Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft, thick, chewy, and made completely from scratch with simple ingredients. Adding chocolate chips to peanut butter cookies elevates them to a new level!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies have become a staple around my house since I discovered this recipe. I know, I know. Everyone says that their cookie recipe is the best and that doesn’t always mean much, but I promise that this is the BEST peanut butter cookie recipe you have ever tried.
Check out these 5-star reviews from other readers! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Why are these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies the best?
- Perfect texture. I tried dozens of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and many of them are crumbly and dry. Not this one! These cookies are soft, thick, and chewy – just like you want a peanut butter cookie to be!
- Simple recipe. All of the ingredients are likely to be in your pantry. The dough doesn’t require any chilling or extra steps – just mix everything together and bake the cookies!
- Milk. I think it’s the 3 tablespoons of milk in the recipe that sets these cookies above other similar recipes. You only need a little bit, but I think it helps to make the cookies so soft and chewy.
Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut butter: For best results, use regular peanut butter. Every time I have made these cookies I have used regular creamy peanut butter (like Jif or a store-brand alternative). Several readers have commented that the cookies do not turn out as well when using natural-style peanut butter.
Butter: I use salted butter, but you can use unsalted if you prefer. No margarine! Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature, but not melted before adding to the recipe.
Sugars: Can’t leave the sugar out – kind of an important ingredient in cookies! Make sure your brown sugar isn’t dried out or stale.
Egg: We only need 1 large egg, but it helps to bind the dough together so that the cookies cook properly and don’t crumble.
Milk: Just a little bit of milk, but it is needed to add a bit of moisture to the cookie dough. Any type of milk will work just fine!
Vanilla: I suggest using a good-quality vanilla extract or a Vanilla Bean Paste.
Flour: I usually use all-purpose flour, but you can use bread flour, or even pastry flour in this recipe.
Baking powder: Leavening agent in the cookies. Make sure your baking powder isn’t old or expired for best results.
Salt: Just a little bit, but don’t leave it out!
Chocolate chips: I usually use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate chips are fantastic as well. Or dark chocolate. Or throw in some peanut butter chips. A combination of chocolate works too! I like to swap out the regular sized chips for mini chips sometimes too! Or you can leave them out completely – peanut butter cookies are great on their own too!
Tips for making Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Full instructions on how to make these cookies are found below in the recipe card, but I want to make sure everyone has these tips.
- Lightly flatten the cookies before baking. Make sure to slightly press peanut butter cookies on the top with a fork before baking. This helps the cookies to bake more evenly since the peanut butter prevents the cookies from spreading very much. If you don’t like the look of the fork marks, you can slightly flatten the tops with a wooden spoon or the bottom of a glass.
- Use a cookie scoop. Using a cookie scoop is the quickest way to scoop cookie dough, and it helps to ensure that all of your cookies are the same size and shape.
- Make sure to use regular peanut butter (Jif, Skippy, etc.). Some readers have found that the cookies don’t turn out as well when using natural peanut butter. If you prefer to use natural peanut butter, make sure that the oil is well blended before adding the peanut butter to the other ingredients (this is more successful if you use an electric mixer to blend the peanut butter until the oil is fully incorporated).
Can you freeze peanut butter cookies?
Peanut butter cookies are easily frozen, either before or after baking them. I prefer to form the cookie dough balls and freeze them so that I can pull them and bake them whenever I need them. This way the cookies will be warm and fresh every time!
FREEZING COOKIE DOUGH
To freeze the cookie dough, place the balls on wax paper on a cookie sheet and freeze for about 30-45 minutes. Then you can place all of the frozen cookie dough balls in an airtight container or Ziplock freezer bag. When you are ready to bake them, just pull them out and place them on a cookie sheet, let them thaw for about 10-15 minutes, and then bake as usual.
FREEZING BAKED COOKIES
You can also freeze the cookies once they have been baked. Just make sure they have cooled all the way to room temperature and then place them in an airtight container in the freezer. I like to wrap them in plastic wrap and then place them in a freezer bag or airtight container to make sure to prevent freezer burn. If stored properly, peanut butter cookies will stay good in the freezer for 2-3 months.
PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 cup peanut butter
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- With a hand mixer, cream together the peanut butter, butter, white sugar and brown sugar until blended.
- Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
- Add flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix together. Stir in chocolate chips at this point if desired.
- Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough and roll into balls.
- Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment paper since my cookies tend to burn on my darker pans). Press each ball once with a fork.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375. Don’t overcook! These cookies are much better soft and just barely cooked all the way through! Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
📫 Save this recipe! Send it to your email! 📩
I consent to receiving emails from this site.
How do you keep peanut butter cookies soft and fresh?
If you don’t eat all the peanut butter cookies within the first day or two, you can keep them soft and fresh by placing half a slice of white bread with the cookies in an airtight container or Ziplock bag. Make sure the bag or container is sealed well. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread and stay softer for a longer amount of time this way!
Why do peanut butter cookies always have fork marks on the top?
Peanut butter makes cookies more dense, so they need to be slightly flattened before baking so that they can cook more evenly. There is nothing worse than a cookie with burnt edges and a doughy middle! My kids like to help make the criss-cross pattern on the tops of the cookies, but if you don’t like the pattern, you can just use the back of a wooden spoon to slightly flatten the tops before placing the peanut butter cookies in the oven.
More delicious peanut butter cookie recipes to try:
More delicious peanut butter cookie recipes to try: - Adding candy to cookies is always a great idea! Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cookies, Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, and Snickers Peanut Butter Cookies are some of our favorites.
- Running short on time? These No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies only take a few minutes to put together, no oven is required.
- I love oatmeal in my peanut butter cookies. Five Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies have five different kinds of chips in them! Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies combine my three favorite cookies into one delicious cookie.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are soft and chewy, and they turn out perfect every time! Add chocolate chips to this classic peanut butter cookie recipe to take these cookies to the next level!
Shelby says
These are seriously the BEST peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. They were perfect. I cooked them on the short side (my oven bakes hot) and they were perfectly chewy and soft. My husband even said they were the best cookies ever and they don’t even need to be warmed up. Delicious. This will be our go-to cookie recipe.
Jessica says
so glad you enjoy them! 🙂
jean says
these turned out a bit crumbly I usually double butter and less baking powder for chewy chocolate chip cookies, will try that next time the flavor is good just needed to be softer, will update how they turn out when I do. thanks for posting recipe 🙂
Kim says
Can I use half and half instead of milk?
Jessica says
I’ve never tried it but I imagine it’d be just fine!
Cori says
These cookies turned out Awesome! My family loved them ????
Jessica says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Carla B says
Well….. unfortunately these were quite possibly the worst cookie I have ever made. And I followed the recipe to a T. They fell apart, were crumbly, and did not bake well. Even my toddler shook his head at them. The only thing I can think of is that some of us are attempting this using all natural organic peanut butter. I noticed a few other people had the same result. If so that should be noticed in recipe because it was a major bummer to have to throw out the batter after wasting a precious cup of my not-cheap pb. May attempt again using the cheap stuff bc they look and sound delicious.
Nellie says
I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you! I am guessing that you are right about the problem being the use of natural peanut butter since I have never tried that in this recipe. I usually use Jif or something similar and they have turned out well every time. I will have to make a note of that in the recipe – thanks for your comments!
kelcie says
i just made these cookies and they are ah-mazing! like seriously…may be my new favorite cookies. the hubby loved them too so that’s a plus! just the dough is my favorite part ????oops! thank you for sharing this recipe!
Nellie says
So glad you liked them as much as I do! The dough is my favorite part too!
Diana says
Just made a batch of these awesome cookies. They turned out PERFECT. I added orange zest to the recipe and they are so good. Thanks for sharing!
Nellie says
I’m so glad that you liked them! I would have never thought to add orange zest – I’ll have to try that next time!
Kristi grant says
the recipe turned out incredible! I even used margarine and not butter 🙂 looking forward to making it again! I’m a bigger fan of milk chocolate than semi sweet but still loved them thank you!
Lauren says
Just made these, definitely not enough peanut butter so I added more!
Lauren says
After reading other comments, it may be because I used natural PB
Michelle says
Why are the two recipes different? One shows milk, the other doesn’t…
Nellie says
The recipe does have 3 Tbsp of milk and it looks like that is showing up in the post and on the printable recipe. Can you tell me where you are seeing the recipe without the milk?
Natalie says
No complaints. I like a soft, chewy cookie and these were terrific. Thank you! <3
Jessica says
I haven’t read through all the comments so someone has likely already mentioned this, but the “add choc chips” step is missing from the instructions 🙂
Nellie says
Thanks for catching this! I’ll correct that right now!
Belinda Smith says
got to make this with my granddaughter shes 4 years old and loves peanut butter how many
dozen does it make.
Rawan says
That’s the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe I’ve ever made. The kids love it. They are soft and chewy. And very easy to make.
Jessica says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Cindy Canestrari says
I wouldn’t say these are the “best” pb choc chip cookies I’ve ever made but they are super easy to make and they are tasty! I would have loved even more peanut butter flavor but you definitely can taste the peanut butter! Thanks for sharing the recipe! 🙂
Jessica says
You’re welcome Cindy! Glad you liked them!
chris says
I like oatmeal, can I add oatmeal to this recipe? If yes, should I add 1.5 cups , 1.25 cups or 1 cup old fashion rolled oats? thank you.
Ashley says
I followed the recipe exactly and underbaked them and they came out dry, crumbly, and just not a pleasant tasting cookie. I wish I just stuck with my tractional peanut butter cookie recipe and tossed in chocolate chips. ????
Jessica says
I’m sorry they didn’t turn out for you Ashley! I’m guessing something went wrong- they aren’t normally dry or crumbly. Dang it!
Ryan Tracy says
These are my absolute favorite cookie of ALL time! I’ve always been a huge peanut butter/chocolate fan and the consistency of these cookies is incredible. I think these get made at least once a month at my house!
Kassie Miller says
This really is one of my all time favorite cookie recipes! Turns out amazing every time and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t love them!
Chrisy says
Cookie perfection! One of my all-time favorites – can’t wait to try your recipe 😀