These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies bring together the best of both worlds: soft and chewy peanut butter cookies studded with chocolate chips. Creamy peanut butter and chocolate are a classic flavor combination everyone loves, especially in cookies. The salty and slightly savory flavor of the peanut butter complements the rich sweetness of the chocolate chips so perfectly.
Even better, these are the perfect cookies because they last for a while on the counter (if they’re not all gobbled up immediately!), freeze well, and are a household favorite. You’ll also love how large these cookies are, like the ones you find at your local bakery. When served fresh, they’ll melt right in your mouth and you’ll wish you’d made more! If you want another easy cookie recipe, then try my kitchen sink cookies, potato chip cookie recipe, and banana oatmeal cookie recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Baking soda — make sure the baking soda is fresh to help create a soft, fluffy cookie.
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.
Peanut butter — make sure you use smooth peanut butter and not chunky 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.
Butter — be sure to buy unsalted butter, not salted butter, or your cookies might be overly salty. Also, make sure the butter is at room temperature, which means it’s soft enough so that when you press into it, your finger leaves a dent. It’ll be difficult to beat it with the sugars if it’s cold.
Sugar — you need both brown 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 softening brown sugar.
Chocolate chips — I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you could also use milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt.
2. 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.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Stop and scrape down the bowl and continue mixing.
4. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add in the flour mixture, and beat just until just combined.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Drop 2 tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on line cookie sheets. Bake one cookie sheet at a time until the cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center. Remove from oven, and let cool on the baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- It’s fine if the middle of the cookies looks a little underdone when you pull them out of the oven. The cookies will firm up as they cool. If you let them cook all the way through in the oven, they’ll be less soft and chewy.
- Don’t rush creaming butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Creaming the butter and sugar helps incorporate air into the dough, which will help naturally leaven your cookies and create a tender crumb.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can! You can prepare the dough ahead of time and chill the dough for up to 24 hours. Make sure the dough is covered in the fridge. You can also scoop the dough into balls and flash-freeze them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper before transferring them to a freezer-safe bag. You can bake the dough balls from frozen with an extra minute or two added to the bake time.
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.
These chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are freezer-friendly! 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.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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 (260g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- ¾ cup packed light-brown sugar (200g)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (135g)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (265g)
Instructions
- Preheat 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 2 tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on the line cookie sheets. (If desired, you can flatten the dough balls by pressing the tops down with the tines of a fork)
- Bake one sheet at a time for 10 to 15 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 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
- 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.
- I highly recommend using a triggered cookie scoop to portion the cookie dough. A cookie scoop ensures that all the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies are the same size, so they bake evenly.
- Measure your flour correctly. Adding too much flour to the batter is the most common mistake, leading to dry or dense 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.
- It’s fine if the middle of the cookies looks a little underdone when you pull them out of the oven. The cookies will firm up as they cool. If you let them cook all the way through in the oven, they’ll be less soft and chewy.
- Don’t rush creaming butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Creaming the butter and sugar helps incorporate air into the dough, which will help naturally leaven your cookies and create a tender crumb.
