconding tuffet - - fresh ground PB from a store with the actual industrial machines is far superior to homemade or canned. I especially like when they use honey roasted nuts for this. I just decrease the sugar a bit in the recipe, the roasting really makes the flavor pop.
posted by ananci at 3:28 PM on June 16, 2023

Response by poster: Ended up doing these and they worked really well! Not sure if that’s only because I made the peanut butter right before making the cookies so it was freshly emulsified, I’ll have to experiment.
posted by wheatlets at 4:30 AM on June 17, 2023