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!
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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!
djf says
There was something “off” with this cookie. It suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. I think it tries to be a chocolate chip cookie, “with a little peanut butter flavor.” I was looking for a peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips.
I should have guessed as much when I saw equal parts brown and white sugar. Next time, I will go with a great PB cookie recipe, and merely add chocolatr chips.
Iris says
Halved the sugar and it was still quite sweet, but enjoyable
Lisa Mikkelsen says
I found that the cookies were too dry for my taste – crumbled when handling and eating them. I prefer my cookies much more chewier.
Janice Todd says
Very good cookies. But waaay too many chocolate chips. There were so many they were falling out of the dough as I rolled the balls.
I will I use about 3/4 cup next time.
Leslee L Fritz says
Yummy! I added milk chocolate AND peanut butter chips.
Vicki says
I made these exactly as the recipe stated. Best peanut cookies I have ever made! My 91 year old father also said they are the best he has ever eaten!
Sunny says
These are the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. They are soft, chewy and delicious. I doubled the dough recipe and made one batch with chocolate chips and the other batch with dried cherries — they taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! I did add more salt than the recipe called for as well.
Alison says
Sunny, I love the idea of adding dried cherries! Glad you enjoyed these!
Taryn says
Great flavor! We enjoyed these.
Beth says
Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in Heaven!! These cookies look divine!
Carolyn Lariviere says
Made them for the first time this morning and I followed the recipe exactly but I wasn’t able to put the cookies in the ball shaped. It’s almost like a whipped material instead of a dough. Anyone else have this issue? Taking them off of the cookie sheet they just kept breaking.
PATTY says
These came out great! I only had about 1 cup of chips, as thats all I had left in freezer and I used natural pb. No issue with spreading here and not too sweet. Also, used unsalted butter and they didn’t lack in flavor! Would love to add some chopped peanuts as thats always a fun crunch factor with chewy cookies!
Nellie says
So glad to hear you had success with natural PB! Chopped peanuts sound like a great idea!
Sonia Jaffe Robbins says
I was not crazy about these. The dough was so sticky that I couldn’t press them flatter with a fork — dough just stuck to the fork. And cookies didn’t have much of a peanut butter flavor.
Nellie says
Sounds like maybe you need to add a little bit more flour – they definitely shouldn’t be that sticky!
Daisy says
The calories apply to only one cookie or for the 36?😳 i think I might’ve eaten a lil to much 🤭 loved them
Nicole says
The calories are meant for one cookie, but calories don’t count on days ending in y. We’re happy that you loved this recipe!
Christina says
Unfortunately these came out really dry and had little peanut butter taste. I double checked the recipe and amounts 4 times to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Sadly, not a recipe I will try again.
Nicole says
Aw so sorry to disappoint 🙁
Miriam S Candelaria says
I am going to make these, but all I have is the crunchy peanut butter. Should I wait until I get the smooth peanut butter?
Nellie says
Crunchy peanut butter works great if you like crunch! It’s just the more natural peanut butters that don’t work very well in this recipe because of the extra oil content.
Kim says
These turned out great. Loved the PB/chocolate combo. I had a little bit of difficulty shaping the cookies, but that may be due to using 2 cups of semi sweet chips instead of the 1 1/2 cups indicated. I also think using mini size chips might help in shaping the cookies. You also need to completely cool these cookies before judging them. The PB flavor seems to intensify when completely cool. I would definitely make again.
Jeanne says
I have never enjoyed Peanut Butter cookies. But my gosh, these are scrumptious! They turned out perfectly! Not too sweet and not too peanut-buttery. I made a batch to give to my friend for Christmas – she’s a huge fan of peanut butter and chocolate combo cookies. I kept a few for myself and my family and they asked for more so I am making another batch now for us. Thanks for the recipe!
Alison says
Love this! Thanks so much Jeanne!
Renee says
Can these be made as pan cookies?
Nellie says
Not sure what you mean? Like one big cookie in a skillet? Or making the cookies normal sized in a pan on the stove? I actually haven’t tried either, but let us know if you experiment!
fouada says
i tried this recipe today and turned out soooooooo good
i replaced 1/2 cup flour with 3/4 cup rolled Oats
everyone in my house loved it, it is just perfect
thanks for sharing the recipe
Jessica says
So glad to hear you loved it!!
Jo says
I don’t leave comments, usually I search for recipes to try I bake them and that’s it but, when I made these and tasted them WOW…. I just had to say this is absolutely the best peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever tasted. I’ve made a lot of these cookies and tried so many recipes and until now I’ve never been impressed!
These cookies are loaded with flavour and the only thing I tweaked was I added 1tsp cornstarch which made the texture amazing !!!
These were just the perfect peanut butter cookie 🍪
Thank you so so much for this recipe I will ditching all the rest! 😀❤️
Nellie says
So glad you enjoyed the cookies Jo! I did the same thing…tried countless peanut butter cookie recipes until I found this one and I’ve never looked back! It’s almost too good though…and easy enough that I make these way more often than I should!
Jo says
Nellie if you like lemon you need to try squirting a little lemon juice on the tops before you bake them…omg it really is amazing…you get the sweet with a tad sour so so nice.. just a. Idea 😉 all around just the BEST recipe even without the lemon juice on top …
Lauren says
The “best” in the title isn’t an exaggeration. I discovered this recipe a little over a week and a half ago and i’ve made it twice. my boyfriend requested these cookies for his birthday and valentine’s day. I agree though, they need to cool all the way before judging the taste. this is my favorite cookie recipe ive ever tried. they somehow get more moist and delicious each day as well.
Nicole says
We’re so glad you liked the cookies Lauren!
Rayna says
Alright but one question how many does it make.
Nicole says
This recipe makes about 36 cookies