Hey Besties! If you’ve been here before, you know that we LOVE fun flavored cutout cookies! Why let vanilla have all the fun?! Don’t get me wrong, you’ll never see me pass up a delicious vanilla cutout cookie. But these chocolate peanut butter cutout cookies are simply too delicious to pass up! If you’re looking for something delicious and different from all the others, these may be your new favorite! Let’s dive in!
Peanut Butter Cutout Cookies?!
Yep, that’s right, peanut butter cutout cookies that are made with real peanut butter, don’t require any chilling and taste absolutely delicious! Soft and chewy when baked as directed or bake longer if you prefer a crisper cookie. You can now enjoy peanut butter cookies in all your favorite shapes. Enjoy these babies naked (the cookies, not you) or iced! Today we’re going to pair these cookies with chocolate royal icing for the ultimate flavor combo. But it’s always a challenge not to enjoy too many cookies before they can get decorated!
No chilling necessary, Bestie, seriously! I make hundreds of cutout cookies every week and not one gets chilled, and I still have perfect shapes. Making cutout cookies has never been easier…gone are the days of dreading making cutout cookies.
The Perfect Peanut Butter Cutout Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) Salted Butter Chilled
- 3/4 cup (165g) Light Brown Sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) Granulated Sugar
- 1.5 cups (360g) Creamy Peanut Butter (I use JIF or Skippy)
- 2 Large Eggs Chilled
- 1 tsp (5ml) Vanilla Extract
- 3 cups (380g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 tsp (1g) Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp (3g) Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- I use perforated baking mats on my cookie sheets, which I highly recommend for evenly baked cookies and eliminating any potential spread.
- In your mixer bowl cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter, until smooth, at least 2 minutes.
- Beat in vanilla extract and eggs.
- In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt and flour. Add to wet ingredient mixing bowl a little at a time.
- Mix until thoroughly blended. Dough should be pulling away from the bowl.
- Chilling the dough is not necessary! I have tried many different ways of rolling out dough and always come back to the old-fashioned way; a sheet of wax paper that has been floured.
- I usually divide the dough into 3 chunks and roll out each onto a floured surface and cut. In my experience, this dough works best for cookies at 1/4" thick. I use my Joseph Joseph rolling pin which does the measuring for me – genius!
- Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes, depending on size of cookie. I also suggest baking similar-sized cookies together. You can bake longer if you prefer a crispier cookie.
- Cool cookies on cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to cooling rack.
Notes
Chocolate Royal Icing?!
While those pb cookies can easily be devoured without icing, today, we’re enjoying the ultimate chocolate peanut butter cutout cookies! And in typical Bestie fashion, you’ve got options!
You can use our true chocolate royal icing recipe, which uses real cocoa, or you can use the chocolate flavored royal icing recipe below! To help you decide which is the best choice for you, here are some considerations. The true chocolate royal icing recipe doesn’t get as thick as normal royal icing. So if you’re looking to make intricate decorated designs or piping, the chocolate flavored royal icing recipe below may be a better option for you.
Both recipes taste incredible but if you only want a real chocolate icing, then THIS one is for you. But if you want an icing that behaves exactly like normal royal icing but with a chocolate flavor, then the recipe below is for you.
The Flavor you’ll Love
If you opt to make this chocolate flavored royal icing, a key ingredient to achieve this deliciousness is THIS flavoring. And Bestie, rest assured, this flavoring is actually a fabulous chocolate flavor…unlike many other artificial chocolate products.
Chocolate Flavored Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 5 Tbsp Meringue Powder I use Genie's Dream
- 1 Tbsp Light Corn Syrup
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Chocolate Flavoring LorAnn brand
- 1 cup Water
- 2 lbs Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Combine meringue powder, light corn syrup, vanilla extract, chocolate flavoring, and water in mixing bowl.
- Using a whisk, mix until ingredients are foamy. This is essentially reconstituting the egg whites in the meringue powder.
- Add the powdered sugar.
- Using your whisk, mix until powdered sugar is slightly incorporated (and won't fly everywhere).
- Beat for 5 minutes on medium-high. I use KitchenAid speed 4.
- Icing will thicken, whiten and will have soft/medium peaks once ready
- Your Royal Icing will now be ready to color and thin to your desired consistencies for decorating!
Notes
Pretty Chocolate icing!
Here are some of the pretty chocolate peanut butter cutout cookies I made for Easter this year! I used the chocolate flavored royal icing recipe above for these. And I used Hobby Lobby’s Chocolate Brown coloring for the color!
Obviously, there are endless design options using chocolate royal icing and it doesn’t even have to be brown! But I do appreciate some pretty chocolate baked art. And when those you bake for bite into one of these, they’ll be pleasantly surprised at the heavenly flavor combination. There’s so much more to cutout cookies than just vanilla!
Bring on the chocolate!
I hope these chocolate peanut butter cutout cookies have inspired you to create some of your own! You’ve got a couple options for your chocolate royal icing and maybe you’ll decide which you love better. I still use and love them both for different reasons. And our family, friends and customers love them both too.
Let our Bestie community know which YOU prefer or share your baked art HERE! Thousands of us hang out there to help, support and celebrate all our bakes!
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