Oof we have some contenders for best peanut butter cookie which include browned butter, which tends to add a deeper, more caramel-like flavor to baked goods. Which of these recipes, Bon Appetit's "Best" peanut butter cookies, or my own recipe, will win?!
The Bon Appetit Recipe: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-peanut-butter-cookies
The recipes are here, and the review of each is below, followed by pictures of each cookie making process:
My Recipe:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 g)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (100 g)
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (or use more light brown sugar) (50 g)
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter (150 g)
1 large egg (55 g)
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract (4 g)
1 Tbsp. maple syrup (20 g)
1 cup all purpose flour (144 g)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Sugar for sprinkling
Directions:
Brown the butter until the milk solids are a nice dark brown (not burnt) (see YouTube for a tutorial).
Immediately pour the browned butter into a bowl to cool at room temperature for ~15 minutes.
Meanwhile add the flour, baking soda, and salt to a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl add the sugars, peanut butter, and browned butter once cooled. Mix for 1-2 minutes, by hand, or with a mixer.
Add the egg, vanilla, and maple syrup. Mix to combine.
Fold in the dry ingredients until no dry flour remains (don't overmix).
Cover and chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in a refrigerator. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Roll the dough into ~1.5 to 2 Tbsp. balls place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, criss-cross with a fork to flatten slightly, and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 14 minutes (if making 1 Tbsp. sized cookies bake for 10-12 minutes).
Let cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 10-12 large cookies, 14-16 smaller cookies.
Bon Appetit's Recipe (this is the half recipe, the full recipe is linked above):
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter (42 g)
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. white sugar (76 g)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (50 g)
1/2 a large egg (23 g) and 1/2 a large egg yolk (10 g)
2 Tbsp. water
A little less than 1 cup of thick natural peanut butter (227 g)
1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts (33 g)
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour (55 g)
1/4 + 1/8 tsp. salt (1.8 g)
1/4 tsp. baking powder (0.8 g)
1/8 tsp. baking soda (0.7 g)
Sugar for topping
Directions:
Note: This was a crazy recipe for all the steps not typical for regular cookies, and I even skipped some of the ones (like baking with steam) from the original recipe.
Brown the butter until the milk solids are a nice dark brown but not burnt (see YouTube for tutorials).
Immediately pour the browned butter and then refrigerate for about 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, measure the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl add the eggs, water, and sugars. Beat together with mixer for about 3 minutes, until thick and when you lift the beaters out the mixture falls back onto itself in slow dissolving ribbons.
Then mix in the dry ingredients until fully mixed, about 1 minute.
Take the cooled browned butter out of the fridge and add the butter, peanut butter, and peanuts to the mixing bowl. Blend until fully combined. The mixture may look greasy or oily.
Let dough rest for 10 minutes at room temperature. Then roll into 10 ~ 1.5 Tbsp. sized balls, place on a parchment lined baking sheet, and press down with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. Wrap the pan and chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
While chilling, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Once cooled, sprinkle the cookies with sugar and bake for 15 minutes, and let cool on the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to completely cool.
Makes 10 thick cookies.
The review
Cookie dough taste (do at your own risk!): For the Bon Appetit recipe, in the dough you can definitely taste the browned butter even though there's not a lot of it. ANd you can definitely taste the peanut butter. However the texture is not pleasant, it's very greasy and kind of glue-like. It's also not very sweet, but it does have a rich, kind of caramel-like flavor. As for my recipe, the dough is definitely sweet and sweeter than the Bon Appetit recipe, but it's almost too sweet honestly. The browned butter and peanut butter flavors do shine, but you can also taste more salt and flour (flour makes it taste a tad stale when the dough is raw). Overall my recipe had a rich and complex flavor, like a toasted peanut butter caramel, also the texture is much better than the Bon Appetit recipe because it tastes and feels more like normal cookie dough. So my recipe wins in this category.
Right after baking (fresh out of the oven): The Bon Appetit recipe is very gooey and thick, but there is not a lot of sweetness, instead it mostly tastes like hot peanut butter. Although it does taste good and very nutty. Although you can't really taste the browned butter anymore. The peanuts add nice texture but some are a bit bitter. SO overall the Bon Appetit tastes more like a savory cookie than a sweet one. My recipe fresh out of the oven is definitely sweet and tasty. Although there's not a lot of peanut butter flavor coming through there's a caramel-like richness to the cookie. I think the vanilla, mapple syrup, browned butter, and more flour add a lot more caramel elements to this cookie but they do distract from the peanut butter flavor a bit. I love how buttery this cookie tastes compared to the Bon Appetit recipe. Overall the peanut butter flavor is stronger in the Bon Appetit recipe, but my recipe taste better in this category.
At room temperature: At room temperature the Bon Appetit recipe has that gluey unpleasant texture inside, although I like the flavor and texture of the outside of the cookie. The peanut butter flavor is obvious but I can't taste the browned butter distinctly. To be honest I don't like these very much because they lean so much on the savory side. Yes they are good but they are not good as a cookie if you have a sweet tooth. My recipe is soft at room temperature and the texture is very nice. However, I can't really tell it's a peanut butter cookie. The peanut butter flavor is overshadowed by the caramel-flavor in this cookie. So you mostly get an accent of peanut butter but it isn't the star of the show. The cookie is still very good though! So although my recipe tastes better it isn't the most obvious peanut butter cookie out there.
The next day: This is probably the most important category for any cookie unless you want to gobble them all up fresh! On the second day the Bon Appetit recipe does taste better and not stale. It has a dense chewiness to it (but still slightly gummy). The flavor is still not spectacular though, honestly it reminds me of a "healthy" thick chickpea cookie I've made before, but not in a good way.... But the overall nuttiness is nice, but this cookie is just not for me. My recipe is still soft the next day and barely tastes stale, which is great! It is soft and has a more pronounced peanut butter flavor today, so it tastes like an amazing caramel-like peanut butter cookie and I'm in love :D
From the freezer: Lately I've taken to freezing cookies and noticed that they can taste better when frozen, surprisingly. And oh wow, my recipe really has enhanced caramel flavors straight from the freezer, and although the peanut butter flavor isn't obvious in the frozen cookie I feel like I could eat 10 of these in a row. The browned butter flavor really shines here! The Bon Appetit recipe does actually have a better texture when frozen, and they do taste a little sweeter and more pleasant. Overall they're a nutty, slightly sweet cookie.
The winner: My browned butter peanut butter cookie recipe. Not only is it easier to make, it has an amazing flavor and the peanut butter flavor tastes better the next day. Just a great recipe for a caramel-like pb cookie!
And now pictures to compare! My recipe is on the top, Bon Appetit is on the bottom:
The ingredients used for each.
After browning the butter, I let them both get pretty dark. Then the butter for my recipe cools at room temp while the Bon Appetit one cools in the fridge.
Before combing the peanut butter, sugars, and browned butter for my recipe (top) and the sugars, water, and egg for the Bon Appetit recipe (bottom)
And after mixing (all the brown specks in the top photo are browned butter bits!)
Before mixing in the egg, vanilla, and maple syrup for my recipe, and the dry ingredients for Bon Appetit's recipe.
After combining.
Before mixing in the dry ingredients for my recipe, and the peanut butter, cooled browned butter, and peanuts for the Bon Appetit recipe.
The finished doughs (the Bon Appetit one rests for 10 minutes before shaping and then chilling the cookie dough balls.
Both doughs get chilled, my recipe as is before shaping, and the Bon Appetit recipe after shaping.
Sprinkled with suagar and before baking.
After baking! Clearly my recipe flattened a lot more, probably because it as a softer dough with no baking powder to puff it up.
After Baking. My recipe may not be as pretty but the taste is far superior :D
After baking let cool on a wire rack.
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