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!
Lynn says
Do you pack the brown sugar?
Nicole says
No this brown sugar doesnt need to be packed.
Erica says
No. You ALWAYS pack brown sugar. This is standard in baking.
Caitlin says
These cookies are simple and turned out great. I used 2/3 cup white and brown sugar instead because I like my cookies less sweet. I agree with the comments about letting them cool before judging, they almost taste even better the next day!
Nicole says
That sounds great! 🙂
LuAnn says
Note to self: ALWAYS read the reviews! I saw the photos of the cookies, and they looked so good! I jumped right to the recipe…used a natural type peanut butter, and melted the butter…(which she clearly says not to do)-and all organic ingredients and farm fresh eggs—what a waste of ingredients. At first the dough was so crumbly-but yet, it was so oily. Really weird. I bake a lot and should have known that a recipe with 1 1/2 cups of fat will need more than 1 1/2 cups of flour. I added twice the amount of milk, double the flour, one more egg and it still was so greasy. I went ahead and baked them all-so far I have 48 cookies and I made them bigger than one tablespoon of dough. I just ate one and had to wash my hands and face afterward—they are so oily—and dry at the same time/the chips are falling out all over. So this might be my fault for not reading the lead in information-but, folks- I wouldn’t mess around with this recipe.
Nicole says
Sorry to hear that you didnt have great results with this recipe, but you did admit to changing a few things and doing things that we said not to do, so if you try the recipe again make sure to read all of the helpful tips and suggestions that we place in the post around the recipe card as they can help you to get better results. Also, natural peanut butters are almost never recommended for peanut butter cookies or baked goods simply because they have a different sugar/fat ratio and will give flawed results. These peanut butter cookies do best with the regular peanut butters like Jiff, Skippy, or Great Value brand. Save the expensive and fancy peanut butters for something else and get the cheaper stuff for cookies and baked goods.
The happy one says
Not fair to rate a recipe that isn’t the actual recipe because you changed it. If you use natural peanut butter surely you have noticed that it has a lot more oil. The melted butter also affects the recipe the same way as this recipe didn’t call for that. Don’t post a rating if you aren’t actually rating the recipe as given.
Suzanne says
I’m not sure what I did wrong but I followed the recipe to a T. When I moved the cookies to a cookie sheet they literally crumbled and made a huge mess. I used all fresh ingredients and there was a strange aftertaste.
Nicole says
I’m sorry to hear that 🙁 Im not sure what went wrong but that doesn’t sound right at all :/
Caroline rose says
These cookies were the best,,My friends all love them
Nicole says
I misread this and thought you said the cookies were your best friends haha, but I’m glad you all enjoyed them!
Jorika Mhende says
Made it. It is delicious. And nice and easy.
Jessica says
Thank you! Glad you liked them!
Mary Beth Einerson says
Yummy! I made them a tad bigger (goal to eat just one)! Just took a couple of extra minutes and they were still nice and moist. I used chunky because that’s what I keep in the pantry. Will definitely be making again.
Jessica says
Glad you liked them Mary Beth!
Maggie says
didn’t have brown sugar so I used all white sugar… they still turned out amazing. thank u!
Jessica says
Good to know, thanks Maggie!!
Ellen Fourroux says
Hi! I have a question—-not about these cookies but about keeping brown sugar from drying out to the point of being a block of cement! I’ve tried everything but no luck. Putting a piece of fresh bread in the box did work some , but not for very long, maybe two weeks. I tried the clay disk (Terrcotta, bisque fired) and that didn’t do a thing so then i bought one and no luck with that either. I don’t bake very often so I know brown sugar will turn hard if it’s not used but it seems like such a waste…………really, at times it turns hard after a week. Anyone have any suggestions they can toss my way? Thanks so much!
Jeannine says
Won’t be making these again unfortunately. Dry, not much flavor either, meaning, needs more sugar or salt.
Nellie says
Sounds like something went wrong! What type of peanut butter did you use?
Susan Bawarski says
What size cookie scoop or weight are the cookies before you bake them. Drop by tablespoons is that a regular scoop?
Jessica says
We use a medium cookie scoop which is 1.5 TBSP.
Martha White says
Why use a HAND mixer for these cookies? Peanut butter is rather hard to mix, and it seems that hand mixers get exhausted somewhat quickly–at least mine does. Why do you not approve of stand mixers for this recipe?
Thank you.
Nellie says
I just have gotten in the habit of using a hand mixer because it’s easier to clean, but a stand mixer always works great too!
Linette Tran says
Wow, this recipe produced the most amazing cookie dough I have ever made!! And they were so delicious and the perfect cookie all around. Literally this recipe is the best hands down 10/10
Steph says
I love this recipe and use it all the time. The only thing I do differently is add a sprinkle of nutmeg to the flour, and roll them in coarse sugar before baking. Sometimes I add 1/8 tsp of cocoa powder to the vanilla as well for extra chocolatey flavor
Nellie says
Thanks for sharing your suggestions – they sound delicious!
Trish says
I have made these using regular flour and they are delicious! Can you also make them using gluten free flour? Bobs red mill all purpose?
Jessica says
I imagine that’d work just fine Trish!
Victoria Jager says
It called for baking powder, but is it supposed to be baking soda? I used the powder but I can taste it in the cookie and it gives it a different taste…
Nellie says
I’ve always used baking powder and I can’t taste it, but you could definitely try swapping it out with baking soda if you prefer. Let us know if you experiment!
Pos says
I cut the recipe in half and it ended up tasting pretty good. It made about 19 cookies but had to use about 2 tablespoons and a half instead of 1 and a half of milk, plus a full egg instead of half an egg. I also used a little less than half a cup of cane sugar instead of a quarter of brown and a quarter of white (we didn’t have brown sugar), and used milk chocolate chips. I recommend adding salt on top of the finished cookies 🙂
Nellie says
Adding salt on top sounds like a great idea! I’m glad the recipe worked well for you, even with all the tweaks!