Want to make some quick and easy peanut butter cookies? Grab your baking mix and get started with this delicious recipe for something hearty, sweet, and perfect for dessert or packing into lunch boxes.

This simple recipe has just a few simple ingredients that you likely already have in pantry for a crispy treat all peanut butter fans will love.

Whether you use a homemade baking mix or something from the grocery store this is a fun and delicious way to go beyond just pancakes and still keep your baking easy and quick.

A stack of peanut butter cookies sits on a white plate with a floral-patterned napkin nearby and a white mug with a red rim in the background. Text across the image reads “Peanut Butter Cookies From A Baking Mix.”.

Pantry Staples

This recipe needs nothing fancy, simply go to pantry shelves for an easy and frugal dessert. It’s even egg-free making it more frugal and perfect for folks who have egg allergies.

Salted Butter

Start with softening some salted butter. You could probably use cold butter if you dice it into small pieces before adding the boiling water. We’ve haven’t tested it but do believe it would work.

We used salted butter for ease and flavor.

Peanut Butter

Because there’s already a good bit of sugar in the recipe, we used an unsweetened peanut butter. The basic roasted peanuts and salt kind of peanut butter.

If you use something sweetened, you may want to use less sugar in the recipe, but that is a personal preference.

We used smooth peanut butter in our testing but crunchy peanut butter would also likely be quite lovely for added texture.

A plate with two peanut butter cookies sits on a floral napkin. In the background, there's a glass jar of baking mix and a white cup with a red rim on a wooden countertop. The word "Rootsy" is in the top left corner.

Sugar

The recipe as written uses both brown sugar and white granulated sugar in equal amounts. However, you could switch this up with ease. Use all white sugar or all brown. Use more brown, less white – just look for 1 cup total.

This way you can use whatever you have on hand and prefer without worrying about getting something that you might be out of to start baking.

Boiling Water

You do want the water to be boiling when you add it to the butter mixture. Our advice to have everything measured out and in your bowl, then boil the water and add it so that it does the melting of the ingredients easier and more smooth.

A stack of six peanut butter cookies sits on a white plate with a white mug that has a red rim in the background. The setting features a wooden table and a wooden wall, with a napkin under the plate.

Vanilla Extract

You could probably skip this, if desired, but we simply prefer that extra bit of depth of flavor in cookies. The peanut butter is quite strong though so skipping might not be a big deal.

Baking Mix

Again, use a homemade baking mix or something from the store as you prefer. Because the baking mix, butter, and peanut butter have salt in them already, we did not add any more salt to the recipe.

Traditional Fork Criss-Cross Design

Like all traditional peanut butter cookies, these have the fork tines criss crossed on the cookie top before baking.

To prevent sticking dip the fork in sugar or even baking mix as you press.

A stack of five homemade cookies on a white plate, set on a wooden surface. The cookies appear to be peanut butter flavored. The word "Rootsy" is displayed in the top left corner.

Cookie Size

These cookies will spread quite a bit while baking, because of this be sure to give them room on the baking sheet. This also means they get on the large side.

We used a large cookie scoop to make the cookies shown in the photos. They are quite large and made 28 cookies.

You could use a smaller cookie scoop and get more cookies per batch to serve a crowd or simply to have smaller desserts as desired. If you make smaller cookies, check for doneness a few minutes earlier just in case.

These are rich and sweet so a smaller size is likely better for some appetites.

A stack of six round cookies sits on a white plate, placed on a floral-patterned napkin. Behind the plate is a white enamel cup with a red rim, all set on a wooden surface.

How to Serve

The resulting cookie is light and crisp, making it perfect for dunking in some milk or coffee if that’s something your family enjoys.

These are cookies they don’t need anything all that fancy. They do pack well in lunch boxes or even care pacakges.

They do freeze well, so you could make ice cream sandwiches with them.

How to Store

Keep baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container where they should stay fresh for up to 5 days at room temperature.

For longer term storage, put the baked and cooled cookies in a freezer bag or other airtight container and freeze.

Let frozen cookies thaw on the counter prior to serving. Use up frozen cookies with in 6 months for best flavor.

They do freeze incredibly well, so make a double batch to have some for later if you’re so inclined.

Tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. We always appreciate your feedback. You can also save the recipe for later by pinning it or clicking on the heart in the lower right hand corner.

A stack of five round, golden-brown peanut butter cookies sit on a white plate, with a white mug featuring a red rim and a floral napkin nearby on a wooden table.

Kathie Lapcevic