Using this recipe, you’ll enjoy ultra-soft and thick bakery-style peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that are filled to the brim with chocolate chips. I make them with a whopping 2 cups of peanut butter, so you’re guaranteed mega flavor in every single bite.
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips.
One reader, Katelyn, says: “This is hands down my favorite cookie recipe of all time. I’ve baked and loved Sally’s recipes for years and this is my new favorite! I ate 3 at a time. 3 separate times. Then brought them to friends who also ate 3 apiece. Everyone agreed they were the best peanut butter cookies they’ve ever had. Highly recommend! ★★★★★”
You don’t have to go another day without experiencing what some bakers have called “one of my favorite recipes on this site (and in general)” and “the best cookies I’ve ever made.”
While there’s a recipe for classic peanut butter cookies in my Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook and I have my super-soft peanut butter cookies on this website, today’s cookies are EXTRA thick and absolutely loaded with peanut butter and chocolate chips. This IS peanut butter dessert perfection, after all.
These Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Are:
- Huge—3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie
- Soft for days
- Crinkly & crackly on top
- Loaded with chocolate chips
- Thick & 100% irresistible
- Relatively quick—only 1 hour of chill time
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: What Works & What Doesn’t
This is a simple recipe, and the same base dough as my white chocolate peanut butter cookies. When developing the recipe several years ago, I learned a couple tricks and am happy to share my findings:
- Embrace a creamy cookie dough. 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of peanut butter, and 2 eggs make for an extremely creamy cookie dough. Embrace it; you do not want to add more flour. When the dough hits the oven, peanut butter acts somewhat like a dry ingredient and gives the cookies structure.
- Chill the cookie dough. You might remember from my How to Prevent Cookies from Spreading page that chilling cookie dough is important. Luckily this dough is thick and stable, which means it doesn’t need hours in the refrigerator before baking. A quick 1 hour of chilling prevents the cookies from over-spreading. My brownie cookies (and the jazzed-up version—peanut butter-filled brownie cookies) have a super-quick chill time, too.
- Flatten the dough. Make sure you slightly flatten each cookie before baking, as this will help the cookies spread a bit in the oven. If you think about it, it’s a common step when making peanut butter cookies—you flatten those with a fork prior to baking. Here, you can just use the back of a spoon or your hands.
Grab These Ingredients:
Selecting the right ingredients is important, especially when it comes to peanut butter. This recipe calls for more peanut butter than any other recipe that makes an equivalent amount of dough. So without question, you’re guaranteed an intensely flavored cookie.
- Peanut butter: As mentioned, these cookies have—front and center—highly concentrated peanut butter flavor. To achieve this, use a commercial brand of creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy, the same I recommend for my peanut butter balls, big giant monster cookies, and peanut butter fudge puddles.Though it’s wonderful for eating and cooking, natural-style peanut butter isn’t ideal here. The cookies will be too crumbly and, depending on the brand, may even have an oily texture. Crunchy peanut butter produces the same crumbly results. If you want to use natural-style peanut butter in a cookie recipe, try these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies instead.
- Room-temperature butter: Make sure your butter is cool to the touch. Here’s what room-temperature butter really means. You’ll it to properly cream the butter and sugar.
- More white sugar than brown: In these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, you’ll notice there’s more granulated sugar than brown sugar. When making basic chocolate chip cookies, I recommend using more brown sugar than white sugar because it produces a softer cookie. The addition of peanut butter already makes today’s cookies soft, and using more brown sugar made them EXTRA soft—to the point where they were falling apart. As a result, I learned it was simply too much of a good thing.
- Chocolate chips: Just like with peanut butter half moon cookies, the chocolate complements the intense peanut butter. I recommend semi-sweet chocolate chips because they add a balanced flavor, and just the right amount of sweetness.
One reader, Paige, says: “What is this magic? I was a little hesitant this whole process…. two cups of peanut butter? Three-tablespoon-sized cookies? No way! But this works and the cookies are incredible. ★★★★★“
You can even replace some of the chocolate chips with peanuts, which makes for a wonderfully chunky cookie with extra peanut flavor. You can also roll the balls of dough in granulated sugar (before slightly flattening them) for some sparkle, just like these peanut butter blossoms.
I also have a recipe for unapologetically big and fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that boast the same great flavor, and have the added chew from oats.
Use a commercial brand of processed creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. Though it’s wonderful for eating and cooking, natural-style peanut butter won’t do this dough any favors. The cookies will be too crumbly and, depending on the brand, may even have an oily texture.
I don’t recommend crunchy peanut butter in these cookies because, like natural-style, it produces a crumbly cookie. Feel free to swap some chocolate chips for peanuts to achieve that crunchy peanut butter texture.
You may have over-baked them. Bake just until the edges are set; the centers will still look quite soft. Give them at least 10 minutes to cool on the baking sheets before transferring to a cooling rack.
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft & Thick Monster Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles
Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These big bakery-style peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are super thick, ultra-soft, and filled with chocolate chips. It’s best to use creamy peanut butter, and be sure to chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour before baking.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups (500g) creamy peanut butter*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (360g) semi-sweet chocolate chips*
- optional: 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs and beat on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the peanut butter and vanilla, then beat on high until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the chocolate chips. Dough will be thick and soft.
- Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour and up to 3 days. If chilling for longer than a few hours, though, allow the dough to sit out at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard and the cookies may not spread that much.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Scoop cookie dough into large balls, about 3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie (about 60g, it’s a lot!), and, if desired, roll the balls in granulated sugar. Coating in sugar is optional. Place 8 balls onto the cookie sheets. Gently press down on each ball to *slightly* flatten.
- Bake each batch for 14–15 minutes, or until the edges appear set and lightly browned on the sides. The centers will still look very soft.
- Cool cookies for 10 minutes on the baking sheet. During this time, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. (This is optional and only for looks.) Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with step 5. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Can I Halve this Recipe? Yes, absolutely. Halve the recipe by halving all of the ingredients. The instructions remain the same.
- Peanut Butter: It’s best to use a commercial, processed brand of peanut butter like Jif creamy or Skippy creamy. I do not suggest using natural-style, oily peanut butter. Avoid using crunchy peanut butter because it makes the cookies extra crumbly.
- Chocolate Chips: You can replace 1/2 cup (about 90g) of the chocolate chips with chopped peanuts for extra peanut flavor.
- Check out my top 5 cookie tips before beginning. It includes how to prevent cookies from over-spreading and why room-temperature ingredients make a difference.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Delicious! I followed the recipe to a T besides my regular decreased amount of chocolate chips (I think I used about 320g) — both because I like a cookie with less chips and because I like to press a few into the top for appearances while they’re warm and don’t want to over-chocolate them. I chose not to roll them in sugar!
The only criticism I have is that they could use a bit more salt — after trying my first batch, I ended up sprinkling a bit of flaky salt on them while they were warm to get it where I wanted it. This might be because I use kosher salt instead of table salt. I made your white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies before and I remember those being beautifully salted and I think I might have used table salt.
For chilling, I’ve gotten into the practice of chilling dough for a bit, and then pre-rolling weighed out portions so putting the next batch into the oven goes quickly. I recommend “tearing” open the balls of chilled dough instead of just flattening them as the recipe suggests; helps get a nice nook-and-crannies look that I much preferred to the flatter look of what I got when I baked pressed-down ball. Flattening them a bit is CRITICAL, though! It’s in the recipe for a reason! Definitely don’t bake without flattening them down a bit!
Overall awesome recipe and definitely keeping!
These were great! Would they turn out the same if I made them smaller and baked them less?
Hi Jen, yes, you can certainly make these smaller and adjust the bake time accordingly.
The cookies were very dry. I should have listened to the other comments, but Sally made them out to be the best. They fell apart, too, and they were not tasty. I am tossing them because I was bringing them to a friend who is homebound, and I don’t want her to be disappointed in my baking since she looks forward to my baking her treats. I am off to find another recipe.
We’re so sorry these cookies didn’t turn out for you. Peanut butter can be a drying ingredient in baked goods, so it’s important to measure all the ingredients really carefully. How are you measuring your flour? Be sure to weigh it with a kitchen scale or else spoon and level your flour, so you don’t end up adding more than you need. And the other culprit for dry cookies here could be the type of peanut butter you used. We recommend processed peanut butter, not natural, for the best texture in these cookies. If you’re interested, these cookie baking tips will also be helpful should you decide to try any of our cookie recipes again. Thank you so much for giving these a go!
I’m not gonna lie, I really was a bit apprehensive about this recipe. Even when I pulled them out of the oven, I just knew these cookies wouldn’t be done in the middle or would be cakey. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!!!! These are now a house favorite! Absolutely hands down BEST peanut butter cookie recipe I’ve ever used!!!! Definitely keeping this one! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
This is a fabulous recipe! Easy, tasty, and cookies look great!
This cookie was excellent-a little too big for my liking; but really great tasting.
I would like the Peanut Butter Skillet recipe, please.
Hi Peggy, here’s our peanut butter skillet cookie recipe.
When I googled Peanut Butter Skillet Cookie, the correct photo came up- I clicked on the link and it brought me to this recipe. A search on your site confirms the recipe is no longer on your blog. Did it get removed for one of your books? If so, which one? I wanted to make it next week. Thanks!
Hi Amber, we recently removed that older recipe from the site, but if you send us a note at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy with you. Thank you!
Hi Sally!
I love your recipes! My family and I are a HUGE fan of your soft chocolate chip cookie (https://route-span.live/chocolate-chip-cookies/#tasty-recipes-66495) because of the super soft texture and rich flavor! I want to make a peanut butter cookie like that and wanted to even just add peanut butter to that recipe but am too worried about how it will affect the texture), so I was wondering which of your peanut butter cookie recipes is the closest to that cookie? Thank you!
Hi Raquel, I’m glad to help. The closest to that texture would be these soft peanut butter cookies. Let me know if you try them!
Hello, Sally! I made these cookies last year, and they were awesome! I’ve also made your Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, which also turned out very well. Could I bake these cookies as bars, too? If so, what size pan do you recommend—8-inch or 9-inch or?—and how long and at what temperature should I bake them? I’d love for these to be another “lazy gal’s cookie” (to quote from your Soft & Chewy recipe)! Kind regards—and Happy Easter!
Hi Dorothy! We haven’t tested these cookies as bars, but would try a 9×9 pan. Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
Thank you for your quick response, Trina! I will report back once I’ve made them.
Hi..can self-rising flour be used in place of all purpose?
We don’t bake with self raising flour, but rather prefer to use all purpose flour because we can better control the amount of baking powder and baking soda we add to the recipe. Using self raising flour in our recipes would take some testing and could vary results, since the amount of leaveners in the self raising flour could be different from the recipe. For best results, we recommend sticking with all purpose flour if you have it available to you!
When I searched for your peanut butter skillet cookie recipe today, I was redirected to this recipe. Is this the same recipe as the peanut butter skillet cookie? If not, will that recipe be put back on the site? It was so good!!
Hi Amanda, we recently removed that older website from our site, but if you send us a note at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy with you. Thanks!
Yup! Just like the bakery! Thanks for sharing and for all the great tips, so good!!
They were very dry and crumbly, but tasted delicious. One of the most important steps I think is to keep the cookies on the parchment paper for at least 10 minutes. I have never made a cookie where that was important. If I make them again I’ll do 2 cookie sheets so one can start cooking while the baked ones can rest.
A huge hit with the 5 yr – 45 yr old crowd. This one has me in the running for Grandmother of the Year.
So glad they were a hit, Karla!
The cookies came out perfect, thanks for a great recipe. Shared with my neighbors, the definitely approved of the outcome
I made these cookies exactly as directed including the chill and the dough didn’t stick together well at all.
Followed the recipe exactly, but they turned out dry. … not my favourite result.
Hi Steve, peanut butter can be a drying ingredient in baked goods, so it’s important to measure all the ingredients really carefully. How are you measuring your flour? Be sure to weigh it with a kitchen scale or else spoon and level your flour, so you don’t end up adding more than you need. And the other culprit for dry cookies here could be the type of peanut butter you used. We recommend processed peanut butter, not natural, for the best texture in these cookies. If you’re interested, these cookie baking tips will also be helpful should you decide to try any of our cookie recipes again. Thank you so much for giving these a go!
We recently made your peanut butter skillet cookie, and it was amazing!! When I searched for the recipe today, I was redirected to this recipe. I’m hoping the skillet cookie recipe returns, because it was fantastic!
Every time I search for “best xyz,” your site comes up and I know it’s going to be good! This was no exception. These are unreal!!
Hi Sally! Would this recipe work as a skillet cookie? And, if yes, would you recommend the same baking times, and pan size as your regular chocolate chip skillet details? I have a 10′ or 12′ skillet. Thank you….
Hi Lori, this dough should work well as a cookie skillet. Either size will work, and bake time will vary depending on the size, but you can use the chocolate chip cookie skillet recipe as a guide. Let us know how it goes!
Sooo good! I needed a cookie for a school bale sale and these are a winner!!
I did sub half the butter for applesauce (I dislike butter flavor) and used about 60% of recommended sugar.
It could use less, but for now I’m going to keep it sweeter for the bake sale.
14 min yielded cookies that didn’t crumble and were perfectly browned on the bottom.
These cookies really knocked it out of the park. My sister loves the flavor of peanut butter cookies but does not enjoy how crumbly they are. These cookies do not crumble. I also used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips in my recipe and I cannot recommend highly enough. It’s a little more intense than semisweet but not as bitter as a dark chocolate. More importantly, though, they are wide and flat, like a small chocolate wafer, which created a sort of layering effect in the cookie that is heavenly.
This recipe is absolutely incredible my friends and family thought they were store bought haha. Thank you so much I will now be trying your Nutella cookie receipe.
I was not impressed with this recipe. I was very disappointed. Everything measure exact. Used Jif peanut butter. Baked less time. Still dry and crumbly. Luckily, I am an experienced baker and know that by placing a couple slices of white bread in the cookie container for a few hours it will soften the cookies. Next time, I will definitely use less peanut butter, as I know using too much of it will make a baked good dry.
If I wanted to make these cookies smaller, say even half size, what would be your recommendation as to oven temperature and bake time?
Hi Violette, You’ll use the same oven temperature. We are unsure of the exact bake time for smaller cookies but keep your eye on them and bake until the edges appear set and lightly browned on the sides. The centers will still look very soft.
Not a fan of the cakey texture. Make sure not to roll them in sugar as it suggests you can do as this will lead to burnt bottoms.
I love coconut with chocolate, so I tried this recipe with coconut butter instead of peanut butter (coconut butter, not coconut oil). Coconut butter is a bit thinner than PB, so the texture came out more sandy than chewy. More like a pecan sandy, that melt in your mouth feel. I love the size of these cookies and the detail in the directions – success every time, even when I’m experimenting like today. Another note: this recipe works as written at 7500’ elevation
Can I make your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with coconut oil rather than butter-for my dairy free granddaughter?
I love your recipes.
Hi Gail, you can certainly try it, but we haven’t tested it before to be sure of the results. The taste and texture will likely be quite different. You may have more success with a plant-based butter instead. Let us know what you decide to try!