Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These soft peanut butter chocolate chip cookies taste like a Reese’s cup, in cookie form! So soft & tender, with tons of peanut butter and chocolate flavor.
Today I am bringing you the best cookie recipe I have made in a long time! These soft peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are my new favorite. In fact, I think they are a little too dangerous for me to keep around. I keep finding myself going back to the kitchen for another one, over and over again throughout the day!
Baking cookies is one of my favorite things to do, because you get a warm, comforting treat with a minimal investment of time. Some of my most popular cookie recipes include these Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies, these Brookie Cookies, and these Cherry Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies.
And now I’m adding these unbelievably soft and peanut-butter-y chocolate chip cookies to the list. They are just bursting with peanut butter flavor, and are loaded with melty chocolate. Such a comforting treat for after school or for a decadent dessert.
Get your glass of milk ready!
HOW TO MAKE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
To make this incredibly indulgent treat, start by creaming the peanut butter, butter, and sugars together in a big mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Cream it for a full 5 minutes on medium-high speed, so that it becomes really pale and fluffy.
Next, add your egg and egg yolk.
When the eggs are fully incorporated, add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
I love to add cornstarch to all my cookie recipes because it helps keep them soft and tender. Please be sure to use cornstarch, which is white, powdery, and flavorless, as opposed to cornmeal, which is yellow, grainy, and tastes like, well, corn.
For the salt, I personally like a little more salt in my peanut butter cookies. I feel like it brings out the peanut butter flavor more. But if you are not a fan, feel free to cut back a little on the amount listed below.
Once your dough has just barely come together, fold in the chips and start scooping!
WHAT KIND OF PEANUT BUTTER TO USE IN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
For the cookies you see here, I used regular old Jif peanut butter. It’s not unsweetened peanut butter or natural peanut butter.
You can use crunchy or creamy peanut butter, but I prefer creamy. If you use an all-natural peanut butter here, you might not get quite the same result because sometimes those types of products can be a little more oily.
WHAT KIND OF CHIPS TO USE IN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
I am partial to milk chocolate chips in this recipe, because I think the milder flavor really allows the peanut butter to shine. These cookies taste a lot like Reese’s peanut butter cups, but in cookie form!
If you don’t have or don’t want to use milk chocolate chips, you can use semi-sweet or bittersweet or whatever kind of chips you have on hand!
HOW TO BAKE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
One of the biggest factors in baking soft cookies is the bake time. It’s so critical!
Please, please don’t over bake your cookies. They should actually come out of the oven when they look just a little bit under-done. This is because of carry-over cooking (the idea that things will continue to cook even after they’ve been removed from the heat). The residual heat of the baking sheet and of the cookies themselves will continue to cook them, even after they’re taken out of the oven.
Check your cookies after 8 minutes. If they look like they’re just barely beginning to turn golden on the bottoms, take them out. They will probably look puffy and may even be glistening with moisture a little bit towards the center. That’s ok! They will firm up as they cool and they will also sink down a little.
For lots more great info on how to bake soft cookies that truly stay that way, sign up for my free email series “5 Secrets to Baking Impossibly Soft Cookies.” <--There's tons of really great info here!
HOW TO KEEP PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES SOFT
You don’t need to do anything special to these cookies to make them stay soft. They come out of the oven really soft, gooey, and tender, and they will STAY soft for days after they’ve cooled. Something about the ratio of ingredients in this recipe really works. You won’t believe it!
HOW TO STORE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
These cookies will keep at room temperature, in a zip-top bag or airtight container, for around 5 to 7 days. Or, they can be frozen. They will stay good in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
If you want to make the dough ahead, just cut back on the flour a bit, as it will become drier as it sits. If you find that your dough has become too dry and crumbly after sitting, you can moisten it back up by working in a few tablespoons of cream.
Sometimes I really like to make cookie dough and freeze it. To do this, scoop the dough into 1.5-tablespoon balls and place on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once they’re frozen solid, transfer them to a zip-top bag and keep them in the freezer for 2 to 3 months. Whenever the craving for a freshly baked cookie hits, just place the frozen dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake.
You won’t believe how tasty these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are! They’re soft, and so tender they practically melt in your mouth, with tons of rich chocolate in every bite. So, so good!
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Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (258 g) creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup (170.25 g) unsalted butter, (1 1/2 sticks), softened
- 3/4 cup (165 g) light brown sugar,, loosely packed
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 (1) egg, , large
- 1 egg yolk, , large
- 1 1/2 cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (32 g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon ) kosher salt, (scant)
- 11.5 ounces (326.02 g) milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed for 5 full minutes (the mixture should look very pale and fluffy).
- Beat in the egg and the egg yolk, until smooth.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, mixing in on low speed until just barely combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, and scoop 1.5-tablespoon balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until just barely beginning to turn golden on the bottoms.
- Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, and serve.
How about if I wanna make these but would rather have them crispy ?
I wanted to let you know that I appreciate all of your time in providing the best cookie recipes.
I have made monster cookies and most of your other cookie recipes and all have turned out and grandkids asking for more.
I was tired of baking so I made the cookie dough balls and froze them and then gave to my grandkids for them to bake for themselves. They loved it so they always had fresh cookies when they wanted them.
Over the years of making your cookie recipes I have learned to be careful in measuring and the final mixing in of the flour.
I was so excited to try these out when I came across your recipe – I loved two things about it – first, I haven’t cornstarch in “regular “ cookies before so it was trying something brand new which is fun! Second, I read through the comments and learned something that I hadn’t considered regarding over mixing cookies and the possible results makes perfect sense  when I put it through the idea of making bread never thought about it in regards to other baked goods so thank you  immensely for teaching me something new 💗Â
My first ones didn’t flatten all that well but I am wondering if it was because I really crammed as much dough as I could into  the scoop dragging it up the side of the bowl… I don’t know  but it was my error whatever it was I love baking but man even sending out cookies for Christmas I have made some uh interesting things over the years.Â
The flavor is drool worthy awesome and the texture reminds me of this lemon meltaway cookie that’s just it well like the name suggests it melts in your mouth. So just wanted reach out and thank you .
You’re so welcome Tara! I’m so glad I could share something new and exciting for you!