Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Chocolate and peanut butter has been my favorite sweet combination since before I can remember! I am obsessed!
Texture: Thick, chewy, soft, melty, and wonderful.
Ease: Very simple.
Pros: Perfect PB chocolate chip cookies.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Oh yeah. I’ve always got a batch of these portioned into dough balls sitting in my freezer ready to be baked off whenever the craving strikes.
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These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my absolute favorite desserts on the planet.
If you read Handle the Heat regularly, you likely know I adore the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.
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 continuing to enjoy them together. I literally eat peanut butter every day. Same for chocolate. 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 thick and chewy, yet soft, and have just amazing peanut butter flavor. They are 1000% perfect with a glass of cold milk.
The best part? You don’t even need a stand mixer to make this peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe, they’re so easy.
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Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
How to Make CHEWY Cookies & Not Dry Peanut Butter Cookies!
- The high ratio of brown sugar and the extra egg yolk in this recipe help contribute a rich, chewy, and thick texture with lots of flavor.
- Be sure to measure your flour correctly (by weighing with a digital scale, or with the spoon and level method) to avoid creating cakey, dense, or tough cookies that don’t spread.
- Measuring your dry ingredients accurately is one of the best ways to improve your baking.
- If You Don’t Measure Your Flour Correctly, YOU COULD END UP WITH CRUMBLY DOUGH and dry, hard cookies lacking in flavor. Just check out the image below, showing the difference between correctly and incorrectly measured chocolate chip cookies.
The Best Peanut Butter for Baking
- This recipe has been successfully tested with conventional peanut butter (Skippy) AND natural peanut butter, with reservations.
- Check out my peanut butter experiment here.
- Only use natural peanut butter if it’s VERY well stirred to be completely smooth and cohesive with no oily or dry bits.
- When it’s very smooth, natural peanut butter will yield a much more bold peanut butter flavor!
Which Chocolate Chips for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I prefer the taste of semi-sweet chocolate chips in these cookies, but you could also use the same amount of milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks. Feel free to substitute peanut butter chips for some of the chocolate chips, if you wish!
Cookie Size and Shape
- These are large chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, just the way I like ’em!
- I use my large 3-Tablespoon cookie scoop to form these cookie dough balls.
- You can use the medium cookie scoop to make 1.5 tablespoon-sized balls of dough, if you prefer. Just shave off about 2 minutes from the baking time.
- Peanut butter in cookie recipes prevents normal spreading, so that’s why we are flattening the balls well with the palm of your hand before baking. This will encourage them to spread more while they bake.
What Type of Baking Sheet for Peanut Butter 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.
Do I Need to Chill Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
For best results, chill the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie dough overnight in a large bowl in the fridge. Here’s why:
- 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.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Ahead
Make the cookie dough as instructed and portion out the dough balls using a cookie scoop. Place the dough balls in a single layer on a baking sheet, freeze them until solid, then remove them to a freezer bag to store in the freezer. Defrost the dough overnight in the fridge, or for an hour or so at room temperature before baking (less if your kitchen is warm). 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.
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft Batch Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- S’mores Cookies
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (318 grams) 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) semi sweet 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 a little loose and slightly crumbly. If it's unbearably crumbly, that's likely due to discrepancies among brands of peanut butter. Add 2 tablespoons milk if that's the case.
- OPTIONAL: If time permits, cover the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. Let the dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop.
- Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a 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.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and has been updated with recipe improvements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
I have made this recipe and it is outstanding. I do have a question. I also made the Peanut Butter Reeses and Chocolate chip cookies which I also love. I’ve been searching through the website for the recipe .because I can’t find my copy of it. Can you tell me where I can find it. It was the one I received in a Baking School segment.
Sweet Regards,
Linda Butler
Hi Linda! Is it these Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies you’re looking for? Let me know if that’s not the one, and I’ll try to help you find it 🙂
Amazing recipe! Wonderful cookies! A family favorite!
These Are an absolute favorite. Do the cookies freeze well? I need to bake 6 dozen a week in advance but not sure if they freeze good or if they will still taste just as good.
Hi Joanna! We haven’t tried freezing the baked cookies, only the dough! Check out Tessa’s tips for this in the pink tip box, above the recipes! I would recommend making all your batches of dough, following Tessa’s instructions to freeze, then bake them off the day before or morning of your event. I hope that helps! 🙂
Amazingly delicious and decadent! This is now my go-to cookie recipe. I made these last night and this is one of the very best cookies I’ve ever eaten. The recipe is easy to follow, clean-up is minimal, and your preparation tips make all the difference. If ingredients are good quality and weighed, it seems foolproof: I substituted light brown sugar in place of dark; I was also 20g short on the brown sugar so I used extra granulated sugar. The cookies turned out beautifully. I can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Absolutely delicious! Made them for a family get together and every single person raved about them. I followed the recipe exactly except I mistakenly grabbed milk chocolate chips instead of semi sweet they were still over the top yummy but that did make them super sweet. I will definitely make these again and again. Excellent recipe!
Made these today with my niece (3 yrs). Very good! We used Guittard 63% extra dark chocolate baking chips and skippy peanut butter. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 1.5 hrs, rolled them out and then stuck them in the freezer on the tray while the oven preheated. Baked about 13 mins. She loves them and so do I. Thanks for the recipe!
Soooo good. I make made these for my friend’s birthday and everyone loves them. The cookies came out really thicc and they’re the perfect amount of soft and crispy.
Awesome recipe but they go down so easy. I do not recommend this if you are in any way trying to lose weight. AMAZING and super simple to make..
Thanks so much for sharing..
My two girls, ages 5 & 8, can make these cookies by themselves with the use of a digital scale (and a mom who separates the egg yolk!). Thanks for such a simple, delicious, foolproof recipe!
My son and I baked these cookies and they were delicious! Save this to favorites ❤️
Can I use 1 cup of Bread flour and 1 1/12 cups of All- Purpose flour in this recipe ? What do you think of 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of peanut butter chips ?
Hi Joseph! While we haven’t specifically tested that flour combination out ourselves, that should work just fine for slightly chewier, denser cookies that spread less when baked. The chocolate chips/peanut butter chips will also be perfectly fine, too! Let us know how you like these 🙂
These absolutely did not work for us. We measured and used Skippy peanut butter as well and the dough was crumbly. It was just OK when we balled it, it stuck together but we couldn’t push to flatten or they would fall apart. Once cooked, the texture was meh and the flavor was lacking. It just tastes like sugar and sweet without actual flavor. I usually follow my own recipes for cookies but wanted to try something new so followed this to a T. Recipe seems hot or miss. Won’t be making again
Hi Katie! Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that you did not enjoy these cookies! It sounds like something may have gone wrong in the process if these weren’t peanut butter-y and delicious! You dough sounds very crumbly and dry, which makes me think there may have been too much flour in your dough. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here! I hope you try these cookies again, Katie – they really are delcious! Happy baking 🙂
I made these and the whole family liked them. They were not overly sweet. Easy to make. Would use this recipe again.
Wonderful to hear that, Leeann!!