Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies — These are hands down the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made. Know that I don’t say that lightly! They’re melt-in-your mouth soft and chewy, and extremely moist!
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BEST EVER Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
I’m not one to throw around labels like ‘The Best’ or ‘Best Of’ if I really don’t think something is. When people talk and every other thing is amazing, life-changing, or the best, I tend to not take them seriously.
But I can proudly say, these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies get my vote as “The Best” peanut butter cookies I’ve ever made.
They’re the easiest cookies you’ll ever make, with only six ingredients, and one of them is vanilla, which hardly counts. The recipe is naturally gluten-free because there’s no flour, and it’s one egg away from being vegan.
Instead of granulated sugar, this peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe uses all brown sugar. Why? Because it helps baked goods stay moist and soft, and it adds greater depth of flavor than granulated sugar!
The cookie dough itself is as robustly peanut butter flavored as you can get. There’s no butter and no flour to take away any of the intensity of flavor. Just pure peanut butter intensity.
The edges have a bit of chewiness to them, the interior is so soft and tender, the peanut flavor is distinctly present, and chunks and rivers of dark chocolate ooze everywhere.
It’s hard to believe there’s no butter, no flour, and no granulated sugar in them. They’re my definition of the perfect cookie.
Ingredients in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s what I used in these chocolate chip peanut butter cookies:
- Creamy peanut butter
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Chocolate chips or chunks
A Note About the Amount of Vanilla Called For
I am a vanilla fiend and added it amply enough to matter — 1 tablespoon, to be exact. No more of this 1/2 teaspoon business!
However, if you’re one of those people who prefer less, go with less. I go with more.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Making soft and chewy peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips is so easy! Just make sure you plan ahead, because the cookie dough MUST be chilled before baking it.
Here’s an overview of the recipe steps:
- Add the peanut butter and light brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. (Spraying the measuring cup with cooking spray will help it plop out easier.)
- To the peanut butter and brown sugar, add an egg, vanilla extract, and baking soda. Mix all the ingredients until well-combined.
- Add the chocolate and beat momentarily to incorporate.
- As tempting as it is to bake the cookies right away because the dough is just so good, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours before being baked for thicker, puffier cookies.
- Using a medium-sized two-inch cookie scoop, form the dough mounds. This translates to almost 2 tablespoons of dough, or about 1.60-ounces by weight.
- Place the dough onto baking sheets about two inches apart, about 8 per tray. Prior to baking, flatten the mounds slightly. If your dough is very well-chilled, you can flatten them a bit more so they don’t stay mounded up in little puffballs while baking, just don’t over-flatten them.
- Bake at 350ºF oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
A Note About the Bake Time
I recommend baking the cookies at the lower end of the bake time range. The cookies in the photos were baked for 8 minutes exactly, with the trays rotated once at the 4-minute mark.
The chocolate chip peanut butter cookies will look underdone at 8 minutes, but firm up as they cool. Let them cool on the baking trays for 5 to 10 minutes before moving them.
If you like crispy and crunchy peanut butter cookies, this probably isn’t the recipe for you since these are all about soft, chewy, and melty. But if you prefer slightly more well-done cookies, bake them for 9-ish minutes, maybe 10.
I would not bake them longer than 10 minutes or they’ll set up too firm and crunchy as they cool, and you’ll miss out on the ooey, gooey, melt-in-your mouth qualities, which are make these the best chocolate chip peanut butter cookies!
Recipe FAQs
Of course! The honey roasted peanut butter makes for a slightly sweeter cookie than using regular peanut butter, and it’s a great contrast to the bittersweet dark chocolate. However, use what you have!
For my version, I used 1 cup Peanut Pan Creamy Honey Roasted Peanut Butter and I don’t advocate using natural or Homemade Peanut Butter.
As lovely as homemade peanut butter is for eating with a spoon, spreading on toast, or making pans of bars with, it lacks the structure that store-bought peanut butter has.
Because these cookies have no flour, which would lend structure, using peanut butter that’s oily, natural, and loose is going to result in cookies that are loose and may not bake up as thick.
You could try using natural peanut butter — and I’ve seen some people have success with it — but I get much better results with commercial. Good old-fashioned Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan are my recommendations.
I don’t care for nuts in cookies, generally speaking, and creamy peanut butter is the only way for me, but if you like little pebbles in your cookies, go with crunchy.
Use whichever you have on hand to make these accidentally gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!
I like the darkness and slight bitterness of chopped chocolate, contrasted with the honey in the peanut butter, and with molasses that’s naturally found in brown sugar. Most semi-sweet chocolate chips are in the 50 to 55% range, and I relish the extra bump in dark chocolate intensity.
However, chocolate chips are definitely the easier and quicker option since you don’t have to chop them up before throwing into the dough. In short: use what you have!
You probably can, but I’ve never tried it myself so I can’t say for sure. But I imagine substituting chopped nuts for part of the chocolate chunks would be fine.
Yes, pre-baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Storage Instructions
These flourless peanut butter chocolate cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months.
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, I prefer creamy honey roasted; plain or crunchy may be used; do not use natural or homemade peanut butter – see below *
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 ounces semi-sweet, dark, or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips may be substituted)
Instructions
- To the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-combined and the sugar is fully incorporated and is mixture is no longer gritty or granular. Stop to scrape down the bowl as necessary.
- Add the baking soda and beat to incorporate.
Add the chocolate and beat to just incorporate; don’t overmix or the nice chocolate chunks will break down. - Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form two-tablespoon mounds. If chocolate is falling out of dough since there is an abundance, roll ball between palms to encourage it to stay in the dough.
- Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.
- Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are set and tops are barely set, even if slightly underbaked in the center. Watch them very closely after 7 minutes and I recommend not baking longer than 10 minutes. Cookies firm up as they cool, and baking too long results in cookies that become too crisp and hard. The cookies in the photos were baked for 8 minutes, with trays rotated at the 4-minute mark, and have chewy edges with pillowy soft centers.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- *Although natural peanut butter or homemade peanut butter may work, I recommend using storebought peanut butter like Jif, Skippy, Peter Pan or similar so that cookies bake up thicker and spread less. Using natural or homemade peanut butter tends to result in thinner and flatter cookies that are prone to spreading.
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Peanut Butter Cookie Recipes:
Did you know that I wrote a Peanut Butter Cookbook? It contains 100+ recipes that feature peanut butter as the key ingredient!
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Big Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies — These soft peanut butter cookies are the peanut butter version of a molasses crinkle. They’re soft, supremely chewy, and have an old-fashioned peanut butter cookie flavor!
Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie Bars — Just like the classic cookies except made as cookie bars rather than individual cookies. Bars are faster, easier, there’s no dough to chill, they’re made in one bowl, and you don’t need a mixer!
Monster Cookies — My recipe for classic monster cookies that are chock full of creamy peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&M’s makes both kids and adults reach for just one more cookie! Fast, EASY, soft, perfectly chewy, and they’ll become a family FAVORITE in no time!
Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies — Soft, chewy and they’ll be your new fave PB cookies!! One bowl, no mixer, no butter, naturally gluten-free! Love it when something so easy tastes so amazing!!
Soft Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies — These chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies are SOFT AND CHEWY on the inside thanks to the addition of pudding mix in the cookie dough! Dipping them in dark chocolate makes for the PERFECT flavor combo!!
These look so good! Could they be made into brownies as well?
You mean bake them in a pan rather than as cookies? Yes would probably work just fine.
Do you think that cold natural nut butter might work in the PB blender mini muffins or these cookies? I see that you say in many recipes that store bought is better so that’s why I ask. I don’t think that I would use my homemade peanut cashew nut butter because it is, even refrigerated, thinner than store bought. I do have a store bought chunky natural almond butter in the fridge that has a much more traditional kind of set to it, if that makes sense. Anyway, if you have a moment (or if anyone else has a suggestion), I would appreciate it. Thanks!
Natural nut butter is, well, natural. It does not have any stabilizers in it and so for baking, the results may not be ideal but you don’t know until you try.
These sound like they’re amazing! I was wondering around how many calories would it be for one cookie?
There is an orange nutrition information button at the bottom of the recipe. Note that if you make your cookies smaller and yield more for the batch, the calorie content goes down.
Okay, thankyou!! :D
Should I try these with a hand mixer?
sure
Oh averie. I made these yesterday. And well, twice actually, and I’m not sure what went wrong. When I went to mix the sugar and peanut butter , egg a d vanilla together, it NEVER came together. I even left it to mix for minutes. I used it anyway and formed into balls, it was so greasy. It didn’t cook like a cookie. I let them cool completely on the sheet and they did stay together. They tasted good, but more like a peanut butter ball then a cookie. Second batch? Same thing!! Ahhhhh!!! Any suggestions why?
Sorry that you did not have success. It’s hard to troubleshoot when I wasn’t there. I really honestly don’t know since I have never had that happen and no one else has ever mentioned it to me. Thanks for trying the recipe.
Made those and they were the most amazing treat ever. My husband couldn’t believe they were gluten free and said they tasted like the real deal.
I shared the recipe with my sisters and my friends.
Thank you!
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it was a bit hit with everyone!
My husband and I are on a low carb diet. I revised the recipe a little bit to make it low carb. I used the same amounts of everything but I used Splenda Brown Sugar blend, Skippy natural no-stir peanut butter, and sugar free dark chocolate chips. These are AMAZING. By far the best low carb cookie I have ever had/made. We can’t get over how good they are. Thanks for the great recipe!
Glad to hear that the Splend brown sugar and natural Skippy worked well and that these are the best low carb cookie ever for you!
Do you have a reciepe for peanut butter blossom cookies ? Looking for a lower calorie cookie with just a little Hershey kiss on top.
These are amazing! We’ve been trying out different cookie recipes and my daughter said these are the best cookies she’s ever tasted. Thank you!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad they came out great for you! And the best that your daughter has ever tasted!
Hi! Averie!
I am impressed with how the muffin’s turned out! Amazing fluffy and browned ! I made regular sized and them for 10 min.! I thought they would be raw but I checked one before removing them from the oven and they were softly cooked!!
Sugar isn’t needed! Thank God my grandkids will have a healthy snack! Now onto more of your recipes! Your a chef for us out there who can gladly make a recipe with results!!
Mickey!!
Glad they turned out great! I assume you’re referring to these muffins? https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/10/flourless-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-mini-blender-muffins.html Because your comment is actually on the post for PB Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
Hello! This page has been edited so now I can’t see the recipe! Can you list out the ingredients again or point to where they are? Thank you! These are my fiance’s favorite cookies!!!
Fixed!
very very dangerous cookies!! THEY’RE ADDICTING! It’s hard to believe that these are flourless considering how moist and put together they come out!! Absolutely incredible. Will definitely be making these again in the future! Thanks!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you love these little danger babies :)
Can you freeze the dough and save some to cook later?
yes
Well, I tried! I made these cookies twice. The first time I used a hand mixer (now I know why every one has a KitchenAid). The second time I used my brand new KitchenAid – ;) – with the paddle mixer. The batter was so greasy and granular. Not fluffy or creamed at all. I’m not a baker but I can read directions. Can some one please tell me what I’m doing wrong?? Thanks!
The batter is on the greasy side with this cookie because there is no flour in it. The granular part will calm down when baked as the sugar crystals will dissolve.
Oh my! These look delicious! I can’t wait to try them. I was wondering if you think it would work to add chopped peanut butter cups (Reeses), as opposed to the chocolate? Thanks for any suggestions!