Is the Peanut Butter Cookie Made With Oil?

Peanut butter cookie recipes most often call for vegetable shortening. Some recipes ask for butter or margarine, however, and some omit any of these. Peanut butter cookies may often seem a bit oily compared to flour-based cookies due to the oil content of peanuts.

Standard Recipes

Many common peanut butter cookies are made from recipes that closely resemble a chocolate chip cookie recipe. The main difference is that peanut butter takes the place of some of the flour and other ingredients. Here's a beloved, traditional recipe from Shirley Sadler:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

This recipes requires 10 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees. If you can find a butter-flavored shortening on your grocer's baking aisle, many people would recommend opting for it. Shortening is versatile, but if you know you're making cookies with it, the butter flavoring can improve the taste a bit.

More Basic Recipes

There's a simpler way to bake peanut butter cookies, and you can do it with as few as four ingredients. With the nature of this recipe, an electric mixer of some kind is necessary to properly mix everything. This particular recipe is from Paula Deen, to be baked at 350 degrees for 12 minutes:

1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

This version isn't for everyone, but some peanut butter purists will fall in love.

Considerations

Keep in mind that the fat you choose will affect the cookies in various ways. Real butter cookies can taste best, but they're more likely to burn in the oven, and they will dry out more quickly later on. Margarine can improve the shelf life but is more unhealthy, as margarines often contain hydrogenated oils. Shortening undoubtedly works the best for baking in general. People are less likely to notice a difference in taste with peanut butter cookies than with other kinds of cookies, where real butter can stand out more.

References

• All Recipes: Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
• Paula Deen: Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Resources

• All Recipes: Some Exciting Peanut Butter Cookie Concoctions