Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
If I were facing down a platter of cookies and I had a choice between a snickerdoodle and a peanut butter cookie, I honestly can’t tell you which one I would pick.
For me, the choice comes down to what flavor(s) and what textures I’m in the mood for at the moment.
A snickerdoodle is more of a chewy/cakey cookie with a warm, sugar-spice-everything nice flavor profile. The peanut butter cookie may be crisp, or chewy, but the flavor profile is pretty much…peanut butter. Which, needs no help from anything else. It’s delicious enough all by itself.
The thing is, they’re both delicious cookies…but what if you put them together?
I’m always curious about trying out ‘mishmash’ recipes that combine two classics into a hybrid one, and seeing how well it does or doesn’t work. Today’s recipe combines the snickerdoodle and the peanut butter cookie together and I have to say, I think it works.
As you can probably tell from the pictures, structurally and texturally, these do lean more on the peanut butter cookie side. The snickerdoodle element comes in towards the end, where the balls of cookie dough are rolled in cinnamon sugar to create that crackly sugar crust of goodness that are reminiscent of snickerdoodles.
These are really easy to make so far as cookies go, and they pack/ship very well. If you’re like me and you couldn’t choose between peanut butter and snickerdoodle cookies on a platter either, make it easy on yourself and just try these out.
And! Be sure to stay updated with the other recipes shared thus far on this year’s 12 Days of Christmas (see below…)
Day 1: Winter Spice Sausage Rolls
Day 2: Sweet Potato Cookie Bars
Day 3: Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Recipe Adapted from Taste of the South Magazine
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter-flavored shortening
- ¾ cup granulated sugar, divided
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter (use whichever you prefer; I used crunchy)
- 1 large egg
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Directions
In a large bowl, beat shortening, ½ cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla with a mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Add peanut butter, beating until smooth. Add egg, beating to combine.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture to shortening mixture, beating just until combined after each addition. Add cream, beating to combine.
In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining ¼ cup granulated sugar. Roll heaping tablespoonfuls of dough into balls; roll in sugar mixture to coat.
Place dough balls in a plastic container lined with wax paper or parchment paper. Cover lightly and refrigerate overnight or at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared pans. Using a fork, flatten each ball to about ½-inch thickness, making a crosshatch design.
Bake until edges are just beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
(Note: no one oven is the same, & different baking sheets bake cookies differently. Keeping this in mind, I will ALWAYS test bake one cookie before baking entire sheets of the whole batch, just to get a good idea of how long they should be in the oven and if I need to adjust the way I’ve cut, rolled them out, etc. I highly recommend that you do the same.)
These look absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome Linda, thanks for stopping by 🙂
Brilliant idea! Thanks for the recipe. I use my Mom’s recipe for snickerdoodles and it calls for cream of tarter. I always thought that was what made snickerdoodles as it is a different addition than for other cookies. But I’ve seen other recipes that don’t include cream of tarter for snickerdoodles, too.
Thank you! They do lean more on the pb cookie side, but boy oh boy, the cinnamon sugar crust does remind me of a good snickerdoodle.
I love your recipes! Can’t wait to try them. What if you did add cream of tartar to the peanut butter snicker doodle cookies?
Thank you Sherille–cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer for baking soda, so I imagine that if you added it to this dough, it would make them more chewy in texture–I’ve never tried adding it though, so I can’t guarantee that would be the only change.