Wonderfully soft and chewy whole grain peanut butter cookies made with brown sugar, honey and whole wheat are a great snack or dessert, with or without the optional chocolate. Check out more delicious recipes on the Simple Cookie Recipes page.
We like our cookies soft around here- not cakey or crisp, which means I usually stick to one of our tried-and-true chocolate chip cookies. I know they will be just right, plus they are everyone's favorite. But one of my favorite cookies is peanut butter, which I love right out of the oven while they are still soft. Since they don't really stay soft, though, I never really make them very often.
So you can imagine how happy I was to discover a recipe for a truly stay-soft peanut butter cookie in a Farm Chicks cookbook a number of years ago. The recipe uses honey instead of white sugar, which I like - I wonder if it helps to keep them soft?
I adapted a few things to make these my own, including using 100% whole wheat - and of course adding chocolate chips because, hello? Chocolate. They are totally optional, though, and if you're looking for a good afternoon snack, leaving the chocolate out might be the way to go. But still.
Believe me, these are so soft and wonderful, I think you will love them! The texture will remind you of your favorite chocolate chip cookie instead of a traditional crisp peanut butter cookie- but you get all that peanutty flavor and goodness. I do think this recipe will work with almond butter or other nut butters, so if you have an allergy, definitely try an alternative.
Besides the ingredients, another key to keeping these soft and chewy is not cooking them too long. Cook just 8-9 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown and take them out of the oven even if they look undone. You won't be sorry, I promise.
Soft And Chewy Whole Grain Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup natural peanut butter crunchy or creamy
- 1 cup packed brown sugar natural brown, sucanat, and coconut sugar all work, though with slightly different flavorings
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cup whole wheat pastry flour OR white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips or chopped chocolate optional
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease two large cookie sheets.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and peanut butter with the sugar and honey until well blended. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix well until light and fluffy.
- Stir in the flour, soda and salt until combined, then add the chocolate chips.
- Drop by large tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes until just browning on the edges. The centers may not look done, but will firm up when cooled. Let stand on sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Need more soft & chewy cookie recipes?
Soft & Chewy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fudgy Grain Free Chocolate Truffle Cookies (grain-free, dairy-free)
Cranberry & Walnut Whole Grain Oatmeal Cookies
Note: this recipe for soft and chewy whole grain peanut butter cookies was originally published in May of 2011 and has been updated with all new photos, clearer formatting and printable recipe.
Nikki says
My teens say these are perfection and marked all their peanut butter cookie craving boxes. They said they are chewy and perfectly textured. They are sugar addicts and everything even good is an art to them so they dusted powdered sugar on top after they came out too. We used white whole wheat flour
Jami says
How fun! Thanks for reviewing - I'm glad you found these!
Jami @An Oregon Cottage says
Anonymous- In cookie recipes (most anyway) I find that AP and ww pastry are interchangeable without much noticeable differences. Go for it, if it's all you have. I just try to up the health quotient a bit is all. 🙂
mamamia says
yummo! I'm going to print this recipe and make it during the week for my kids. I usually freeze my cookie dough, so I'll try freezing a portion of it and see how it comes out. Hopefully still chewy! 🙂
Anonymous says
Silly question--but can I sub AP flour for the pastry flour? These sound yummy and I love soft cookies but have never found a soft peanut butter cookie recipe. Anxious to try this recipe. Thanks!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom says
Looks yummy...printed the recipe and it will be on my "must try" list for next week!
Thanks Jami.
A Heritage From The Lord says
These cookies look amazing:) I might have to make some, I love that it calls for Honey also!