These thick, sweet, soft, and chewy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies have the perfect texture — a thick, luscious center with slightly crisp edges. These cookies are loaded with chocolate in every bite!
For when plain peanut butter cookies just won’t do, add some chocolate chips! Or make Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies by replacing the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips. If you haven’t guessed yet, there are no limits to what I’ll try when it comes to cookies!
Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
That’s right — easy cookies! No stand mixer or hand mixer is required. All you need is one large bowl and a whisk or wooden spoon.
These cookies are thick, soft, chewy, and the perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter.
Variation Ideas
- Make these cookies healthier by using honey and oats and reducing the sugar (which is what I do in these Healthy Breakfast Cookies!).
- Try this recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies vegan-style! (Replace the honey with agave, use a vegan crispy rice cereal, and vegan chocolate for the drizzle.)
- To make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies without flour, try these flourless Monster Cookies.
- To make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, try these Trail Mix Cookies with peanuts and peanut butter chips!
- OR make Chocolate Cookies with peanut butter chips.
What Makes Cookies Soft And Moist?
The more moisture in cookies, the chewier and softer they will be. For a soft and moist cookie, you’ll need to use a recipe with a higher moisture content than typical. For this particular recipe, we achieve this by using two large eggs instead of just one, an entire cup of brown sugar (the added molasses has a 10% water composition), and a bit less flour.
To make these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies chewy, soft, and perfectly moist, ever-so-slightly underbake. If you overbake these cookies, the taste and texture will be off. Because they firm up more as they cool, if overbaked they become harder and crisper as they cool.
Why Are My Peanut Butter Cookies Gritty?
A likely suspect is old or hard brown sugar. If there are clumps of sugar in the dough, it won’t dissolve completely during mixing or baking– which results in a gritty texture.
Gritty cookies can also result from not chilling the dough long enough or adding the sugars into hot melted butter. Let the melted butter cool to room temperature before adding in the sugars.
While the recipe is intended to be simple, follow mixing instructions precisely for the best results.
How To Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Use room temperature eggs. This ensures the eggs disperse more evenly into the batter, giving these cookies a lighter texture (the eggs trap air).
- Add eggs one at a time. Each egg should be thoroughly mixed in before adding the next egg. This allows the eggs to be evenly mixed in AND allows the eggs to emulsify with the fats (the butter and peanut butter in this recipe).
- Chill the dough: Since the butter gets melted, the dough needs time to chill so the butter can re-solidify. This way, you’ll end up with the right cookie texture.
How To Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Bake on a Silpat liner. These cookies come out best when baked on a silicone liner — they bake evenly and the bottoms won’t get too crispy. (Parchment paper is the next best thing!)
- Use a food scale if you have one. A food scale ensures the right amount of flour (measuring flour can wildly vary from person to person!). It also makes sure you’ve got even-sized cookie dough balls (and evenly baked cookies). If you simply eyeball the portions, you may end up with some overbaked cookies while other cookies aren’t fully baked due to the inconsistent cookie dough ball sizes.
- Bake at 325 degrees F (162°C). Most of my cookie recipes bake at 350 degrees F (176°C), but these cookies are best at 325 (162°C). The temperature is an easy thing to miss, and it makes a big difference in the softness of these cookies.
Storage
Storage And Freezing
These cookies stay fresh for 3-4 days at room temperature.
For longer storage, freeze the dough: drop dough balls on a sheet pan and freeze. Once solid, transfer them to an airtight container or bag for up to 3 months. To bake, place frozen dough balls on a baking sheet without thawing, and bake until edges are set and center is soft.
Use Leftover Peanut Butter In One Of These Tasty Recipes:
- Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats — with chocolate topping
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie– with an Oreo cookie crust
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies — No baking required!
- Peanut Butter Cookie Dough — made with heat-treated flour
- Peanut Butter Granola — with chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- large sheet pan,
- Silicone baking mat or parchment paper
- Cooling Rack
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, this is 1 cup or 2 sticks
- 1 cup brown sugar light or dark, lightly packed, see note 1
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter see note 2
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda see note 3
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour see note 4
- 2 cups chocolate chips milk or semi-sweet—whichever you prefer
Instructions
- Line a large sheet pan with a silicone liner (or parchment paper) and set aside.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter until it’s melted. Set aside to cool back to room temperature (hot butter will melt sugars and cause greasy cookies). Once at room temperature, use a spatula to scrape every bit of butter into a large bowl and add brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix with a large whisk until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add peanut butter and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Add in 1 egg. Mix until ingredients are incorporated, then add the second egg. Again, mix until the ingredients are incorporated. Add baking soda and salt and mix until just incorporated. Add flour and again mix until just incorporated. Don’t overmix. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Cover dough and chill for 30 minutes, up to 1 hour—see note 5. Preheat oven to 325°F. Scoop the dough and roll into large balls, each a packed 2 tablespoons (40 grams) in size (see note 6). Roll balls that are taller rather than wider. Place dough balls on the lined sheet pan, 6 cookies at a time, leaving ample room (2 inches) between cookies. If dough balls have gotten too warm from rolling, pop the tray of cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Bake 8–14 minutes. Ever-so-slightly underbaking the cookies will keep them soft and chewy. They also bake a bit more on the sheet pan when removed from the oven (see note 7 for troubleshooting). Be careful to not overbake these cookies!
- Remove cookies, and if desired, press some extra chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies. Allow them to cool on the sheet pan 5 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
