Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies by Lucy Burdette

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies by Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: One of my favorite things about visiting the grandkids is baking something special with Henry.

This time we chose peanut butter chocolate cookies courtesy of Rancho Gordo.

Ingredients

    •    1 cup unsalted Butter (softened)
    •    1½ cups Rancho Gordo Chocolate Peanut Butter
    •    1 cup Brown Sugar (packed)
    •    2 Eggs
    •    2 tsp Vanilla extract
    •    2¾ to 3 cups All-Purpose Flour (finished dough should be soft, but not sticky)
    •    1 teaspoon Baking Powder
    •    1½ teaspoons baking soda
    *    1/2 teaspoon salt
    •    Granulated sugar for topping

In one bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and mix with a fork.

In a larger bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, and two kinds of sugar. On low speed, beat in the vanilla, and the eggs. When the batter looks smooth, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix with care. Your batter should be neither dry nor sticky!

Now lay out a piece of parchment paper and glob the batter into a log shape. Using the parchment paper, roll the dough into a real log, tucking the paper under the ends so nothing falls out.

At this point the logs of dough can be frozen in a ziplock bag, or else refrigerated for at least an hour and up to several days.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Unwrap the logs and cut them into disks, not too fat and not too thin.

Place the cookie disks on a baking sheet, dip a fork into granulated sugar and press crisscross lines into the cookies.

Both Henry and Cal enjoyed making the traditional crisscross's

Bake for about 8 minutes until the edges are beginning to brown.

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.