Spiced Peanut Butter Cookies

Welcome to 12 days of Christmas Cookies, my way of celebrating the holidays by sharing with you all 12 unique yet nostalgic cookie recipes to bake over the holidays. For day 7, I am sharing these spiced peanut butter cookies rolled in white sugar and Christmas sprinkles. I love this recipe because I do believe that peanut butter cookies belong in the holiday cookie line up with a little extra TLC to make them festive. The spiced element of these cookies combines cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice for the perfect festive flavour. One thing I love about these cookies is the crinkle they come out of the oven with, and this is due to a little smash and bake technique that I will explain further below! If you are looking for a freezable festive cookie, these are your new best friend!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies is inspired by nostalgic, holiday flavours but combined in a way that you hopefully haven’t seen before. Cookies are kind of my thing…. the limits of creativity feel endless when it comes to cookies and I am always so giddy about coming up with a new flavour combination, and so combing my favourite dessert with my favourite holiday just felt fitting! Between December 1st to the 12th you will see 12 completely different cookie recipes, ranging from easy, throw together recipes to recipes with a little more TLC, but something for bakers of every level. A lot of these cookies compliment each other if you want to throw them together in a cookie box to bring in to the office or gift to someone you love. They also all freeze really well if you are like me and would like to get a head start on your Christmas baking early in the month so that you have goodies to pull out on December 21st when you want something sweet but are overwhelmed with beautiful chaos!

All of the cookie recipes you see over the next 12 days are unique recipes that I have created, tested and retested for you to enjoy in your own kitchens. If you do decide to make any of these recipes, please do tag me on socials because I love to see what you come up with!

The Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature and sliced into cubes
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp allspice
• 1 tp nutmeg
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp Christmas sprinkles to roll in
• A note on the spices ….. these three spices are what make the cookie, but also use your own preferences to guide the amount of each spice. Feel free to add up to an extra teaspoon of each spice if they are something you love. The sweet, nutty flavour of these cookies balance out the spices really well, so have some fun!

The Instructions

As always, start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F and grabbing all of your needed ingredients. Grab a large, parchment lined baking sheet to bake the cookies on and either an electric stand mixer or a large glass bowl with a hand mixer.

In your mixing bowl, start by adding the butter, peanut butter and both sugars and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until well combined and creamed together. Next add in your egg. For the spices, I recommend combining all of the spices in a small bowl, whisking quickly with a fork and then adding to the wet mixture for a more even distribution.

Once the above ingredients have combined, add the flour, baking soda and baking powder and then turn to a low speed and mix for about 30 seconds to minute until fully combined but not over mixed.

Scoop out 1.5 tbsp sized balls of cookie dough, roll in to a ball and then roll in the sugar – cinnamon – sprinkle mixture. I find it is easiest to add the sugar – cinnamon – sprinkle mixture to a shallow bowl and then roll each cookie individually. Place the rolled cookie dough on to a baking sheet with some room for them to spread.

Now things get funky! We are going to use a smash and bake method for these cookies to get that thin, crispy cookie with a chewy centre and those perfect crackles throughout. Put the cookies in to your preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes. At the 8 minute mark, pull them out with your oven mitt and smash the baking sheet against your hard counter top 3-4 times. As you smash, you’ll see the cookies spread and flatten, which is the goal! Stick the cookies back in to the oven and bake for 4 more minutes.

Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes until they have set and can be easily transferred to a wire cooling rack. These keep fresh on the counter for a week or freezable in an air tight bag for a few months. This recipe makes 18-22 spiced peanut butter cookies.

Spiced Peanut Butter Cookies

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Servings: 18 Cookies

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature and sliced into cubes
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp allspice
• 1 tp nutmeg
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp Christmas sprinkles to roll in

Method

 

1. As always, start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F and grabbing all of your needed ingredients. Grab a large, parchment lined baking sheet to bake the cookies on and either an electric stand mixer or a large glass bowl with a hand mixer.
2. In your mixing bowl, start by adding the butter, peanut butter and both sugars and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until well combined and creamed together. Next add in your egg.
3. A note on the spices ….. these three spices are what make the cookie, but also use your own preferences to guide the amount of each spice. Feel free to add up to an extra teaspoon of each spice if they are something you love. The sweet, nutty flavour of these cookies balance out the spices really well, so have some fun! For the spices, I recommend combining all of the spices in a small bowl, whisking quickly with a fork and then adding to the wet mixture for a more even distribution.
4. Once the above ingredients have combined, add the flour, baking soda and baking powder and then turn to a low speed and mix for about 30 seconds to minute until fully combined but not over mixed.
5. Scoop out 1.5 tbsp sized balls of cookie dough, roll in to a ball and then roll in the sugar – cinnamon – sprinkle mixture. I find it is easiest to add the sugar – cinnamon – sprinkle mixture to a shallow bowl and then roll each cookie individually. Place the rolled cookie dough on to a baking sheet with some room for them to spread.
6. Now things get funky! We are going to use a smash and bake method for these cookies to get that thin, crispy cookie with a chewy centre and those perfect crackles throughout. Put the cookies in to your preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes. At the 8 minute mark, pull them out with your oven mitt and smash the baking sheet against your hard counter top 3-4 times. As you smash, you’ll see the cookies spread and flatten, which is the goal! Stick the cookies back in to the oven and bake for 4 more minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes until they have set and can be easily transferred to a wire cooling rack. These keep fresh on the counter for a week or freezable in an air tight bag for a few months. This recipe makes 18-22 cookies.