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 💗
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.
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!
Hi Allie, I want to thank you for your kindness in sharing your knowledge, tips and wonderful recipes. At 66 years old, I am learning so much, especially adding cornstarch to cookies for tenderness along with your other soft cookie tips. My grandchildren are just loving all of the tender cookies I have been treating them to! Thank you again and please know all of your effort is truly appreciated!!
Your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are the best!!! I made one batch followed the recipe and even threw a bunch of flour on me and they still turned out amazing. I did have to tweak it a bit on baking I live in Kentucky we have a lot of moisture here so I had to bake mine for 12 minutes but again they turned out fantastic.. Thank you for sharing
Baked these for the first time last weekend for my very picky husband. He LOVED them (and so did I). They do come out soft and delicious. I also smashed the dough down on each cookie using the fork crisscross method. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!!
Just want to thank you for this fab recipe!🤗they are soft and delish. My tip…make them like my mama used to, BY HAND!! No mixers for her or myself even though we have it 😉great dough. Thanks again.🍪
Great cookies. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out very good. I did chill the dough for a couple of hours. I also sifted all of the dry ingredients together before adding it to the finished wet ingredients. A big hit in my house.
I’m so glad to hear that Deana! Thank you so much for the great feedback!
Thanks for this post! The instructions were nice and thorough, and the cookies turned out soft and pretty, just as I had hoped. I doubled recipe – which made a ton – and they were gobbled up in no time by a room of happy teenagers. 😊
That’s so great to hear! I’m so glad the kiddos enjoyed. Thanks so much for the positive feedback Leah!
Did you erase my review? It was obviously not a good one. But why would you erase it? I was criticizing the recipe along with others who said the same things. Never flattened out and dry! I tried these twice second time was a double batch. Both times same results! Dry ! I feel like something is wrong with this recipe! I bake a lot and this has never happened to me before. I thought the first time I may have overworked the dry ingredients. I was so careful not to. Same results. I feel like I wasted my time , energy and money and worst part is I have no idea what went wrong! Please respond.
Josephine, I think it would be best for you to understand how websites work before slinging accusations at someone who is working very hard to provide you with recipes, for free. On most personal blogs, including this one, comments do not appear until they have been manually approved by the admin of the site. On average I get around 100 comments per week, so this is something I try to go through and do every few days.
As for your demand that I give you advice, I would make sure that you are using the brand of peanut butter that was recommended in the headnotes, as anything else could affect the outcome of the final product. And make sure you are measuring out the correct amount of baking soda, as this is what causes the cookies to spread. https://bakingamoment.com/how-to-measure-ingredients-for-baking/.
Lastly I would like you to please consider how much time, energy and money a blogger puts into creating recipes like these for you every week. So far this year my expenses number in the tens of thousands of dollars, and I will often put upwards of 70 hours per week into this site, developing, testing, photographing, and writing detailed notes on recipes, plus maintaining the tech side of the website.
This recipe in particular is one that has been tested around 10 times in my kitchen. Every time I’ve made it the results have been consistent, and they are what you see in the photos and video that I have created and posted here. Not having been standing next to you in your kitchen watching you make it, it’s nearly impossible for me to tell you where you went wrong. The best I can do is provide detailed explanations, as I have above.
Wishing you the best of luck in your future baking endeavors.
Second time making these cookies! What a waste of my time ,energy money!!!!! I thought the first time that maybe I overmided the dry ingredients so I decided that I try it again a couple of days later. Double batch no less! I absolutely did not over mix anything! I cook and bake all the time. I have no idea what went wrong. Same complaint as before and others. Did not flatten out a dry! Is there not enough butter? I used 3 sticks for a double batch . Something is wrong with this recipe . Sorry but just don’t get it!
Overmixed
I left my go-recipe for these because they looked so good, but unfortunately now I’m regretting it… ? Just like someone else commented, they came out of the oven almost in the same shape they went in – and and kinda crumbly. I read the ingredients and instructions over and over and can’t figure out what went wrong. ??♀️? I have another batch in the oven right now that I flattened out with a glass first before baking, so we’ll see if that helps… ??
Is the measurement for cornstarch correct 1/4 cup?
Yes!
1/4 cup cornstarch?
Yes.
1/4 cup of cornstarch?
Yes ma’am.
I made these cookies. First, they did not flatten out much. They were still rounded in the middle. Second, they were crumbly. They did appear done and they just melted in your mouth. The taste was incredible. I followed your recipe explicitly so i don’t know what happened. Any insight would be very helpful.
Hey Phil! So sorry to hear your cookies did not flatten out enough. I’ve noticed this can happen when the dough is overworked. Once the flour goes in, if you continue to mix for more than a few seconds, it can develop the glutens to much and the cookie dough can “tense up.” I would recommend turning off the mixer when there are still a few streaks of flour left, and then just fold the dough for a few strokes by hand. Another thing that could cause this issue is too much flour. Check out this article: https://bakingamoment.com/how-to-measure-ingredients-for-baking/, and make sure you aren’t packing the flour into the measuring cup. If all else fails, you can up the leavening just a little bit (I’d say maybe an additional 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon), and that will cause your cookies to spread a little more. Hope these tips are helpful!
Thanks for the quick reply. I measure my dry ingredients by weight. I have your conversion chart taped up in the cabinet over my mixer. I have pretty bad arthritis in my hands so I tend to mix as much as possible in my mixer so over mixing is a definite possibility. the cookies tasted great so I will definitely try again. thanks.
No problem! Hope you have better luck next time.
My perfect combination of things in a cookie- chocolate and peanut butter! Yum!
Do you use the Ghirardelli brand of milk chocolate chips? Don’t ever really use milk chocolate chips, so just wondering if that’s your favorite. Thank you! These cookies look delicious.
Yes that’s right! That is exactly what I used. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I made the cookies and they were dry! I dont know way, but i put all the ingridients from te recepie
They were probably overbaked.
Love