Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick, soft, and chewy with the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate. They’re packed with flavor, loaded with melty chips, and always a crowd-pleaser. Best of all, they’re simple to make and don’t even need a stand mixer.

Love More Chocolate Cookies? Try My Peanut Butter Blossoms or this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

These cookies are foolproof, turning out perfect every time whether you’re tired, distracted, or baking with kids. They’ve got that unbeatable texture—crispy edges that crack when you bite in, with soft, fudgy centers that stay chewy for days. What sets them apart is the bold flavor from two full cups of peanut butter, so every bite is rich and nutty. After testing dozens of recipes that were too dry, too flat, or too cakey, this one finally nails the balance and delivers bakery-worthy cookies every time.

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Ingredient List

Dry Ingredients:

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Mix-ins:

• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Optional: ½ cup granulated sugar (for rolling)

Only have salted butter? Use it but cut salt to ¼ teaspoon. No brown sugar? All white works but you lose chewiness. Use regular peanut butter like Jif – not the fancy natural stuff. Natural peanut butter makes them fall apart.

Why These Ingredients Work

Brown sugar makes them chewy. White sugar gives crispy edges. Both together is magic.

Two cups of peanut butter sounds excessive but it’s what makes these actually taste like peanut butter instead of sugar cookies with peanut butter afterthought. My friend’s grandma owned a bakery and told me most home bakers are scared to use enough flavor. “If it’s peanut butter cookies, make them taste like peanut butter.”

Room temp everything or your mixer fights you. Cold butter stays chunky. Cold eggs don’t mix right. Your cookies come out lumpy and weird-textured.

Baking soda plus baking powder makes them thick instead of flat. Just one or the other doesn’t work right.

Measuring flour wrong ruins everything. Scooping from the bag packs it down. You get way more flour than you need and dry cookies nobody wants.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Big mixing bowl
• Electric mixer (hand mixer fine, stand mixer better)
• Medium bowl for dry stuff
• Good measuring cups and spoons
• Cookie scoop (seriously, buy one)
• Two baking sheets minimum
• Parchment paper (not wax paper, learned that the hard way)
• Wire racks

How To Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix the Dry Ingredients

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in bowl. Takes thirty seconds. Don’t dump everything together – you want even distribution so nobody gets a bite that’s all salt.

Cream Butter and Sugars

Beat butter with both sugars until fluffy and light colored. About 3 minutes with electric mixer. Should look almost white and way bigger in volume. Don’t rush this – creates air pockets that make cookies tender instead of dense.

Add Eggs and Peanut Butter

Beat in eggs one at a time. Let each one fully mix before adding the next. Scrape bowl sides with rubber spatula – butter always hides in corners. Add peanut butter and vanilla. Mix until smooth and thick-looking.

Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients

Add flour mixture on low speed. Mix just until no dry flour shows. Overmixing makes tough cookies. Nobody wants tough cookies. Pour in chocolate chips with mixer on low. Dough will be really thick – that’s right.

Chill the Dough

Cover with plastic wrap, stick in fridge at least an hour. I usually make dough morning and bake afternoon, or make night before. Cold dough spreads less, means thicker cookies instead of thin crispy ones. Dough keeps three days in fridge.

Prepare for Baking

Heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Don’t skip parchment – prevents sticking, makes cleanup easy. If your oven runs weird, use thermometer. Temperature matters more with cookies than almost anything else.

Shape the Cookies

Scoop big portions – 3 tablespoons each. I roll mine in sugar because I like extra sweetness and sparkly look. Space them 2 inches apart minimum. They spread some and you don’t want one giant mega-cookie.

Bake to Perfection

14-15 minutes until edges look set and light golden but centers still look soft, maybe slightly underdone. Hardest part for most people – trusting they’re done when centers look raw. They’re not raw, they’re perfect. Keep cooking on hot pan after you pull them out.

Cool and Finish

Cool on baking sheets exactly 10 minutes. Not 5, not 15. Ten minutes lets them set without getting soggy but still warm enough to move without breaking. Want bakery look? Press extra chocolate chips into tops while warm. Then move to wire racks.

You Must Know

Natural peanut butter destroys these. Oil separates, makes crumbly mess. Use regular brands with emulsifiers that hold everything together.

Dough sitting in fridge overnight? Let it warm up 30 minutes before scooping. Too cold bakes into weird thick pucks that don’t spread.

I always make one test cookie first. Bake it full time, see how it looks. Spreads too much? Chill dough longer. Doesn’t spread enough? Let dough warm up. Every kitchen’s different.

Room temp ingredients mix better but there’s tricks if you forgot. Eggs in warm water 5 minutes. Butter cut into pieces, sit out 20 minutes. Don’t microwave butter – melts parts of it and ruins texture.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Make them big. Small cookies lose that chewy center that makes these special.

Test doneness by pressing center with finger at 14 minutes. Springs back = done. Leaves dent = needs more time. Took me years to learn this but it’s foolproof.

Save ¼ cup chips just for pressing into warm tops. Makes them look bakery-perfect.

Don’t open oven door first 10 minutes. Drops temperature, causes uneven baking. Set timer and trust it.

Let baking sheets cool completely between batches. Hot pans make dough spread immediately and bake weird.

“Slightly underdone” look is everything. Cookies keep cooking on hot pan after you remove them. What looks underbaked becomes perfect after cooling. Overbaked so many batches before learning this.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Tested these and they’re all amazing:

Salted Caramel: Replace 1 cup chocolate chips with caramel bits. Sweet-salty combo is insane.

Peanut Butter Cup: Chop up peanut butter cups instead of chips. Use 1½ cups chopped cups.

Triple Chocolate: ½ cup each dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, mini chips. Chocolate overload in best way.

Pretzel Crunch: Add ½ cup crushed pretzels with chips. Salty crunch elevates everything.

Oatmeal: Replace ½ cup flour with oats. More substantial texture.

Butterscotch: Use butterscotch chips instead of chocolate. Tastes like childhood.

S’mores: Add ½ cup mini marshmallows and ½ cup crushed graham crackers with chips. Bake at 325°F so marshmallows don’t burn.

Make-Ahead Options

Perfect for meal prep. Dough improves in fridge up to 3 days. I make double batch Sunday, bake fresh cookies all week.

Scoop dough into balls, freeze on baking sheet until solid, transfer to freezer bags. Keep 3 months. Bake from frozen – add 1-2 minutes. Texture identical to fresh.

Already baked cookies freeze great too. Cool completely, layer between parchment in containers. Thaw 30 minutes, taste just as good.

Scoop-and-freeze method is genius for unexpected guests or sudden cravings. Having bag of cookie dough balls in freezer is like secret weapon.

Label frozen dough with date and instructions. Future you will thank present you when you’re staring at freezer trying to remember if these bake at 350° or 375°.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

Spoon flour into cup, don’t pack. Scooping from bag compacts flour, gives way more than recipe needs. Packed flour = dry tough cookies.

Centers should look slightly underdone when you pull them. They finish on hot pan. Number one mistake people make – overbaking because centers look “raw.”

Space cookies 3 inches apart if possible. They spread more than you think.

Use parchment, not wax paper. Wax paper smokes and catches fire. Don’t ask how I know.

Don’t flatten these before baking like regular peanut butter cookies. Thick dough and proper chilling create perfect shape naturally.

Cookies spread too much? Butter too warm or dough not cold enough. Next batch chill longer, make sure butter barely soft to touch.

Above 3000 feet? Reduce baking soda to ¾ teaspoon, increase flour 2-3 tablespoons. High altitude baking is weird.

Serving Suggestions

Perfect warm with cold milk. Classic combo never gets old.

Crumble over vanilla ice cream or make ice cream sandwiches. I crush them for peanut butter pie crusts too.

Great for lunch boxes – travel well, don’t crumble like some cookies. My kids trade these like currency with their friends.

Bring to potlucks, bake sales, anywhere you need to be the hero. Been asked to bring these to same block party five years running.

Serve warm with ice cream and chocolate drizzle for fancy dessert that looks way harder than it is.

Go surprisingly well with coffee. Peanut butter complements bitter coffee better than you’d think. Keep batch in freezer for morning coffee routine.

Stack in mason jars for gifts. Look professional and homemade, jars are reusable. Do this every Christmas for neighbors and mail carrier.

How to Store Your Cookies

Airtight containers at room temp one week. I use plastic containers with tight lids – nothing fancy.

Humid weather? Toss bread slice in container. Absorbs moisture, keeps cookies from getting soggy. Replace bread every few days.

Freeze up to 3 months layered between parchment in freezer containers or heavy bags. Thaw 30 minutes, taste like fresh.

Don’t refrigerate unless you like cold hard cookies. Fridge dries them out faster than counter.

Get stale? Pop in 300°F oven 3-4 minutes. Not quite fresh but close.

Mason jars work great and look nice on counter. Plus you see exactly how many left, helps with portion control. Or doesn’t, depending on willpower.

Allergy Information

Contains gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts. Here’s modifications for different needs:

Gluten-Free: 1:1 flour blend like King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill. Slightly different texture but still good. Add ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum if flour doesn’t have it.

Dairy-Free: Room temp vegan butter or solid coconut oil. Earth Balance sticks work well. Less rich but still great.

Egg-Free: Flax eggs – 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed with 6 tablespoons water, sit 5 minutes until gel-like. Denser texture but tastes good.

Nut-Free: Can’t make peanut butter cookies without peanuts but sunflower seed butter might work. Completely different flavor though.

Lower Sugar: Reduce by ¼ cup total but they won’t be as chewy. Don’t really recommend – try different recipe if you want lower sugar.

Tested most of these for friends with restrictions. Gluten-free version closest to original.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy?

Can but texture changes significantly. Cookie crumb not as smooth, peanut pieces sometimes make them crumbly. Creamy gives better results.

Why do mine spread too much and come out flat?

Butter too warm, dough not chilled enough, or oven temp off. Butter should be just barely soft, chill dough at least hour (longer better), use oven thermometer.

Mine turned out dry and crumbly?

Almost always too much flour. Spoon into cup and level, don’t scoop from bag. Also check peanut butter wasn’t natural kind – oil separation causes texture issues.

Other mix-ins besides chocolate chips?

Absolutely. Keep total around 2 cups so dough structure stays intact. Tried butterscotch chips, chopped peanut butter cups, caramel bits, crushed pretzels, mini marshmallows. All great.

Why no fork crosshatch pattern like other peanut butter cookies?

These are thick cookies that don’t need flattening. Crosshatch mainly for cookies that need pressing to bake evenly. These have enough structure to bake properly without flattening.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! I read every one and love hearing about your adventures. Try any variations? Disasters? Amazing successes? Tell me everything.