These peanut butter cookies are a staple cookie jar favorite in our home, and the recipe has been in my family for generations. I’ve been making them the exact same way since I was a little girl, and unless I leave them in the oven too long, they turn out nearly perfect every time: evenly golden brown, crispy edges, chewy center, and a punch of sweet and salty peanut butter flavor.

Ingredients:
½ cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup shortening, room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the peanut butter, butter and shortening on medium speed for 1 minute until well combined.

Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, fluffy and pale in color, at least 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue beating well until incorporated, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and stir together on the lowest speed, just until combined.

Roll the dough into 1 ¼-inch balls and place them on the parchment lined baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart as the cookies will spread as they bake. Dip a fork in flour and use it crisscross style to gently flatten each cookie.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are the edges are golden brown and the centers are just a bit lighter. The cookies will puff up slightly as they bake, and then deflate just before they are ready to come out of the oven.

Remove from oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 30 seconds, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

If baking one sheet at a time, bake on the center rack of the oven; if baking two sheets together, position them in the upper and lower third of the oven, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 6 minutes.

Cookies will keep for at least a week if stored in a metal cookie tin or cookie jar with lid.