Let me tell you the origin story of these Bakery Style Peanut Butter Cookies. One of our favorite lunch spots in Fort Lauderdale is this little gem of a place called Lunchroom. They have an awesome menu consisting of creative sandwiches, crazy good sides like homemade chips, garlic parm fries, mac and cheese AND some bomb sweet treats. This is the type of place where they go big or go home. Nothing is skimping on size, flavor or texture, it's just an great little place to get a great lunch. The staff is always attentive too. If you ever find yourself in Fort Lauderdale, FL go there! Lunchroom serves these unbelievable cookies. My favorite is the peanut butter. It's a huge peanut butter cookie that has the softest, creamiest peanut butter center, has peanut butter chips throughout and has the perfect firm outside texture. All of their cookies are good but the peanut butter one is my favorite.
As soon as we moved to Naples I found myself craving Lunchroom so badly. I wanted my turkey club with a Dr. Pepper and a side of garlic parm fries and a peanut butter cookie for the road. Sadly, that wasn't happening anytime soon and I'm the type of person where if I'm craving something I gotta have it. I really wanted that peanut butter cookie. The only way I knew how to handle this situation was to make them myself.
Key ingredients
First things first, all great cookies start with a great cookie dough. The base for this particular cookie dough is butter, peanut butter, and dark brown sugar. Although light brown sugar can be used if that's what you already have, I highly recommend dark brown sugar because of 1) flavor and 2) dark brown sugar helps make these cookies extra soft and chewy. Softness and chewiness are big key players in these cookies so if you can, opt for the dark brown sugar.
Along with softness and chewiness, peanut butter cookies are suppose to have a moist center. No dry, chalky peanut butter cookies here. That's why adding the two eggs is suppose important. Between the butter, peanut butter, dark brown sugar and eggs there's so much moisture in these cookies. It keeps the cookies soft for days!
the secret to "BIG" bakery style cookies
How do these cookies get so big?! Easy, use a bigger measuring cup. You won't get bakery style cookies by just using a cookie scoop. For these bakery style peanut butter cookies, I scoop the dough using a ⅓ measuring cup. Along with using a bigger measuring cup, it's important to chill the dough long enough so the cookie dough has time to firm up and set. Taking the time to properly scoop and chill the cookie dough helps the cookies to prevent spreading while the bake. Using a ⅓ cup for scooping the dough keeps them thick and big a.k.a. bakery style!
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk or half&half
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 package peanut butter morsels
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine butter, peanut butter, and sugar, mixing them on medium speed with a handheld mixer for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add in the egg, vanilla, & milk and continue mixing, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Slowly add in the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, & salt. Continue mixing until the dough forms, dough will be thick. Fold in the entire package of peanut butter chips.
- Chill the Dough: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a ⅓ cup measure to scoop out cookie dough balls. Place them on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let them chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a separate baking sheet with parchment paper and place 4 or 6 cookies on the baking sheet, placing them about 2 inches apart. Since the cookies are big I bake them in smaller batches to give them enough room on the baking sheet. Bake for 16-18 minutes, but closer to 16 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies taste best when at room temperature.
Now I know what I'll order next time I go to Lunchroom! The cookies look great, but it's a toss up between your Monster cookie from earlier in the week or this peanut butter cookie. Thanks for posting!
Lunchroom is the best!
And I'll be honest, the monster cookies are amazing but these peanut butter ones are my new favorite 🙂