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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.
When a recipe calls for salt, is alright to prevent using it? I’m on a salt free diet.
Hi Nancy! Yes, you can leave out the salt if you’re following a salt-free diet. Salt does help balance and enhance the sweetness and peanut butter flavor in these cookies, but the recipe will still work without it. The cookies might taste slightly less rich or flavorful, but they’ll still have a good texture. I hope you enjoy them!
Good Afternoon! I love that I fell upon your site! It is a baking delight. I made the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and loved their look and texture, but the peanut butter flavor was, in my opinion, lacking. So today I am getting ready to make them again and this time I will not be adding the vanilla. I will let you know, if the peanut butter in them more forward does show!!!
Hi Susan, your cookies look absolutely delicious! 😊 The vanilla actually helps enhance the flavor of the peanut butter and chocolate, so I don’t think leaving it out will make the peanut butter flavor more pronounced. If you’d like an even stronger peanut butter flavor, try using a very well-stirred natural peanut butter and swapping some of the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. I’d love to hear what you think of your next batch!
It turned out really nice! I had to do a lot of substitutions though. I used white sugar and mashed banana for brown sugar, rum for vanilla extract, and baking soda and vinegar for baking powder. I also add ground up roasted peanuts to give a nuttier taste.
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.
They look fantastic, Emma! So happy to hear they were such a hit with your family 🙂
This recipe is the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made. It may seem like a lot of chocolate chips however, these are peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Gotta keep this recipe.
I made these the other day. You are so right about weighing the flour first! I have never done that for cookies but it was a game changer. These cookies were beautiful AND delicious. I used less chocolate chips and baked at 375 degrees and they turned out perfect!
These cookies were excellent. I give away most of what I bake to cut down on my calorie intake, and I took several packages to the local sports bar. While handing them out two other patrons at the bar commented that they looked like they came from a specialty cookie shop. They looked that good. The flavor is a great blend of the peanut butter and chocolate chips. The key is to thoroughly mix the melted butter with the peanut butter. I ran out of creamy peanut butter, and I did have to supplement the creamy peanut butter with about 1/4 cup of chunky style. The peanut chunks actually added a nice twist to the cookies.
Definitely 5 stars!!!
Wow!!! Best cookie recipe ever! I’ve made with sunflower butter once and peanut butter once and these are an all time favorite!!! I chill the dough about 30 minutes before and chill in between batches. About 13 minutes work for my oven. These are PHENOMENAL!! Thank you!
So happy to hear they’re a favorite! 🙂
Could you add marshmallows to this one for a “s’mores” version? We absolutely love this recipe… and thinking if we did add marshmallows to this one, how much would we add and would it work out OK!
We haven’t tried that, but it sounds like a delicious idea! I’d recommend doing something similar to our S’mores Cookies recipe, and wait until the cookies have just a few minutes to go, then pull them from the oven to top with marshmallows, then finish baking. Let us know if you try it out!
Bookmark worthy recipe. I refrigerated my dough for an hour before baking and they kept their shape perfectly.
These bake up perfectly if you follow the directions exactly. This is a keeper.
Love this PB chocolate chip cookie! I’ve used both Guittard & Valrhona milk and dark chocolate chips, which I think are the best! I baked a couple cookies immediately after making the dough but refrigerated the rest for 24 hours, and I have to say the refrigerated cookies turned out much better. I use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto plates to refrigerate and then put them on a cookie sheet to bake the next day. They really hold their shape and still cook evenly after refrigerating.
I made the recipe as it was written using weights for the ingredients. The only thing that I differed on was the time it cooked for, as I used stoneware, and the types of chocolate chips. Instead of 12 minutes I cooked mine for 14 and then did the 5 minute rest as stated. For chocolate chips I used semi sweet for the bulk of the weight, some extra dark, white, and mini semi sweets for the rest. They turned out spectacular. All who ate them said they were delicious. I would definitely make them again. Probably one of the better cookies I’ve had. Thank you!