This is a cookie that will appease both peanut butter lovers and chocolate chip fans: a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. You can certainly throw a handful of chocolate chips into just about any peanut butter cookie dough (or dip the cookies in chocolate!) to get this flavor combination, but peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies have different textures to them and this cookie delivers something encompasses elements of both types.
The cookies are big and tender, with a hint of crispiness on the edges and a slight chewiness to them that is more like a chocolate chip cookie than a straight peanut butter one. They don’t have an overly strong peanut butter flavor to them and I like to use crunchy peanut butter to get the addition of little pieces of peanut in the finished cookies. Smooth peanut butter will work just as well. I used a national brand (JIF, to be specific) but these cookies should work out well with natural peanut butter, too. If you are using unsalted peanut butter, you may want to increase the salt in the cookies by 1/4 teaspoon to highlight the peanut butter flavor a bit more.
These cookies keep very well and are a great change of pace from your average peanut butter cookie. I like dark chocolate chips in these, but milk chocolate chips also really compliment the peanut butter flavor of the cookies and will sweeten things up just a little bit. To really take a batch of these cookies over-the-top with peanut butter and chocolate, keep an eye out for mini peanut butter cups (Trader Joe’s carries them) and mix those in along with the chocolate chips.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter (national brand, pref. crunchy)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 package or 2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in peanut butter, egg and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Gradually blend in the flour mixture until dough comes together and no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Stir in chocolate chips until well distributed.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them to allow for spread.
Bake for 11-14 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned and set around the edges (slightly longer baking will result in crispier cookies). Cool cookies for 3-4 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Linda
April 29, 2011I love those mini PBCups at Trader Joes. I’ve added them to brownies and PB cookies as indicated for that bigger hit of peanut butter and chocolate. I can’t wait to try this new cookie. Sounds perfect!
Lauren at Keep It Sweet
April 29, 2011I have been looking for a cookie recipe like this for a while now, I’ll definitely be trying yours!!
Heather
April 29, 2011These sound so good! If it wasn’t so late, I would make these tonight, but I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow.
Margot
May 1, 2011My local grocery store has mini-Reese’s cups packaged like any other chocolate chips in the baking aisle now – a recent developement!
Kelley
May 2, 2011I made a half batch of these last night. They were yummy!
Shanna
May 14, 2011I made these with PB chips this week for a bake sale. They were excellent! And this just became my go to PB cookie recipe. Soft and chewy with an outer crunch to the bite.
Gotta say this website is one of my favorite baking sites. I’ve never made a recipe from here that has failed. Many thanks!
Maddy Lu
August 26, 2011Just made these. And yes, they look just like the picture. I love when that happens!
Melissa
October 2, 2011i am having so much trouble trying to stay away from these!! i ended up getting about 70 cookies out of my batch, AMAZING what making them a bit smaller can do!!! THANKS 🙂
Jessica
October 24, 2011This recipe came out really great! an awesome crunch outside with a gooey inside =] I ended up using a little more butter (by accident… 2 sticks instead of one and a half) but they still came out quite tasty. The recipe easily stretched to make about 60 cookies, couldn’t believe it!
Kerrie
November 7, 2011I a double batch of these for a bake sale. I added semi-sweet chocolate chunks and peanut butter chips, and they came out beautifully. They looked like the perfect cookie. And they were absolutely delicious!
Allen
November 18, 2011I made these and broke up one super large Hershey’s Special Dark candy bar. Pretty much the BEST peanut butter cookie I have ever had. Thank you for the recipe!
Alana
February 2, 2012These cookies where terrible. Went exactly by the recipe and it seemed like it was missing another egg? Either they burnt to a crisp or they where very underdone… No happy medium. Love the idea of choco/p.butter cookies, but won’t be using this one again!
LuLu
March 5, 2012Wow – these are fantastic! Mine turned out just like the picture too. Mine also took 3-4 minutes longer b/c I made them too big but I got 3 dozen out of them, just as the recipie says. These are a hit!
Zareen
May 30, 2012This was the first time i made cookies, and I was looking for a peanut butter cookie recipe since my bf is crazy for them. The cookies turned out perfect, took them for my friends at work and my bf, they disappeared in minutes. Amazing recipe! I skipped the chocolate chip since I don’t like too much chocolate in my cookies, but the little bit of chocolate from the TJ peanut butter cups was the just right amount! Will bake these again and again!