These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies bring together the best of both worlds: soft and chewy peanut butter cookies studded with chocolate chips. I retested this recipe to add more peanut butter flavor and a chewier texture to the cookies. This perfected recipe makes large, bakery-size cookies with the ideal balance of textures. They have a wonderfully tender center with beautiful golden brown edges, for that perfect chewy but crispy bite.
Even better, these are the perfect cookies because they last for a while on the counter (if they’re not all eaten immediately!), freeze well, and are a household favorite in my family. Plus, I give you tips for freezing the cookie dough and some easy ways to customize the mix-ins.
A reader, Felicia, says: “This will be my 5th time using this recipe. Highly recommend it to my friends and family. Easy to understand and follow directions. Everyone I’ve baked for eats them up! They are a hit!! Soft, chewy and sweet.” ★★★★★
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients & The Best Peanut Butter To Use
These are the main ingredients you need to make chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. You can find the full list of ingredients and measurements in the recipe card below.
Peanut butter — I developed this recipe with smooth, no-stir peanut butter for the best cookie texture. Just like with my classic peanut butter cookie recipe, a convention brand like Jif is my favorite, but others like Skippy or Peter Pan also work. You can also use chunky peanut butter, depending on what you like! If you want little bits of crunchy peanuts in your cookies, go for it. Just be sure the peanut butter is a no-stir kind (it will say so on the label).
Flour — all-purpose flour is ideal for these cookies as it has the perfect amount of protein. Using flour such as bread flour can result in cookies that are too tough and dense, while cake flour may yield cookies that are too delicate and crumbly.
Baking soda — make sure the baking soda is fresh to help create a soft, fluffy cookie.
Butter — be sure to buy unsalted butter, not salted butter, or your cookies might be overly salty. Also, make sure the butter is softened, which means it’s soft enough so that when you press into it, your finger leaves a dent, but it isn’t so soft that it’s easily spreadable. It’ll be difficult to beat it with the sugars if it’s too cold.
Sugar — you need both light or dark brown sugar and white sugar to make these cookies. Using brown sugar will give you a soft and chewy cookie, and the granulated sugar will add structure to the cookie. Make sure the brown sugar is soft and not lumpy. If it’s not soft, check out my post on how to soften brown sugar.
Chocolate chips — I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you could also use milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips.
Can I use natural peanut butter?
I don’t recommend using all-natural peanut butter as it can be runny and oily, changing the texture of the cookie dough. Natural peanut butter separates in the jar as it has a much thinner texture than a creamy no-stir peanut butter. The difference in texture will cause the cookies to be crumbly and fall apart before baking, and feel dry and too crumbly once baked.
How To Customize The Cookies
If you want to switch up the classic peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie combo, you can add all kinds of other chunky mix-ins. Here are some of my favorites:
- Chopped nuts: roasted and salted peanuts, pecans, or cashews go great!
- Candy pieces: swap the chocolate chips for regular or mini M&Ms (plain, dark chocolate, or peanut butter are great).
- Sprinkles: Add festive sprinkles for a holiday. ¼ cup will be enough to add some speckles throughout the dough.
- Dried fruit: dried tart cherries, cranberries, or strawberries would add a PB&J flavor profile to the cookies.
Pro Tips For The Best Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Room temperature butter and eggs will mix more evenly into the cookie dough. If your eggs are cold, place them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Doing so will quickly bring them to room temperature if you have forgotten to take them out of your fridge beforehand. To soften butter in less time, check out my tutorial on how to soften butter quickly.
Measure your flour correctly. Adding too much flour to the batter is the most common mistake, leading to dry or dense cookies instead of chewy cookies. The easiest way to measure is by using a digital kitchen scale. If you don’t have one, fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. Avoid packing the flour into a measuring cup.
Don’t rush creaming butter and sugar together. Beating the butter and sugar helps incorporate air into the dough, which will help naturally leaven your cookies and create a tender crumb. You want it to be light and fluffy.
I highly recommend using a triggered cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough balls. A cookie scoop ensures that all the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies are the same size, so they bake evenly.
How To Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Below, I’ve highlighted portions of the recipe in step-by-step process images along with instructions for making PB chocolate chip cookies. You can find the full set of instructions in the recipe card below.
1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the peanut butter, unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. (You can also use a hand mixer for this if you’d like!)
3. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating each one until it is well mixed in before you add the next one. You can stop and scrape down the bowl whenever needed. Beat in the vanilla extract.
4. While the mixer is running on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, and beat just until combined. (No big streaks of flour should remain.)
5. Stop, scrape down the bowl, then add the chocolate chips. Stir until all of the flour is mixed in and the chocolate chips are evenly dispersed throughout the dough.
6. Scoop the dough into 3 tablespoon-size balls about 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Bake one cookie sheet at a time at 350°F until the cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center (12-14 minutes). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes to set before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment paper
- Mixing Bowls
- Electric hand or stand mixer
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (270g)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups creamy peanut butter (like Jif) (396g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened, (226g)
- ¾ cup packed light-brown sugar (165g)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (135g)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (270g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the peanut butter, unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Stop and scrape down the bowl. Beat again until well mixed, about 1 minute.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually add in the flour mixture, and beat just until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop 3 tablespoon-size balls of dough spacing them about 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. (My dough balls were about 50g each.)
- Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes or until the cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center. (The longer bake time will give you a crisper cookie.) Remove from the oven, and let cool on the baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the cookies firm up a bit. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days or frozen for several months.
Notes
- Don’t overbake the cookies. The middle of the cookies will look a little underdone when you pull them out of the oven. This is what ensures they have chewy centers! The cookies will firm up as they cool. If you let them cook all the way through in the oven, they’ll be crispier and dry through the center.
- You can chill the dough balls for up to 24 hours: Shape the dough balls, and press them with a fork if desired. Arrange them in a single layer on a lined tray and tightly cover. Chill for up to 24 hours before baking. For the best spread, bring them to room temperature before baking.
Nutrition
Storage
These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days in a cool and dry place. Make sure they’re fully cooled before storing, as it helps to prevent condensation and keeps the cookies from becoming soggy. You can place a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper between the layers of cookies to prevent them from sticking together.
Can I freeze these cookies?
These chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are freezer-friendly! You can freeze the baked cookies or the cookie dough balls.
Freezing baked cookies: Once the cookies are cooled, place them in a single layer in a freezer-safe airtight container or bag. If you need to stack the cookies, separate the layers with parchment paper or wax paper to prevent them from sticking together when in the freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
How to freeze cookie dough: Shape the dough balls and arrange them on a lined tray in a single layer. Freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer container for storage. The cookies are best if baked within 3 months. Thaw to room temperature before baking for the best spread. To bake from frozen, add 2 to 3 minutes to the baking time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Like I mentioned earlier, use a conventional no-stir creamy peanut butter. This is the same recommendation I give for my peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter oatmeal cookies. Peanut butter that naturally separates will make the cookies very crumbly.
Using natural peanut butter will turn the dough too oily and make the cookies dry and crumbly when baked. You may also have too much flour, which makes the cookie dough dry. Also, be sure you don’t overbake them, or they can dry out. The centers should still be slightly soft when you pull them from the oven.
Using natural peanut butter will make the dough oily because it contains more liquid oil than a no-stir peanut butter. Mismeasuring ingredients can also throw off the balance. Try mixing in another 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour or chilling the dough for 30 minutes to see if that helps.
More Cookie Recipes To Try
These are 5 more of my fan-favorite cookie recipes that you should make next!
If you love a sweet and salty combo, you have to make my kitchen sink cookies. They are full of toffee bits, chocolate chips, pretzels, and potato chips!
A hearty favorite, my banana oatmeal cookies are soft, chewy, and full of flavor from ripe bananas. They are packed with chocolate chips, too, but you can add nuts or dried fruit.
The classic chocolate chip cookie gets an upgrade with my potato chip cookies. I like using salted, ridged or crinkled chips for these because they stick to the cookie dough well.
If you love matcha, you need to try my pistachio matcha cookies. They are full of flavor—the dough is slice-and-bake and easy to make.
My brown butter chocolate chip cookies are so easy to make without an electric mixer! The dough stirs together, chills for a short bit, and then is ready to scoop and bake.
If you’ve tried this peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
Christina Bestvater says
Do you use table iodized salt or could i use coarse sea salt or coarse kosher salt? I wish in your recipes you would specify what type of salts you use please
Sarah Ward (Executive Editor, Preppy Kitchen) says
We use Morton’s fine sea salt, generally. You can use kosher salt, but if it is Diamond Crystals brad, double the salt amount because that specific brand is lighter and less strong by volume to fine sea salt.