Recently someone asked me why I loved the combination so much and I was taken aback slightly. My first thought was “well why wouldn’t I love this magic duo?” Then I realized that I’ve loved the flavors together since before I could remember. Since childhood two of my favorite foods have been chocolate and peanut butter, so it only makes sense that I absolutely adore them combined!
I’m actually surprised I’m not utterly sick of either of these flavors, let alone enjoying them together. I literally eat peanut butter everyday. I eat chocolate ALMOST everyday (like probably 360 days out of 365). And yet I’m still obsessed with the two, which is good for you because it leads me to share recipes like these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
These cookies are ridiculously big, thick, and chewy yet soft and have just amazing flavor. They are 1000% perfect with a glass of cold milk. Best part? You don’t even need a stand mixer to make these, they’re so easy. Check out the notes below because I’ve tried to answer all your questions and give you a perfect understanding of how the recipe works.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Tips
How to Make CHEWY Cookies
The recipe is adapted from my Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies, a recipe I worked very hard to perfect. The high ratio of brown sugar and the extra egg yolk help contribute a rich, chewy, and thick texture with lots of flavor.
Be sure to measure your flour correctly (by weighing or with the spoon and level method) to avoid creating cakey, dense, or tough cookies that don’t spread.
If you don’t measure your flour correctly, YOU COULD END UP WITH CRUMBLY DOUGH!
Please follow the recipe as written, I craft my recipes carefully so you can have the best results possible!
The Best Peanut Butter for Baking
For best results, use a standard commercial brand of creamy peanut butter. I used Skippy for this recipe. Avoid any “natural” peanut butters where the oil separates. The dough won’t come together nicely if you don’t use commercial peanut butter with an added oil.
Size and Shape
These are large cookies, just the way I like ’em! I used my beloved OXO large cookie scoop to make these babies which is a 3-tablespoon sized scoop. You can make smaller 2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough and shave off about 2 minutes from the baking time, if you’d like.
The peanut butter in cookie recipes does prevent normal spreading. After you shape the dough into balls, flatten the balls well with the palm of your hand. This will encourage them to spread more while they bake. Don’t forget this!
Baking Perfect Cookies
I ALWAYS use a heavy duty unlined aluminum half sheet pan for baking cookies. Never use dark colored pans to bake cookies, they tend to overly brown or even burn the bottoms of the cookies. Additionally, I always use parchment paper for baking cookies. I find silicone baking mats produce less of a crunchy exterior crust and are just one extra thing to clean.
Chilling the Dough and Making Ahead
For best results, chill the dough overnight in the fridge. Why on earth would I recommend you delay your cookie satisfaction?
Well chilling chocolate chip cookie dough is very similar to marinating meat – things just get so much better. The texture becomes chewier and thicker and the flavor intensifies. If you don’t have time, no worries. You can bake the dough off after it’s made.
To freeze: I like to scoop my dough balls out, freeze them until solid, then remove them to a ziptop bag to store in the freezer. You can defrost the dough overnight in the fridge, or for an hour or so at room temperature before baking. You can bake from frozen, but note that with this recipe the cookies won’t spread as much.
Get all of my tips for freezing cookie dough here.
This might be a silly question but can you swap the dark brown sugar for light brown sugar?
There’s no such thing as a silly question, always feel free to ask, that’s what we’re here for! 🙂 We recommend dark brown sugar for these cookies as it not only adds color but also moisture and chewiness (from the molasses) and extra flavor to the recipe, we haven’t actually tried using light brown sugar, so I can’t say for sure how it’d turn out! Let us know how it goes if you give it a try.
I made up a batch of dough with light brown sugar simply because I’m out of dark. It’s in the fridge now marinating. I’ll let you know how they turn out after I bake them later tonight, however I must say I could eat the dough raw after licking the spoon it was so good!
Loved this! However, I did not taste any of the peanut butter. It may be because I used JIF. What are your recommendations?
Hi Brittany! We used Skippy for this recipe, though JIF should work ok too! Really any standard commercial brand will work just fine, but make sure to not use any “natural” peanut butters where the oil separates. You should definitely taste the peanut butter, do you weigh your ingredients? If you found the chocolate to overpower the peanut butter, try adding in peanut butter chips in place of/as part of the chocolate chips for added peanut butter flavor. I hope that helps!
My ten year old granddaughter made these cookies this summer and I thought they were the best cookie I had ever had. So naturally I checked out your website and blog. I had never measured my flour before except with a measuring cup, but immediately bought a digital scale and made sure to measure everything in the recipe with it. I have made the bakery style chocolate chip cookies too and they are so good, but mine flattened out. I did chill the dough, but was wondering if being at high altitude (about 6500 ft) would cause them to flatten out. I was hoping they would be more like the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, fat and chewy. I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Wow, please thank your granddaughter for making our cookies and sending you our way! So glad you’re enjoying everything! For the Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies, please check out the pink tip box above the recipe for more details on how to bake thick cookies. It’s possible your high altitude could be part of the issue, but neither Tessa or I bake at high altitude, so I can’t say for sure. I’d suggest reading our tips first to make sure you’re doing everything properly, and if you are and they’re still flattening, I’d recommend that you make any adjustments you normally have to make for a recipe to turn out. You can also check out King Arthur Baking’s article here for more help. Please let me know how it goes the next time you make them!
I tend not to have good luck with cookies but these were phenomenal! The only ingredient I weighed was the flour (which came out to 2 of my dry cup measures, so I added an extra 1/8 cup because I was worried I had too little). Bumped up the peanut butter to 1 full cup (used Kraft smooth), and used dark chocolate chips rather than semi-sweet. Let it sit for about 8 hours and baked for 15 mins on parchment lined trays. They’re a little crisp on the outside and super gooey and soft on the inside. I passed them around to neighbours and friends and they all raved!
Happy you loved this recipe!
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!!!!!!! These are amazing!!!! I made them today and wow!!!!! I do have one question. Would it ruin the cookies if I used crunchy peanut butter? I really like peanuts and I think it would be sooooo good!!!!
So glad you love them! We haven’t tried using crunchy peanut butter ourselves, but other readers have with success!
I’m so confused. I followed the directions exactly… But the cookies don’t taste sweet to me. They look beautiful and are the perfect texture/consistency… But taste more like a muffin or biscuit almost. I keep replaying adding the sugar and I can’t seem to find any error I made. Am I just a sugar-aholic? I really want to love these, can I add more sugar without messing up the consistency?
No, these cookies should definitely be loaded with peanut butter and chocolate flavor! What kind of peanut butter did you use? Did your cookies have more of a baking soda or baking powdery taste to them? Did you weigh your ingredients? I wouldn’t suggest added more sugar as that can definitely alter the outcome of your cookies, but you could try adding in peanut butter chips in place of/as part of the chocolate chips for added peanut butter flavor. I really hope you give this recipe another try, hopefully it was just something small that was missed! Please let me know if you do.
Nice!
I took the ingredients for these cookies on a ski trip and made them for hungry kids (and adults) after a day in the snow. They were absolutely perfect. I made them a little smaller, so ended up with 36. Now I want everyone else to go to bed so I can enjoy a few more on my own!
haha love it! So glad they were such a hit, hope you were able to savor a few last evening! 🙂
These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are better than the kind from the bakery. They have the perfect consistency and a rich flavor that makes you want more. They are soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside!
So happy you loved them!
I made these cookies. Wife told me that it is a masterpiece. Kids love it too.
Woohoo!! So happy to hear they were a hit with your family!
Really great recipe! I think the brand of peanut butter I used made mine slightly salty but I don’t hate it!
Glad you loved them, Rachel!
My coworker bought cookies in and I loved it so much I had to ask for the recipe to make it myself! My question is does it really make a difference if I use aluminum baking tray instead of the dark ones I have? I want to follow the recipe to the T but wondering if anyone used a dark baking sheet and it turned out fine. Otherwise, I’d have to purchase the aluminum one.
Hi Helen! So happy to hear how much you love this recipe! Yes, the type of baking pan does matter. Check out this experiment Tessa wrote about showing the difference in baking pans. Dark non-stick pans heat far too aggressively, resulting in overly browned cookies and burnt cookie bottoms. If you must use them, you’ll likely need to reduce the baking time and maybe even drop the temp by 10-15 degrees. I would suggest for your first time making these cookies to (always) use parchment paper, but also reduce the temperature by 10 degrees and watch the baking time, starting to check them around the 9-10 minute mark, taking them out once they’re golden brown. Let me know how it goes!
Came out really good!!!! Mine didn’t have much of a peanut butter flavor, if any at all. I wonder if it’s because I used Jif? The store was out of skippy… any recommendation?
Hi Brittany! Jif is a name brand, so that shouldn’t have been the issue. Did you chill your dough? Check out Tessa’s tips on chilling your dough in the pink box above the recipe, I think that might help get you the extra flavor you’re looking for. We’ve also had readers switch out some of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips to add even more peanut butter flavor 🙂 I hope you give this recipe another try!
These are the BEST peanut butter chocolate chip cookies ever!! I followed the recipe to a T and boy was it worth it! This is now my go-to recipe!!!
Yay! So happy to hear that!
SO good!! Gave these out to a few people and they absolutely loved them. They have a more subtle PB flavor but it’s perfect in my opinion. Highly recommend.
Glad to hear everyone enjoyed them 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
I tried this recipe but was a little disappointed to not see directions how far apart the cookies should be or the proper thickness for the perfect soft cookie…otherwise they were tasty…I little thick, thinking they will spread a little during cooking…which they did not
Id l8ve to try your recipe but prefer crispy cookies. If I bake these slightly longer (5mins) with room temp dough, would this work. Also, I usually use 20gr of mixture per cookie. We prefer them smaller. Thanks in advance. Anna
Hi Anna! We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure! Please let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
I made these today, it first time in over 50 years of baking I’ve weighed my flour! They came out delicious and soft. I’m really don’t care much for peanut butter cookies as a rule but I’ll be making these again! Only thing different I did was eyeballed the peanut butter and used my 2 cup measuring cup to the top with chocolate chips… Thanks for a great recipe
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, Cynthia! And congrats on using a digital scale to measure your flour! It is definitely a game changer in the kitchen 🙂
I love to cook, but am not very good at baking. I followed your recipe exactly as written and had one happy hubby! My only question is how many calories are in these heavenly cookies?
Thank you!
Tracy
Glad you enjoyed them, Tracy! Here at Handle the Heat, we don’t count calories. We firmly believe that dessert is meant to be an indulgence and should never be punished ❤️️
Delicious and easy.
I actually used natural peanut butter brand Justin and I simply mix really well in the jar before scooping it out. Nothing separated, the cookies were perfect. (I have pictures of the different stages of the dough)
For me, it yield 30 cookies of a bit less than a quarter of cup.
Thank you for sharing this recipe
We love them and will do those same cookies next time it’s time for peanut butter cookies
So I tried to make this recipe yesterday, it was extremely oily to then touch and even left some oil with its moves. after baking, it takes about 5 minutes to cool and the cookie was not chewy but actually a wee bit crumbly. over all it tasted decent with skippy pb and 70% chocolate.
Hi Dee! Crumbly cookies can happen if the flour isn’t measured accurately. Please check out our pink tip box above the recipe for more details, I hope that helps!
I got 5 dozen cookies out of a batch. Probably one of the best Peanut butter chocolate chip recipes.
I am a 60-year-old man and these are the first cookies I have ever baked in my life. They are noting short of fantastic!
The first time, I followed the recipe to a T and felt there was too much chocolate chip in them. In fact, after a thorough mixing, about a quarter of the chips were laying all alone at the bottom of the bowl, and I was unsuccessful in mixing them in. I know Tessa professes to hate substitutions but in this case, cutting the chocolate chip portion in half, and then adding 50% of the reduction back in peanut butter chips, not only resulted in fewer wasted chips, but it punched up the peanut butter taste, which I felt was desired even after the excellent first batch.
My question is about adding a new taste. I was thinking of crushing about 4 ounces of almonds and just adding it to the 24-cookie mix, because I like almond tastes. Then I wondered, maybe I should be subtracting one or more of the other ingredients to accommodate for the almonds? Would love your opinion on this.
Wow Chuck, so great to hear how much you love this recipe! I’m glad you were able to find a solution for the extra chocolate chips, do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? I wonder if perhaps too much flour was used. I’d be careful adding additional ingredients as you had difficulty mixing in the chips, but you are more than welcome to experiment reducing some of the chocolate chips to include your almonds. Please let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
Thanks for the quick reply, Emily. I do use a digital scale and measure ingredients down to the gram, so unless I had a brainfart during weighing (), I’m pretty sure I got the mix right. Part of the problem might be that I tried to mix the whole thing by hand the first time! I got a hand mixer for the second batch, so much easier and better results. If I’m being honest, I just think I prefer less chocolate and more peanut butter than the recipe calls for. As for the almonds, I’ll try to remember to let you know how it goes if/when I do try it. Thanks again!
No problem, Chuck! Definitely feel free to use peanut butter chips in place of the chocolate chips 🙂 Can’t wait to hear how these are with almonds!
These may be the best cookies I’ve ever made. Lightly crispy on the outside, moist and tender within. Thanks for sharing.
Made a batch this evening, I added a little extra peanut butter. They are delicious. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐’s Perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
Loved these cookies!
These are good cookies & easy to make… I put peanut butter chips in them because my guy is peanut butter freak! Honestly I might add a bit more peanut butter for him in the recipe & try it. Oh, I also did half crunchy and half regular peanut butter in the recipe because crunchy is his favorite. They are really yummy & chewy! Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you both enjoyed this recipe 🙂
They came out very crumbly and I followed the instructions 🙁
I’m sorry to hear that, Emily! Crumbly cookies typically happen due to mis-measured flour. Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? If not, I encourage you to check out the link we list in the pink tip box above the recipe on how to measure your flour correctly. I hope you give this recipe another try!
I don’t have access to unsalted butter. Can I make them with salted butter? And, if so, how should I change the sea salt measurement? Thanks!
Hi Celeste! We haven’t tried making these with salted butter, but it should be fine! A general rule is to reduce 1/4 teaspoon salt per 1/2 cup (115g or 1 stick) of butter. I hope that helps!
These turned out great. I weighed all ingredients as you suggested and let sit in fridge overnight about 12 hours. Big hit with entire family and plan to make again for the holidays. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful! So happy this was a hit with your family, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I have been trying to find THAT cookie. You know, the one that your husband LOVES and talks about all the time. The one that you keep going back to over and over again. The one that makes you feel like a bake off competition winner.
THIS. IS. IT.
Just perfect. I would not change a thing. My quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie has ended.
THANK YOU!!!
Amazing!!! So happy you found “the one”! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
These are the best I have ever made Thank you for sharing
Wonderful to hear!
These are okay. The batter does not end up crumbly and loose, quite the opposite, it was floppy and oily. I had to bake them an extra two minutes to get them firm. Could barely taste any peanut butter, or any sweetness. They were actually really bland. Quite disappointed.
I’m sorry to hear of your issues with this recipe, Becca! Did you substitute any ingredients? What kind of peanut butter did you use? Do you weigh your ingredients with a digital scale? I’d love to figure out what went wrong so you can enjoy these cookies the way they’re meant to be!
I made these last night and as always were fantastic! Thank you Tessa another family favorite of your recipes
So glad everyone enjoyed them, Liza! Thanks so much for letting us know 🙂
I made these today, and they were PHENOMENAL! This recipe is officially my ONLY chocolate peanut butter cookie recipe I will ever need! Instead of chocolate chips I used 70% dark chocolate bar coarsely chopped, and then added it into the batter last. I let it marinate after for 24 hours to gain more of a rich flavor. OMG… LITERALLY THE MOST DELICIOUS COOKIES EVER! Thank you Tessa!
Delicious! I’m sure they look beautiful with the chopped chocolate too! So happy to hear you love this recipe 🙂
I tried these today Amy boyfriend loves peanut butter cookies. These did not taste good. I am a professional cake baker and know how to follow a recipe. I found these to be tasteless. The jif recipe tastes much better.. just add the chips
One bite and I had to leave you a review! I am usually really underwhelmed by peanut butter cookies – the consistency never seems to come out right, but these are FANTASTIC. They have a true cookie texture but a very robust peanut butter flavor, and the chocolate chips are a great add. Thanks!
So happy you loved these cookies, Olivia!
Delicious! Thank you!
These are amazing – like a rich cloud of peanutbutter. I used peanutbutter chips instead of chocolate. Good thing I only baked five cookies and refrigerated the dough – my husband and I ate them all! Great recipe.
haha, they are eaten quickly in my household too! Great job “marinating” the rest of your dough! If you haven’t checked it out yet, read Tessa’s tips on chilling and freezing your dough in the pink box above this recipe 🙂 So happy you enjoyed them!
I made this recipe but I used Gluten Free Flour and they’re so good! I used the King Arthur brand.
This is my third time making them. Thank you! This time I ran out of white flower (doubled) at three cups and used 2 cups of chickpea flour. They’re perfect! They always are. I may have to print this one… Thank you!
Glad your substitution worked, thanks for letting us know!
Will this recipe still work with Gluten Free Flour?
We haven’t tried that, though quite a few readers have with success 🙂
They were great gluten free – I used Bob’s 1 to 1.
Made this recipe.!! They are wonderful. Making more to night. The Best.
Amazing!! So happy to hear you love this recipe!
Super fantastic cookies! Thanks for the amazing recipe. I was able to make half the recipe because I didn’t have enough brown sugar. Came out a bit less than a dozen cookies about 70g each and I also used dark chocolate chips instead. My favorite ones that melt like a dream.
So happy you were able to halve the recipe to fit what ingredients you had at home 🙂 Glad you enjoyed them, thanks for letting us know!
These are amazingly good!!!! I made them today and they were sooo good! Just the way you describe them.. thick, soft, loaded with pb and chocolate flavor! I thought the dough was too buttery/greasy and thought the cookies would spread too much in the oven but they didn’t! They came out perfectly and held their shape. I made them extra big! So I got 16 cookies out of this recipe. Kids are in love!
So happy this recipe was such a hit, love the idea of making them into giant cookies! Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
This recipe is really good. 10 out of 10.
I just had to let them a little longer in the oven than recommended.
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed them 🙂
Hi Tess!
Absolutely in love with your recipes! I just wanted to ask if I can generally freeze your cookie recipes? Would that affect the cookies in any way?
Thank you!
Hi Nadia! Glad to hear you’re enjoyed our recipes! You can absolutely freeze our cookie recipes 🙂 We highly suggest “marinating” (chilling) the dough overnight if recommended in the instructions (don’t skip that step!), and then you can follow this article linked here for How to Freeze Cookie Dough and Bake from Frozen. Hope that helps!
Bottomline: I loved this!!
These cookies really turned out to be soft, chewy and chunky.
Here are my takes:
* The recipe itself is good already with a balanced flavor of peanut & chocolate chips but if you want more peanut flavor, maybe you can adjust the recipe to 1 cup P.B.
* I didn’t have the chance to chill the dough because I was too excited and hungry to try it.
* I used a 4cm diameter scooper (equivalent to 2 tbsp.) and baked it for 12 mins.
* My cookies didn’t flatten so I suggest to press the dough slightly before baking.
* By the way, I made 4 dozens of cookies with the 4cm scooper =)
Thanks so much for all of your feedback, Kayla, we appreciate it! So glad you enjoyed these cookies 🙂
I just made these and they are really good. I didn’t refrigerate them before baking because I was in a hurry. They still turned out great. Thank you for this recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them, JP!
My hubby an uncle tore them up… Thx again for a great recipe
Happy to hear they were such a hit! Thanks for the comment 🙂
These turned out perfect and I did not chill the dough, I baked them immediately. Absolutely delicious!
BEST peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I’m 13 and I made these cookies, they were AMAZING . I’ll definitely make these again. Thank you so much for this recipe.
So awesome to hear this, Izzy! Glad you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Made it in a hot kitchen and it was so so so greasy. I rolled the cookies and plopped them onto a greased cookie sheet. Convection Bake at 375 for 13 minutes. Let cool on the sheet for 2. PERFECT.
When working in a hot kitchen, we always suggest refrigerating or “marinating” the dough before baking, which also enhances the texture and flavor of your cookies! Glad they turned out great for you though, even in your hot kitchen! 🙂
Delicious recipe and very easy to make!
Gooey liquid on the inside, hard burnt rock on the outside. I spent hours trying to find out what I did wrong just to end up with a mess and no cookies.
Oh dear god I used powdered sugar and not flour
Oh no, how frustrating! I’m so glad you were able to figure out what happened. Hopefully you try this recipe again, I bet you’ll have much better and tastier results!
I don’t taste peanut butter at all. Otherwise the cookies are delicious!
Purposely made it less sweet– used the 1 cup of brown sugar only, no granulated sugar. Turned out fine.
Also we followed the directions: flatten and then bake for one sheet, used my standard: bake and then flatten (by banging the pan on the butcher block counter) for another sheet; both were good and I think the bake-then-flatten were prettier.
So glad you enjoyed these cookies, Sue!
Tessa hit it out of the park! These ARE the best Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies….ever! My 2nd time making them and they’re perfect every time. They make up very easy with Tessa’s precise instructions and measurements. If you don’t have a food scale, do yourself a favor and invest in one! You won’t be sorry!
Thank you Tessa for your labor of love! ❤️
Thank you so much, Carol, for taking the time to write such a sweet review! I absolutely loved hearing how much you enjoy making this recipe 🙂
I’ve made peanut butter cookies with bacon fat instead of butter. With that being said do you think I could successfully sub out all or part of the butter in place of bacon fat?
You’d have to experiment, I haven’t tried that!
Taste good and fairly easy to make, however, I don’t think it needs the tsp of sea salt as the biscuits were slightly too salty.