These peanut butter filled brownie cookies are soft and fudge-like with a creamy peanut butter ripple swirled throughout. The brownie dough uses melted chocolate AND cocoa powder for extra chocolate flavor and the peanut butter filling requires just 2 ingredients. Warning: these are quite indulgent!
Sometimes you just need a cookie. Last month it was my mission to bake some sort of stuffed peanut butter/chocolate cookie creation. I have recipes for peanut butter stuffed brownies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter fudge puddles, (and pb cup stuffed chocolate cookies in my cookbook) and questioned if this was really even necessary…
But then I came to my senses because (hello!?) a cookie is always necessary. The test batches garnered rave reviews, so I knew this recipe had to be published ASAP.
These Peanut Butter Filled Brownie Cookies Are:
- Sweet and chewy like a brownie
- Shiny and crackly on top
- Unapologetically rich and indulgent
- Filled and marbled with a soft peanut butter filling like the inside of peanut butter balls and peanut butter Easter eggs (so good!!)
One reader, Nancy, commented: “Wow! These cookies are amazing and totally worth the extra bit of time and effort. My daughter told me they are the best cookies I have ever made, and I may have to agree. They will definitely be on my cookie tray this Christmas. And I will most certainly be making them again before that. ★★★★★“
The full printable dessert recipe is below, but let me point out some things to know before you get started.
Peanut Butter Filling
The first thing you’re going to do is make the peanut butter filling using equal parts confectioners’ sugar and peanut butter. Stir them together (no need for a mixer) until combined and then roll into teaspoon-size balls as best you can. Like the filling from these cream cheese red velvet cookies (what a mouthful), the peanut butter filling must be extremely cold. Chill the peanut butter filling in the freezer for at least 1 hour as you make and chill the cookie dough.
- Can I use natural peanut butter? Yes. It doesn’t spread as much in the oven, so the cookies with natural peanut butter were a bit more lumpy, but still tasted great! I used creamy unsalted natural peanut butter that had been in the fridge, and it took a little bit more arm muscle and time to stir the confectioners’ sugar into it (compared with the conventional peanut butter), but it did smooth out—just keep at it.
- Can I use a peanut butter alternative? Yes. For nut-free alternatives, you can use Biscoff cookie butter or sunflower seed butter spread. My team and I have not tested this recipe with almond butter, but I don’t see any issue using that instead.
Brownie Cookie Dough Ingredients
Now that the peanut butter balls are in the freezer, you can start the brownie cookie dough. Have you ever made my brownie cookies before? They’re a hit whenever I make them and you might love them even more marbled with peanut butter. A few key ingredients you need include cocoa powder, brown & white sugars, eggs, room temperature butter, flour, espresso powder, and chocolate.
Espresso powder is optional for a deeper chocolate flavor. You can find it in the coffee aisle at the grocery store or online. If you don’t have it, just skip it.
Success Tip: Best Chocolate to Use
Since most of the cookie’s chocolate flavor comes from melted chocolate, do not cut corners. Use pure chocolate baking bars such as Ghirardelli (not affiliated, just love their chocolate). You can find them right next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle. They’re typically sold in 4 ounce bars and you need 8 ounces for this recipe.
- I use and recommend semi-sweet chocolate, but you can use bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate for a much darker flavor. In the pictured cookies, I used 4 ounces semi-sweet and 4 ounces bittersweet.
The cookie dough is practically brownie batter, so it needs to chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour before you can shape it with the peanut butter filling. Very sticky before chilling:
Look how much it solidifies after 1 hour in the refrigerator. This is exactly what you want:
Let’s Shape These Peanut Butter Filled Brownie Cookies
The process starts similar to how we shape Nutella crinkle cookies. Using a Tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop out a heaping mound of the brownie cookie dough. It will be pretty hard after chilling, but will soften up in your hands as you roll it. (I don’t recommend using a cookie scoop for this dough because the dough is too hard and sticky. I tried it and my cookie scoop went on strike.) Now the exact marbling/shaping process:
- Roll the dough in your hands to make a ball and then press your thumb into the ball as if you were making a thumbprint cookie.
- Press a peanut butter ball into the indentation and break off a small piece of the brownie dough.
- Smush (yes, that’s the technical term) the piece of brownie cookie dough you’d taken away back on top of the peanut butter filling.
- Mold it all together as you reroll it into a ball. It will look a little marbled.
YOUR HANDS WILL GET MESSY in this process, fair warning.
Every cookie will look different, which only adds to their alluring charm. And by the way, you could totally use these cookies for cookie ice cream sandwiches!
3 Final Success Tips
- Don’t overthink the shaping step. The marbling/swirling doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it’s fun that every single cookie looks different!
- Shape only a few at a time. The peanut butter filling softens up extremely quickly after you take it out of the freezer, and quickly becomes softer than the brownie cookie dough. I recommend taking about 6 peanut butter balls out of the freezer at a time, leaving the rest in the freezer while you’re shaping the first bunch.
- Clean-ish hands. Wipe or wash your hands clean after you shape a few cookies. Once your hands are really messy, the dough becomes unworkable. I usually shape 6, freshen up my hands, shape another 6, etc.
See Your Peanut Butter Filled Brownie Cookies!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
Print
Peanut Butter Filled Brownie Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Take rich and chewy brownie cookies to the next level with a creamy peanut butter swirl! Both the peanut butter filling and cookie dough must chill before shaping. Review shaping success tips above the recipe.
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1/2 cup (125g) creamy peanut butter (see Note)
- 1/2 cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar
Cookie Dough
- 8 ounces (226g) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (2 standard 4-ounce bars of baking chocolate)
- 3/4 cup (94g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (21g) natural unsweetened or dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the peanut butter filling: In a small bowl, mix the peanut butter and confectioners’ sugar together until combined and smooth. You can just use a spoon for this. Mixture is thick, yet soft. With a teaspoon, scoop out a spoonful of peanut butter mixture (about 6g), and roll into a ball. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, plate, or tray. Repeat with remaining mixture until you have 24 peanut butter balls. Loosely cover and freeze for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. (I usually just freeze them for a little over 1 hour, which is the amount of time it takes to make and chill the brownie cookie dough.)
- Make the brownie cookie dough: Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or use the microwave. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring after each until completely melted. Set aside to slightly cool.
- Meanwhile, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside. In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat on high speed for 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl, then beat on high for 1 more minute. Pour in the slightly cooled melted chocolate and mix on medium-high speed for 2 full minutes. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined.
- Cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour. If chilling for longer, allow the cookie dough to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before rolling and shaping in step 6.
- After chilling, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the cookies: The peanut butter filling softens up extremely quickly after you take it out of the freezer. I recommend taking about 6 peanut butter balls out of the freezer at a time, leaving the rest in the freezer while you’re shaping the first bunch. Using a sturdy tablespoon, scoop out a heaping spoonful of the cookie dough and roll into a ball, about 1.5 Tablespoons/30g/1 ounce of dough each. The dough will be quite stiff. Make an indentation with your thumb, and place a frozen peanut butter ball in the indentation. Pinch off a piece of the brownie cookie dough and press it on top of the peanut butter filling, and then roll the whole thing together into a smooth ball. Feel free to pull off pieces of brownie dough to expose more peanut butter and then re-roll together; peanut butter can also be hidden inside the cookie dough if you don’t want a marbled look. Repeat with remaining cookie dough and peanut butter balls. (Warning: your hands get messy in this step!)
- Place dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheets and bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges appear set. The centers will be quite soft, but will set up as the cookies cool.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: 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. Cookies won’t spread as much if dough balls were frozen, so about halfway through bake-time, gently press down on the baking cookies with a spoon to help get them to spread. Learn some of my best practices for How to Freeze Cookie Dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Double Boiler | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Peanut Butter: At the time of publication, there is a recall on Jif peanut butters. Please consider researching the recall information and use another brand of peanut butter in this recipe. We tested it with Skippy Creamy, Justin’s Natural Creamy, and Wegmans brand Natural Creamy. If using natural and the oil has separated to the top of the jar, make sure you stir it well before measuring. Room temperature peanut butter is easiest to mix. I do not recommend crunchy peanut butter because it doesn’t mix very easily with the confectioners’ sugar.
- Peanut Butter Alternatives: For a nut-free alternative, you can use Biscoff cookie butter or sunflower seed butter spread. My team and I have not tested this recipe with almond butter, but I don’t see any issue using that instead!
- Chocolate: Use pure chocolate baking bars. You can find them right next to the chocolate chips in the baking aisle. They are sold in 4 ounce bars, so you’ll need 2. I use and recommend semi-sweet chocolate, but you can use bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate (or a combination of any) for a darker chocolate flavor.
- Espresso Powder: Espresso powder deepens the chocolate flavor. You can find it in the coffee aisle at the grocery store or online. You can skip it or use 2 teaspoons of instant coffee powder instead.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I loved this recipe so much! I used sunbutter since my daughter is allergic to peanuts. Came out Delish!
Easy to follow steps. Only a one hour chill time, which didn’t seem like enough, but the cookies turned out great. Love the Baking Challenges!
This recipe was really fun to make! My family loved these cookies and they will go into a permanent rotation of recipes. It’s wonderful that they combine some favourites – brownies and the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. What’s not to Love? I’m also introducing my French neighbours to the joys of the chocolate peanut butter combination with these cookies!
These cookies are delicious. Everyone loved them. Nice chocolate flavor with the peanut butter. My peanut butter did not marble like the pictures. Will try a different technique next time. They were still a hit!!
Sally never disappoints! I followed the recipe and the cookies came out perfect. I packed one for my 12 hour shift the next day. I finally had lunch at 4PM and the cookie was exactly what I needed! I loved the flavours of intense chocolate with smooth creamy peanut butter. Everyone I shared them with loved them. Thanks Sally for another amazing recipe.
I really liked this recipe. My brother and I made it together and had a lot of fun. I would definitely make this recipe again.
I made these twice. The first time I over-mixed the batter and it was too fluffy to roll into balls, so I used a muffin tin. The second time, they turned out fine. I finished them with a little Maldon salt, which made them extra tasty. For the filling, I chose sunflower butter, which paired well with the chocolate (and salt). Overall, I felt the chocolate part was a bit too dry, even though they weren’t overdone. I prefer cookies that are a little more fudge-like. I might make them again, adding an extra egg yolk to see if that helps.
This might be my new favorite cookie!! Like others said, it is easier to pinch and twist the cookies to get a true marbled effect.
These cookies are AAAAAMAZING!! At first, the dough seemed more like a batter and when I baked the first 6, they were crunchy puddles with a huge lump in the middle. (the peanut butter) They didn’t look great, but they tasted good! After that, I added a lot more flour, and the rest of the cookies turned out BEAUTIFULLY. I love this recipe and definitely would make these cookies again!
You’ve hit it out of the park again, Sally! They are SO GOOD!
A super easy recipe. I liked that the chill time was only one hour, I was able to get through the recipe very quickly which was nice. They tasted great, I’ll definitely be making them again. I will say I found it easier to get the marble effect by twisting the peanut butter and cookie dough together and then rolling it.
So delicious and addicting! Fairly simple and straightforward to make.
Followed the steps to the letter.. They came out perfect! Great recipe!
Cookies were amazing but as warned, very messy!
So delicious and easy to make! Like others mentioned, the peanut butter balls are difficult to swirl when first out of the freezer. I let the first few combined balls sit out while shaping the others, then returned to the first ones to break the dough in half and swirl around- much more workable. I’ll definitely be making these again!
This was a yummy recipe for the June Baking Challenge! I flattened my cookies out of the oven so the peanut butter spread more like other bakers suggested. I had some trouble with making my peanut butter filling as it was crumbly, and didn’t end up with as many as I could’ve. I used half baking bar and half baking chips for my chocolate mixture.
Easy to make and very tasty! Chocolate and peanut butter. Who doesn’t like that combination.
Rich flavor! Easy to make if you follow the steps in the recipe. A decadent cookie that people will love biting into.
I have made several cookies from Sally’s collection, but this was my first attempt at a baking challenge. I was a little intimidated by the whole process, but after watching the video and carefully following the recipe it wasn’t bad at all- they turned out great. Delicious cookies!!!
Chocolate and peanut butter in a cookie? Sign me up! Followed the recipe exactly, and they came out fantastic. Cookie chews like a brownie, peanut butter swirl lightens up the intense chocolatey flavor. Personally, I love the two different textures. I baked one batch for 12 minutes, the other for 13 minutes because I was curious if the extra minute made a big difference, and in my oven it did. The 12 minute cookies came out a little too soft.
Very soft and delicious cookies with a deep chocolate flavor and brownie texture. The cookie dough batter was extremely wet when I first mixed it up, and I had doubts about it, but true to what the recipe states, it really does solidify in the fridge.
The first batch of cookies I made with the peanut butter balls inserted into indents, the peanut butter didn’t disperse at all. The peanut butter remained one ball in the center. The second batch I put the peanut butter on top and smashed the peanut butter and chocolate dough together, then twisted the dough to create a marbled look. That was easier than pinching off bits of chocolate.
This was a fun cookie recipe to make. It turned out great. I really appreciate the detailed instructions on all of the recipes that Sally does on her page.
My cookies did not turn out as dark and shiny as the pictures (maybe the chocolate/cocoa powder I used). I opted for natural peanut butter and as the instructions say, it did not spread well. It is more like a ball of peanut butter in my flat cookies. The flavor and texture of these are really good. Probably won’t make my cookie rotation, but I did enjoy them.
The taste was great, but unfortunately the peanut butter was too hard out of the freezer to swirl and the cookies ended up with a lump of peanut butter in the middle. If I make these again, I’ll ignore the instructions that say to only take 6 balls out of the freezer at a time, and let them all soften a bit so I get a bit of a swirl.
By the way – I love the weight measurements showing how large each cookie should be, it made it super easy to portion! More of these please!
Made this recipe and the kids and I loved them. They are easy to make and totally delicious
I enjoyed baking and eating the peanut butter filled brownie cookies! I made half the batch with PB and the other half with Biscoff butter for those funny people who don’t like PB
I was not able to make them marble like shown in the video, I think because the PB balls were too cold. I think next time I’ll do it better
The important thing is that they turned out tasty!
Another easy and tasty recipe. Just lived making it and was finish in no time.
Deep chocolate flavor with that great paring of peanut butter. Another great recipe that came in time to bake for friends for their road trip drive as they move to Texas. I hope they have a carton of milk with them so that they can enjoy the full indulgence of this delectable cookie. Thanks for a timely baking challenge.
Messy to make but delicious to eat! Chocolate and peanut butter is always one of my favorite combinations and these do not disappoint.
If you are a chocolate/PB lover this is the recipe for you! Easy to make, little wait and LOTS of satisfaction!
I used KA’s Black Cocoa Powder and espresso powder as suggested by you Sally and wowzah did it intensify the chocolate. Also-Sally was correct, don’t use a scoop…you’ll lose it! LOL!
Make this people! What are you waiting for!