You can never go wrong with the classic combo of peanut butter and chocolate! Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are a perfect marriage of chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies!
The moist peanut butter dough is stuffed with tons of chocolate chips, so you get tons of flavor in every bite! These cookies come together in about 10 minutes using standard pantry ingredients. At my house, they disappear even faster!
You’re gonna love this peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe! Let’s head to the kitchen and get started!
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What I Love About This Recipe
This peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe has so many great things going for it. Here are some of the highlights:
- Chocolate and Peanut butter- need I say more?
- Super quick to make
- No fancy ingredients
- Makes a big batch
How To Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
To make this peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe, begin by creaming together the peanut butter, shortening, and sugar. Add the egg, followed by the milk and vanilla until well mixed.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add them gradually to the peanut butter mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips and form the dough into balls. Flatten slightly and bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350 oven.
Recipe Notes
This peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe is very straightforward to make! Here are a few tips to make it even easier!
Overmixing – To achieve results like chewy and moist Nestle peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, be sure not to over mix. This develops too much gluten in the dough and makes your cookies tough.
As you add the dry ingredients, stop mixing when there are few streaks of flour still running through the dough. Add the chips and finish mixing.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies Ingredient Notes
Lighten up – If you want to make healthy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, you can consider decreasing the amount of sugar or using a natural baking sugar substitute. Just make sure it is a 1:1 replacement with regular sugar when deciding how much to add. You can also consider using sugar-free chocolate chips!
Shortening – Using shortening instead of butter also keeps the cookies moist and chewy for longer than a butter-based cookie which makes these great for mailing! These are the cookies I often mail to my kids when they’re feeling homesick! ♥ Here’s a slideshow with some great tips for packing and mailing cookies.
Brown sugar – Brown sugar adds moisture, so I do not recommend variations of the recipe that omit it. Without brown sugar, your cookies will not be as tender and chewy as promised! Bottom line I recommend you save your calories elsewhere.
Peanut butter chip cookies – If you’re feeling nutty and adventurous, replace half of your cup of chocolate chips with peanut butter chips! Stir in as described in step 4, and bake as you would the original recipe. This substitution enhances the peanut flavor of your cookies and makes those rare chocolate morsels even more desirable.
Crunchier cookies – For a crunchier iteration of this recipe, bake for approximately two longer than recommended, or until the edges are thoroughly golden. Don’t forget that baked goods further solidify as they cool! Alternatively, you could swap real butter for the shortening, a move that will crisp up your cookies.
Cookie scoop: For those of you who have never used one, cookie scoops resemble a rounded ice cream scoop. A medium scoop delivers about one and a half tablespoons of dough.
Storing Tips
Be sure to allow your cookies to completely cool. This peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe stores best in a well-sealed container in a cool pantry.
Can You Freeze This?
Freezing this cookie recipe is a great way to extend their shelf life. Allow the cookies to cool before transferring them into a freezer container. Best practices in cookie freezing suggest individually wrapping the cookies in cling wrap for ultimate freshness.
You can also freeze the dough. Roll and flatten the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze the dough for about an hour and put the frozen dough in a freezer bag. You can bake them frozen. Just add a couple of minutes to the bake time.
Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Make Ahead Tips
You can keep the dough for these easy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for up to 2 days in the fridge. Just roll out and bake when you’re ready for them!
How Long Can You Keep This?
According to food handling guidelines, baked cookies keep in the pantry for about 5 days and in the freezer for up to 6 months. Frozen dough is best used within 2-3 months.
Recipe Variations
I love to experiment with cookies! If you do too, here are a few ideas!
Can I Add Chocolate?
These chocolate peanut butter cookies have a good balance of the two flavors. You could try dark chocolate chips or a mixture of peanut butter and chocolate chips. It’s all about the combination of the peanut butter and chocolate flavors, just like in chocolate peanut butter bars.
You never want to lose one flavor to the other. If you want more intense chocolate flavor, try double chocolate chip cookies!
Can I Add Oats?
Making this recipe into peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies is a great way to add chewiness and texture. You can substitute some quick oats for some of the flour if you want to try it.
Because of the peanut butter, they won’t have the same texture as oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. However, oatmeal peanut butter cookies make a great combination!
Can I Add Some Fruits?
You can certainly add some dried fruit to the mix but decreasing some of the chocolate chip in exchange for chopped dried fruit. I suggest peanut butter banana cookies that build on the flavor combo that Elvis made famous.
I’ve also got fantastic pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and strawberry chocolate chip cookies that are both fantastic ways to combine chocolate chips and fruit!
Can I Turn These Into Cookie Bars?
Simply press the dough into a pan instead of rolling out into individual balls to chance this to a cookie bar. Traybakes like avalanche bars and payday bars are so convenient! Try no bake peanut butter bars for another peanut butter creation!
Would These Make For Good Christmas Treats?
This peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe will make a great addition to any Christmas cookie tray! They’ll go perfectly with reindeer nutter butter treats and crockpot candy. Add double chocolate snowballs to round out a delicious ensemble!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium mixing bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer, cream peanut butter, shortening, and brown sugar.
- Add egg and beat until combined. Mix in milk and vanilla.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to the peanut butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop the dough with a medium cookie scoop, slightly overfilled, and arrange on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten balls slightly with your hand or the bottom of a glass. Crosshatch if desired. (I don't with these cookies)
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until center of cookies appear just slightly wet, and edges are set. The cookies will continue cooking and set as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 15 minutes, then remove to wire baking rack to cool completely.
Nutrition
More Peanut Butter Cookies Recipes…
These Peanut Butter Cookies recipes are sure to please any peanut butter lover!
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies – Lose the flour, but none of the taste
- Peanut Butter Balls – just like the inside of a peanut butter cup
- Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats – Fantastic no-bake treat
- Peanut Butter Blossoms – classic cookies with a chocolate kiss on top
- Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies – these bite-sized cookies pack tons of taste
Conclusion
This peanut butter chocolate chip cookies recipe is a frequently requested recipe in my house! My family loves the fantastic flavors in this moist chewy cookie.
I know they’ll be a hit wherever you serve them! I look forward to hearing how they go for you. Be sure to leave me a comment!
Source: My Sister Chrissy ♥
Made with unsalted butter – they were still thick and chewy as long as not cooked too long . Perfect this will be a new go to recipe !!! Love
So happy to hear you liked it, Amanda! 😀
Can you use regular shortening instead of butter flavored shortening or will it change the taste?
Hi Melanie, yes you can. The butter flavor does add more butter flavor in the cookie though.
So good. I substituted the butter flavored shortening for just regular butter. They were fluffy, chewy and amazing.
Woot! Thanks, Audrey! 😃 So glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Hi, would it be ok to use butter instead of shorting please ?
Hey Juli. Yes, you can. Honestly, though it will totally change the texture of the cookies. They will be thinner, crisper, and the won’t be as chewy. The butter will give them a really great flavor though. Hope that helps <3
Thank you, is shorting what we call lard, is it a white block of fat (uk ) please
I subbed butter for shortening and the cookies were still fluffy and chewy! Not sure, maybe you baked them too long when you experimented with the butter or maybe that was just an inaccurate educated guess you made. Either way, butter was a great substitution!
LOVE theses cookies 💕
Thanks so much, AJ! We adore these amazing cookies <3