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.
These are amazing and oh so addictive! Thank you for sharing ❤️
I baked 4 cookies immediately and am keeping the rest in refer till tomorrow. tje four I baked were good but cake like. i did flatten them. your thoughts?
Hi Judy! I’m sorry to hear that your cookies are cakey. This is typically due to accidentally adding too much flour. 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 ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – resulting in a variety of outcomes like cakey or tough cookies. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. I hope this helps, and I hope you still enjoy your cookies! Happy baking!
Delicious! I have the last of the batch in the oven as I type this. Best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made. I used 1 tbsp. size scoop, not the 3 you reccommended. Cooking time stays at 12 minutes. Great cookies.
Really delicious, I followed all the steps in the recipe precisely, and I don’t think I have ever had more delicious cookies in my life. Even frozen, and baked directly in the oven without defrosting them (lowering the oven temperature by 20 degrees and lengthening the baking time, as Tessa recommended), they are amazing and you hardly feel the difference. I think from now on my freezer will never lack these cookies.
These are the best cookies I have ever made.
If you use natural/organic peanut butter that has separated, you can reblend it in a food processor. The critical difference to me is that natural peanut butter likely has a lot less sugar which will be noticeable in the final result. I agree with some others that the amount of chocolate chips is above and beyond what it needs to be.
Can these cookies be frozen after baking?
Hi Bobbie! As Tessa describes in the pink tip box (above the recipe), these cookies freeze really well when frozen as pre-portioned dough balls, ready to bake whenever you like! We haven’t tried freezing the baked cookies ourselves, but other readers have reported much success in doing this. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Easy, delicious, and great every time!
These are delicious! I have co-workers asking if they can pay me to make these for them again.
These are the best cookies!
These cookies are SOOO good and easy. My dad and I made them together and it was a piece of cake! The only thing we changed was we subbed one teaspoon of almond extract. And also subbed some peanut butter chips because my Nana loves peanut butter. We definitely will make this recipe again!!!
I noticed you mentioned to use unlined aluminum half-sheet pan, what are your thoughts on biscuit/cookie baking sheets? They are supposed to allow for more event heating due to the lack of rim.
Hi Jonathan! Check out Tessa’s article on the best baking pans for cookies here! 🙂
I have made these cookies for a few years now they are my all time favorite! The only thing I add is a teaspoon of molasses.They come out perfect everytime.This is the best recipe!