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Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: These cookies are packed full of peanut butter flavor and plenty of gooey chocolate chips studded throughout.
Texture: Thick, chewy, soft, melty, and wonderful.
Ease: Very simple, made with pantry staples, no mixer, and ready in 30 minutes.
Why you’ll love this recipe: These are the perfect PB Chocolate Chip Cookies!
These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my absolute favorite desserts on the planet. I’ve always got a batch of these sitting in my freezer, ready to bake off whenever the craving strikes!
I’ve loved the flavor combination of chocolate and peanut butter since before I could remember. And these cookies showcase that combination perfectly.
These cookies are ridiculously thick and chewy yet soft, and are heavenly with a glass of cold milk.
The best part? These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are so quick and easy to make – you don’t even need a mixer!
Absolutely delish!! I made them a bit larger (18 total instead of 24) and they are amazing!! I made them for Father’s Day, but the whole house approved. This is by far my favorite texture I’ve ever seen in a cookie. Perfectly crunchy on the edges, soft and chewy insides.
If you’re cookie-obsessed like me, you’ll love making cookies that’ll rival your favorite bakery (just like these!) with my second cookbook, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook: Your Guide to Baking Perfect Cookies Every Time – now available on Amazon!
Key Recipe Ingredients
Peanut Butter: I prefer natural peanut butter (well-stirred with no oily or dry bits) for a bolder peanut butter flavor, but conventional peanut butter (like Skippy or Jif) works too. Check out my peanut butter experiment here!
Dark Brown Sugar: Helps create a chewy texture and adds rich flavor. You can substitute light brown sugar if it’s all you have, but the color, texture, and flavor will be different.
Egg Yolk: The extra yolk contributes to a rich, chewy cookie.
Chocolate Chips: Semisweet is my favorite, but you can substitute milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chocolate chunks, or peanut butter chips for even more peanut butter flavor.
Sprinkle of Science (open me!)
- Brown sugar and an extra egg yolk help create a rich, chewy, and thick texture with lots of flavor.
- Be sure to measure your flour correctly (by weighing with a digital scale or the spoon and level method) to avoid cakey, dense, or tough cookies that don’t spread.
- If You Don’t Measure Your Flour Correctly, you may end up with crumbly dough and dry, hard cookies lacking flavor. Just check out the image showing the difference between correctly and incorrectly measured chocolate chip cookies.
- I ALWAYS use an unlined aluminum half-sheet pan for baking 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.
- Never use dark-colored pans to bake cookies, as they tend to overly brown or even burn the bottoms of the cookies.
- Check out my Best (and WORST) Baking Pans article here for more details on the science of baking pans.
Although not required for this recipe, I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough for 24-72 hours before baking. You can always bake off a few cookies right away and chill the rest. Here’s why:
- Chilling cookie dough is very similar to marinating meat – things just get so much better!
- The texture becomes chewier and thicker, and the flavor intensifies. It also improves the golden brown exterior as the cookies bake, for crisp edges.
- You can either scoop first and chill (make sure to wrap in plastic) or chill the entire mass of dough, let it come to room temperature, then scoop.
- Learn more about why chilling cookie dough matters here.
Storage & Make ahead
Storing Baked Cookies: Keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Make-Ahead Dough: Portion the dough, freeze the balls until solid, then transfer them to a freezer bag for up to 6 weeks. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for about an hour at room temperature before baking.
Baking from Frozen: This is possible, but the cookies won’t spread as much. Get all of my tips for freezing cookie dough (and baking from frozen!) here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Peanut butter in cookie recipes prevents normal spreading, so flattening the balls with the palm of your hand before baking helps encourage them to spread more while they bake.
If you’d like an even stronger peanut butter flavor, try using very well-stirred natural peanut butter and swapping some of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips.
I haven’t tested this, but many readers have successfully swapped in King Arthur gluten-free measure for measure or Bob’s 1 to 1 baking flour.
Yes! For about 12 medium cookies, use a medium cookie scoop to make 1 1/2-tablespoon portions and reduce the baking time by about 2 minutes.
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (318 grams) bleached all-purpose flour, measured correctly*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (202 grams) creamy peanut butter**
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (200 grams) packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups (340 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large heat-safe bowl, microwave the butter until melted. Vigorously stir the peanut butter into the hot butter until well combined. Stir in the granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add in the vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Dough may be loose and slightly crumbly. It will not appear like normal chocolate chip cookie dough. If it's unbearably crumbly, that's likely due to discrepancies among brands of peanut butter and if you used unbleached flour. Add 2 tablespoons milk if that's the case.
- Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a large spring-loaded cookie scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten dough slightly into disc shapes with your palms. Dot each disc with a few extra chocolate chips for picture-perfect cookies.
- Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and has been updated with recipe improvements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
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 not like 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 🙂