This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
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.
Email This Recipe
Enter your email, and we’ll send it to your inbox.
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 followed it exactly right to a T and the bottoms burnt at 10 minutes on parchment paper!!! This is RIGHT before a winter storm coming I’m fuming. There weren’t any other instructions and no didn’t use any spray
Sorry to hear that, especially when you couldn’t leave the house for more ingredients! If the bottoms of your cookies browned that quickly, it’s usually because a dark-colored baking sheet was used or the oven is running a bit hot, both of which can cause faster browning even with parchment. For next time, try using a light-colored baking sheet like this one and an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is actually at the right temperature when it beeps. I know that doesn’t help this batch, but I hope you’ll give the recipe another try! Please let us know how it goes if you do.
These are one of the best cookies I’ve ever made! They are delicious. I followed the suggestion and used 2 tablespoons less of flour as I prefer King Arthur unbleached. I also used my favorite natural peanut butter. These are honestly a 10/10.
These are the greatest cookies, but now my obsessed family is asking that I make it into a pizookie! I noticed your chocolate chip cookie and CC pizookie recipes are VERY similar but the pizookie has a little less flour and the additional egg yolk. Have you tested this as a pizookie? Can I just use the recipe as is?
Ooo how fun! We haven’t tried turning this recipe into a pizookie, but feel free to give it a try! Let us know how it turns out 🙂
These look absolutely AMAZING. But, since I’m allergic to peanuts can I use an equal amount of almond butter? In my research, it seems almond butter has a slightly higher fat content, but it seems negligible.
Also, why does King Arthur flour weigh heavier? Does it have anything to do with it having a higher protein percentage and/or being unbleached? I’ve used KAF exclusively for years and have noticed the grams in a cup of KAF is higher than the grams stated in the recipe. Thanks!!
These are oh so so so good !!
Oh my goodness these are too good! You’re making me not use my regular recipe site haha found your site and made these for the first time.. Hubby almost ate them all. Had to hide the rest
The ultimate compliment, haha! So happy to hear they were such a hit 🙂
These are delicious! Any recommendations to make them a little more peanut butter flavor?
Hi Stephanie! If you haven’t tried using natural peanut butter, that can enhance the pb flavor! You could also sub some of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips 🙂
I used my scale for everything and was amazed the difference between cups and weight. The batter looked great. I did not refrigerate at all. I got 23 good sized cookies. They were pretty big and did not spread very much. It hard to tell when peanut butter cookies are browned. Both my husband and son said they were great. Glad I tried this recipe and will definitely make them again.
Should I use one egg plus one egg yolk if I’m halving the recipe??
You can keep the full egg yolk in for a little extra chewiness, or place it in a bowl and remove half (about 1 1/2 teaspoons).
Hey so I’d like to file a complaint. These cookies are too good!! So I’m therefore blaming you for taking years off of my life because I’m going to be making them again and again and again! The people I made them for actually described them as decadent. They’re ‘I’m gonna print this recipe out and pass it down to my children & grandchildren’ level good. Thanks! <3
You just made our day, Jake! What a compliment. Thank you!
Ok, you convinced me I NEED to try these.
Amazing cookies. The dough was perfect and i have a batch in my freezer ready to bake when the craving hits.
I mixed these up yesterday. Used the exact weight in grams of all the ingredients and it mixed up fine. However you are not exact as to how much dough to put on the pan. I don’t like ’rounded teaspoon” or rounded tablespoon measurements. I always weigh my dough before putting it on the pan. So, can you tell me in grams or ounces how much the smaller and larger 3 tablespoon measure would be? It would be so much easier for me than to try to figure it out. I have several scoops. Is it 3 level tablespoon of dough? or that silly rounded measure?
Hi Rose! Great question. We typically don’t portion cookie dough by weight, especially with mix-ins like chocolate chips—it can get tedious, and the weight varies slightly from scoop to scoop depending on how many chips you grab. That said, each 3-tablespoon scoop of dough in this recipe weighs about 60 grams.
If you’d like to calculate it yourself, you can add up the ingredient weights (a large egg is about 56g, and a yolk is about 18-19g), or weigh the entire mass of dough and divide by the yield. I hope that helps!