I made peanut butter cookies for my soon to husband on our first Valentine’s Day together and they were as hard as rocks. Like really bad.  But as I watched him choke down the cookies that day, I knew he was the one 😂.  I loved to cook, but honestly wasn’t very good at it yet.  But rather than discouraging my eager 21-year-old self, he encouraged me for many, many years.  I think that is the kind of grace we all need in our relationships – to keep hoping and believing the best is yet to come.❤️

And I’m happy to report that these Soft Peanut Butter Cookies are a far cry from my first attempt.  They are moist, tender, and topped with a solid chocolate heart for Valentine’s Day.   I would go as far as to say they’re perfect! 

Traditionally this style of Peanut Butter Cookie is finished with a Hershey chocolate kiss on top but to celebrate the upcoming Valentine’s Day, I opted for a solid chocolate heart instead. Hershey and Dove both have great options, widely available at grocery store

Here’s how they’re made!

Start by putting some butter, brown sugar, and white grandulated sugar in the bottom of a large mixing bowl.

Mix until well combined.

To the butter and sugars, add the peanut butter, vanilla, and eggs. Mix again until well combined.

Once again, mix until well combined.

Lastly, add baking soda, salt, and all purpose flour.

Mix until just combined. I think I talk about this a lot, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to not overmix dough once you have added the flour. Mixing flour develops gluten, which in turn produces toughness in your baked goods. This is exactly why you knead bread for a long time, but you want to stop mixing your cookie dough right when it’s combined. You don’t want to produce gluten in your cookies or they won’t be soft and tender like a good cookie should be.

Form dough into 1 1/2″ balls and roll in granulated sugar.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until set on the edges and a bit soft in the middle.

This is where I went wrong when I made peanut butter cookies for the first time, all those years ago…I cooked them until they were rock solid and then pulled them from the oven. You will want to pull them out when they set up, but let the heat from the pan gently finish coooking your cookies as they rest on the baking sheet.

While cookies are baking, unwrap the chocolates – and taste a few. It’s all about quality control – ha!

Let the cookies rest for 2-3 minutes before pressing the chocolate heart into the center of each cookie. If you put the chocolate on top right when they come out of the oven, it will melt the chocolate and you will be left with a mess. A delicious mess…but still a mess. Transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely and enjoy!

Here’s a little side story about my family, feel free to skip to the recipe below if that’s what you’re here for. But to me, every good recipe has a story!

Like I mentioned, I first made these cookies a month before I married my husband. The cookies were bad, but our love was strong, and we’ve made it through a lot more than hard cookies in our time together.

My Dad took this picture without us knowing on our wedding day. We were between the ceremony and luncheon, and just trying to have a few minutes to ourselves. We went from meeting each other to married in 6 months, which seemed scary fast to our families but felt perfectly safe to us. And over 20 years later, I can say it was a great choice. He was a senior in college and just about to move to Washington DC for graduate school and I was a junior in college and had just suffered a career ending sports injury. It was a big transition time for us both. Now more than 2 decades later, we are in the thick of raising our 5 kids and loving the challenges and celebrations that come with it all. And I’m especially grateful for a husband who has believed in me all along.

Now it’s time to go eat a cookie!

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup salted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
3 cup all purpose flour
Granulated sugar to rolling out dough
Hershey chocolate hearts or kisses

Cream together butter and sugars until well combined. Add eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Add baking soda, salt, and flour; mix until just combined.

Roll dough into 1 1/2″ balls and roll in sugar.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes until the edges are set and the cookies are still slightly soft in the middle (see above pictures).

Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes and place unwrapped chocolate on top. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Store 2 days covered, at room temperature.