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These easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, chewy, and full of flavor. They marry the best of both worlds: smooth, creamy peanut butter and rich, velvety chocolate. They’re fantastic any time of year, but make a tasty addition to any holiday party.
Table of Contents
- Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Can I Make the Dough Ahead of Time?
- What You’ll Need
- How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Tips for Success
- How to Store These Cookies
- Can These Peanut Butter Cookies be Frozen?
- Watch How to Make These Cookies
- Get the Recipe
- More Tasty Cookie Recipes to Try
Who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate? So, when I thought about making the perfect cookie, I naturally thought about marrying these two flavors. I mean, really… What’s better than a mash-up of a chewy peanut butter cookie with velvety chocolate chips?
Not much, my friends, not much. And let me be the first to tell you that this recipe nails the combination. These cookies are super soft and chewy and FULL of peanut butter flavor. There’s also no shortage of chocolate chips. I put them in the cookie dough and a few on top just because I can!
These easy peanut butter cookies are a great treat for kids after school, packed up for a picnic, wrapped up for bake sales, or included on your Christmas cookie tray. After the first bite, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them!
Can I Make the Dough Ahead of Time?
Definitely! I find that the cookies come out even thicker and chewier when I refrigerate the dough overnight. It helps them stay fresher for longer as well.
The tightly-wrapped cookie dough should be used within 3 days if it’s chilling in the fridge. If you freeze it instead, it will stay good for up to 1 month (wrap it in a second layer of plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn). Thaw out frozen cookie dough in the fridge before you let it soften at room temperature and form the cookies.
What You’ll Need
If you’re a fan of peanut butter and chocolate, these cookies will be right up your alley. Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make these soft and chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies at home. Scroll down to the recipe card for specific quantities.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Unsalted Butter: Set butter out on the counter for an hour or two until its at room temperature.
- Peanut Butter: I like using smooth peanut butter for these cookies. I don’t recommend and all natural peanut butter.
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar: For added flavor.
- Egg: To bind the cookie ingredients and add chewiness.
- Vanilla Extract
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Follow these steps for the best peanut butter cookies you’ve ever had!
- Combine the Dry Ingredients. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
- Cream the Butters and Sugars Together. Cream the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl on medium speed. Continue beating the mixture until it becomes light in color and fluffy. This should take about 2-3 minutes. You should be able to see the color change happen and know it’s ready.
- Add the Egg and Vanilla. Add the egg and vanilla extract to the bowl, and mix until it’s well combined.
- Add the Dry Ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough is just combined. Do not over-mix.
- Fold in the Chocolate. Gently fold the chocolate chips with a spatula until they’re mixed throughout the dough.
- Chill the Dough. Wrap the cookie dough in plastic and refrigerate it for at least one hour. The cookies turn out even better (thicker and chewier) if you refrigerate them overnight.
- Preheat the Oven. After refrigerating the dough, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Make Cookie Balls. Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and let it soften enough so that it’s easy to work with. Form balls that weigh 36 grams. You can weigh each dough ball to be exact or approximate each ball at roughly 2 tablespoons. Place the cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet and lightly press them down with your fingers halfway. They’ll spread a bit in the oven but not too much. Add a few chocolate chips on top if you’d like.
- Bake. Bake the peanut butter cookies for 7-10 minutes. They’re ready when the center is barely cooked, and the edges start to brown.
- Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Tips for Success
- Measure the Flour Correctly: Weighing your flour with a food scale is the best way to achieve precise measurements. I use this OXO food scale, but this one would also work well. If you don’t want a food scale, be sure to fill your measuring cup by the spoonful to avoid packing the flour in too tightly. Fluff up the flour before you pick up each spoonful and use a butter knife to level it off at the rim of the measuring cup.
- Do Not Over-Mix the Dough: If you over-mix the cookie dough, your peanut butter cookies may not develop that beautifully soft and chewy texture. Once everything is just combined, you’re good to go.
- Stick With the Size in the Recipe: Don’t make larger balls of cookie dough and expect to get the same results. Bigger dough balls will spread more in the oven and can leave you with thinner, crispier cookies.
- Extra Chocolate Chips: I like to add a few extra chocolate chips to the tops of my cookies before I bake them. It gives them an extra special look. Feel free to do the same!
These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5-7 days. They probably won’t last half that long!
Yes! Most cookies freeze really well, and these peanut butter cookies are no different. Take any leftover cookies and place them in an airtight container or freezer bag. You can store them in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 25-30 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, chewy, and full of flavor. They marry the best of both worlds: smooth, creamy peanut butter and rich, velvety chocolate. They’re fantastic any time of year, but make a tasty addition to any holiday party.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (195g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (140g) peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (104g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (112g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (169g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together in a large mixer bowl on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. You should be able to see the change in color happen and know it’s ready.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until the dough is just well combined. Do not over-mix.
- Gently fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough until mixed throughout.
- Wrap and refrigerate the cookie dough for at least one hour. The cookies turn out even better (thicker and chewier – and for longer) if you refrigerate the dough overnight.
- After refrigerating the dough, preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Let the cookie dough soften enough to work with it, then form balls of 2 tablespoons (36g) of cookie dough. Place the cookie dough balls onto the cookie sheet and lightly press down about halfway. They will spread a little in the oven, but not a ton. You can also add a few more chocolate chips on top if you like.
- Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes, or until cookies just start to look cooked in the center and the edges are just barely starting to brown.
- Let cool for 3-5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 5-7 days.
If I wanted to turn this recipe into a cookie cake, would these measurements work for a 9 inch cake pan? Would they work for a layer in your Ultimate Layered Cookie Cake recipe?
https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/ultimate-chocolate-chip-cookie-layer-cake/
Yes, they would. I actually just did it recently. Bake for about 18 minutes. And yes, it’d be a great layer in the layered cookie cake.
I just took these out of the oven, making and freezing them for Christmas! I had to try one and they are so good! So good for a recipe that was easy. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Awesome! So glad you’re happy with them!
Can I use white chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips?
Sure!
These look soooooo divine – I’m having such a difficult time finding perfect chocolate chip peanut butter cookie recipes and this finally looks like it could be it, but the yield size is far too big for baking for just myself (even too much for me to do the whole batch and freeze most of it as I don’t have much space) – do you think I could just quarter everything and it would work out ok? Or could you develop a small batch recipe to help out a total newbie? 🥺 Or is there a way I can adjust your other gorgeous recipe for 14 regular chocolate chip cookies to incorporate peanut butter into that and half it? Thank you x
The problem is that the ingredients won’t easily divide by more than half, particularly the egg. If you have a food scale, you could weigh things, like the egg, and then divide them by weight, which would be more accurate. But the more you adjust these, the more likely they won’t quite turn out the same. It would take some testing to probably get it right. My best suggestion would be freezing them – either baked or unbaked – but I understand if you don’t have freezer space. Maybe check out Dessert for Two? She specializes in small-batch recipes.
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