Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

If your friends and family prefer these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to regular chocolate chip cookies, they’ll thank me for how obsessed I am with my cookie making. In fact, I’m almost ritualistic about my preparation.

I believe the perfect cookie needs to have those crunchy, lightly browned edges, but they better not be flat and sad. Instead, I want a plump, thick interior that has some bite. These cookies exceed those requirements and are both freezer and make-ahead friendly. In short, they are the unicorn of biscuits.

How to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

The technique of mixing the fats and using two flours makes these cookies stand out from the rest. Don’t worry! It’s still just as easy to make as any other peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe.

For the method: Instead of beating the fats and sugar together until light and fluffy, the peanut butter, butter, and two types of sugar are gently whipped at a lower speed until creamy. This technique prevents too much air from being incorporated into the mixture, which will keep the cookies from spreading as they bake. There’s also a lot of bowl and paddle scraping when mixing. This guarantees a well-mixed dough.

For the flours: Rather than using one type of flour here, I use both all-purpose and bread flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content, which means more gluten gives the cookie a chewy texture. The all-purpose flour balances out the chewiness because we don’t want to end up with peanut butter bread Cookies.

More cookie tips:

• Use savory chocolate chips and add them earlier than most to break them up a bit with the mixing.
• Let the cookie dough rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will hydrate the flour and bulk up the dough. Plumper dough makes plump cookies.
• Get the cookies out of the oven just before they are done. The cookies finish the “baking” with the carryover cooking. It’s just a matter of removing the cookies from the oven just before baking and letting them cool on the baking sheet.

What is the best peanut butter?

We want these cookies to be chunky from all the chocolate chips, not the peanut butter—this recipe calls for smooth, creamy nut butter. Sometimes, depending on how awful my week has been, I’ll get extra fancy and use honey-flavored peanut butter.

Swaps and Substitutions

I understand that everyone has different tastes and preferences. You could have allergies in your house or just run out of an ingredient. I’ve tried to anticipate your needs so you can have the best possible experience when creating these. Here are a few ideas to change things up.

• ok ok You can use crunchy peanut butter in this recipe if you like crunchy peanut butter.
• I don’t recommend homemade or labeled “natural” peanut butters, as they don’t contain invert sugar and could result in drier cookies.
• If you have a peanut allergy, substitute almond or cashew butter for the peanut butter in this recipe.
• If you don’t have bread flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour for the amount of bread flour in this recipe. The cookies won’t be as chewy, but they will still be good.

Let’s talk chocolate!

The darker the chocolate, the more flavor contrasts in your cookies. I prefer pairing a 60% cocoa powder with the sweet creaminess of the peanut butter base.

Ghirardelli or Guittard Baking Chips are my go-to chocolate chips for baking absolutely anything! I like them because they’re somewhere between those little chips and chocolate chips.

If I’m being honest with you, these cookies usually leave me craving something fierce when I get around to making them. So chopping chocolate out of bars is the last thing I want to do.

If you’re less manic and prefer freshly chopped chocolate chips in your cookies, go for it! Simply chop an equal amount (by weight) from a bar of milk, semi-sweet, or your preferred percentage of dark chocolate.

Tips and tricks for making the best cookies:

• Make it easier to get the peanut butter out of your measuring cup by wiping the inside with your butter wrapper. The fat will allow the gooey peanut butter to slide out of the measuring cup.
• don’t be a hero Use your stand mixer to make this cookie dough. The batter will get quite stiff once you add the dry ingredients and a hand mixer just turns it in small increments. Mixing by hand is pointless.
• Chilling the dough hydrates it, which adds volume and texture to the baked cookie. Not you to have to cool it, but it makes the cookies more delicious.
• Use a portioning scoop to shape your cookies. Shovels produce uniform cookies, which keeps your family from complaining because one child got a smaller cookie than their twin (don’t ask).
• Baking the cookies at a higher temperature will cause the cookies to rise quickly, which will keep them in their puffy shape. If you want flatter cookies, reduce the baking temperature to 177°C (350°F) and increase the baking time by 5 minutes.
• If you find that the cookies are to swollen to taste, tap the pan once or twice against the countertop to easily deflate.
• Rotate the pan with the cookies halfway through baking to ensure they bake evenly.
• If you prefer crispier cookies, add 5 minutes to the specified baking time.

How to freeze cookies and cookie dough

You can freeze cookies in two ways. Either portion out the raw batter and freeze before baking, or bake the cookies, let cool and freeze.

To freeze the raw dough:

1. Portion out the cookie dough and place the dough balls in a single layer on silicone or parchment-lined baking sheets.
2. Freeze until set before transferring the batter to a storage bag or container. It has a shelf life of 2 months.
3. You can bake the cookies from frozen and add 2 minutes to the baking time.

Freezing Baked Cookies:

1. Bake the cookies.
2. Let them cool down.
3. Transfer to a freezer safe storage container, layered between parchment paper and freeze for 2 months. If you’re a fan of ice cream cookie sandwiches, this has got to be your new hack. Just say.

More cookie recipes with chocolate chips

• soft chocolate cookies
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Coconut biscuits with chocolate pieces
• White Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies