How to Make Heart-Shaped Peanut Butter Cookies

When it comes to cookies, I’m a fan of the classics. My preferred cookies are chocolate chip (extra chips), gingersnaps and, of course, peanut butter cookies. But just because a recipe is a classic doesn’t mean that you need to make it the same every time. For special occasions, I like to dress these traditional recipes up a bit. And with a good peanut butter cookie recipe, that’s easy to do.

With just a fork, a knife and your hands, you can transform this basic criss-cross cookie into a heart. This small tweak takes this classic cookie from simple to special.

My Go-To Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

To make this twist on a peanut butter cookie, all you need is a good recipe. You can use your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe or opt for this one here—it’s top rated! To make the cookies, you’ll need:

• 1 cup shortening or butter, softened—I prefer butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Making the Peanut Butter Cookies

Mixing up this cookie recipe is very simple. Start by creaming together the butter, peanut butter and sugars in your stand mixer until light and fluffy. Then add in your eggs one at a time until well combined. Finish off the mixture by slowly adding in your dry ingredients—flour, baking soda and salt—until you have a nice cookie dough. And that’s all there is to it.

Before you move onto baking, I recommend chilling this dough for just a little while in the fridge. A half hour should do it. This will help the cookies keep their shape a bit better.

Rolling Out and Shaping the Cookies

The trick to these heart-shaped cookies is all in this step. Start as you normally would with peanut butter cookies by scooping the dough and rolling it into 1-1/2-inch balls. Then, using the flat bottom of a glass, press down on the cookie dough just a bit to give it a nice flat top. Use a butter knife to put a small notch in the top of the flattened cookie. You can kind of see how this is forming a heart shape, right?

You can use your fingers to shape the cookie more into the classic heart shape by pressing gently into the sides. When you’re satisfied, use a fork to form that familiar cross-hatch pattern on the cookie. If you find the fork sticking, you can dust it with a bit of flour.

Once you’ve got your cookies shaped, pop them into the freezer to chill for about an hour. After handling the dough so much it does get warm (and warm dough means your cookies will spread more), so chilling it is best to get the best heart shape possible.

After chilling, bake in a 375ºF oven—the middle rack is always best—for 10-15 minutes. When they’re done, remove them from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack. I don’t blame you if you eat one (or two) before it’s cool.

Want to Go a Step Further?

Following this simple heart-shaped method, I think these classic cookies look pretty darn cute. But if you love chocolate with peanut butter as much as I do, you might want to take one more step. That’s right—dip your cookies into some chocolate!

This part is simple: Melt about a half cup of chocolate chips together with a pat of butter (one to two teaspoons should do it). Do this 30 seconds at a time in the microwave or over a double boiler on the stove. When the chocolate is nice and glossy, dip half of the cookie into the mix. Let this set on a sheet of waxed paper. You can pop it in the fridge to speed this up.

The End Result

I love these cookies because they’re just a little bit more special than a classic peanut butter cookie, but they’re not super fussy to make. The plain ones are great with a cup of coffee or stashed in a lunchbox for an easy dessert. As for me, I like the chocolate-dipped versions with a tall glass of milk. If you’re a cookie dunker like me, try these recipes, too.

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Lisa Kaminski