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.
Will the recipe work if I substitute the flour and raising agents with self-raising flour?
Hi Katherine! We haven’t tested this, and Tessa typically prefers to use all-purpose flour and add her own leavening agents, to stay in control of the levening herself. Let us know how it goes if you give this a try, though! 🙂
does the recipe make 3 giant cookies? did I miss something about the 3 ice cream scoops of dough on a baking sheet?
Hi Elise! This recipe makes about 24 cookies. I think where you got confused was the size of each cookie! The directions state to “Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a spring-loaded scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets”. The 3 is referring to 3-Tablespoon sized cookies, which should give you about two dozen. I hope that helps 🙂
Just made this and had a great time! Seems like a great intro to the baking world.
These are fantastic. Thick, chewy, and delicious, just like a cookie should be and they have just the right amount of peanut butter flavour. I didn’t melt the butter, I’m one of those weirdos without a microwave, and I was too lazy to use a pot. I just made sure I creamed the butter and peanut butter with the sugars really well. The cookies were perfect. Thank you for including weights, it makes it so much easier to measure things like peanut butter. Just plop the jar on the scale, press tare, and scoop the right amount right into the bowl. No extra dishes and no trying to scrape it out of a measuring cup!
I haven’t had peanut butter cookies in years and had a spontaneous craving. I followed the recipe to the letter, and these turned out EXACTLY how I pictured the perfect cookie in my head!
I appreciate the weight measures for dry ingredients. I have had much better results with all my baking since I started using a food scale.
Thank you for posting this! I better put the rest of the cookies away before I eat them! 🙂
Tessa, any suggestion on how to make it crispy?
Hi Charu! We have not tested this recipe to make it crispy, but I recommend checking out this Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe for tips and information about achieving a crispy cookie (all the info is in the pink tip box, above the recipe). Good luck 🙂
We love these!! Can’t wait to share with company
Holy *bleep* these cookies are so good!! They are better than my chocolate chip cookies I make which are delicious. I cut the recipe in half only because I didn’t need to bake 24 and I’m glad I did cause I’ve already eaten half and I made them yesterday
Best peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve found! I used 1/2 cup of butter flavored Crisco instead of regular butter. No need to soften. 1 cup of miniature and 1 cup of regular sized semi sweet chips. Used my cookie scoop but didnt press cookies into discs. Baked 10 min for more tender, taller cookies.
I made the batter yesterday and baked them today. The dough was not crumbly like the recipe said they’d be but they cooked up great. My husband thought there were too many chocolate chips (but I did not). I did, at his request after the first batch, add sugar to the top before they baked. That was the extra perfect topper. I really enjoyed them. Thank you!
These came out absolutely to die for. I didn’t even chill the dough or let the eggs get to room temperature. Bake them for 12 minutes and they were perfect. I don’t understand how there are negative reviews on this recipe! Perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate!
These cookies are the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies ever. They’re soft and stay that way for days. They also freeze very well. I got a lot of compliments of these cookies on the Christmas platters.
Best Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip recipe ever!