These soft and chewy peanut butter snickerdoodles are packed with cinnamon and peanut butter flavor! This is a fun twist on a classic Snickerdoodle cookie. I added cinnamon to the cookie dough and then rolled each cookie dough ball in cinnamon sugar just before baking. Plus, you don't even need to chill the cookie dough!

A hand holding a peanut butter snickerdoodle cookie.

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Who else loves a Snickerdoodle during the holidays? 🙋🏻‍♀️ To me, snickerdoodles are just such a classic Christmas cookie but we need to be making these all year round! Do we need to start a petition to make these a year-round cookie??

These soft and chewy peanut butter snickerdoodles are based on my brown butter snickerdoodles.

I've taken out the brown butter to save some time, and I feel like we get so much flavor from the cinnamon and peanut butter anyway. If you want more of a classic cookie, give my brown butter peanut butter cookies a try.

Why you'll love this recipe!

Easy Recipe: this is a really simple drop cookie recipe. No need for fancy cookie cutters or decorating with royal icing, just simple snickerdoodles that are loaded up with peanut butter!
Cinnamon Flavor: these soft snickerdoodles are packed with cinnamon flavor not just in the cinnamon coating, but also in the cookie dough.
No Dough Chilling: there's no need to chill the cookie dough, so they're ready to eat in under 30 minutes! No chill time is always a plus for me.

Grab your ingredients

All the ingredients needed to make peanut butter snickerdoodles, weighed out into small bowls.

Sugar: you'll need both light brown sugar and granulated sugar for the cookie dough. Using a mixture of both is going to make these snickerdoodles super soft and chewy. You'll need a bit more white sugar for the cinnamon sugar coating!
Peanut Butter: I've only tested this recipe with smooth peanut butter, I recommend using the type of creamy peanut butter and not natural peanut butter with oil in it. If you use natural peanut butter it'll change the texture of the cookie dough. I also don't recommend using crunchy peanut butter.
Cream of Tartar: this is a must-have ingredient for snickerdoodles! The cream of tartar gives that unique tangy flavor that snickerdoodles have and also makes the cookies soft, so don't leave this out.
Cinnamon: usually snickerdoodles only have cinnamon in the cinnamon sugar coating, but I actually like adding it to the cookie dough too. Because of the peanut butter in the dough, I wanted to add just a bit more cinnamon flavor so it doesn't get lost.
Flour: I've only tested these cookies with all-purpose flour! The flour is going to give these cookies structure.
Eggs: I'm using an egg and an egg yolk. Why the extra egg yolk? It gives you a chewy texture and will make the cookies soft but not cakey.

Let's Make This Recipe!

A glass bowl with flour and cinnamon in it.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cream of tartar, ground cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer, or in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar and light brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

Step 3: Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix. Then mix in the peanut butter.

Peanut butter cookie dough in a bowl with a rubber spatula.

Step 4: Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined on low speed.

Peanut butter snickerdoodle cookie dough balls on a baking sheet.

Step 5: Whisk the remaining white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Scoop out 3 tablespoons of cookie dough using a large cookie scoop and roll the cookie dough balls in the cinnamon sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Peanut butter snickerdoodles on parchment paper.

Step 6: Bake one sheet at a time for 8-10 minutes. The edges should be set but the middles will still look slightly underbaked. When baking the first sheet, keep the other cookie sheet in the fridge. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire cooling rack.

My Baking Tips & Tricks

Kitchen Scale: I'm going to sound like a broken record, but please use a kitchen scale! It's way more accurate, especially with the flour. It's super easy to add too much flour to your cookie dough, which is going to make the cookies dry (which is a no from me!)
Biscuit Cutter: as soon as the cookies are out of the oven, I use a large biscuit cutter (but you could also use a mug or glass) to scoot the cookies into a perfectly round shape.
Holiday Cookie Box: how cute would these delicious peanut butter snickerdoodles be with some cut-out shortbread cookies, decorated sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, and some gingerbread cookies!

A stack of peanut butter snickerdoodles, cut in half.

Make these holiday recipes next!

Ella from Alpine Ella is holding a cake stand with cupcakes on it.

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Thank you!

Ella