Peanut butter and chocolate lovers rejoice! I’ve combined at least 3 delicious cookies into 1 mouthwatering recipe with my big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Consider yourself warned: these cookies are exploding with flavor, unapologetically thick, and hopelessly irresistible. They’re guaranteed to satisfy almost every cookie craving.
A cookie to end all cookies, these big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a mouthful. I was inspired to try these decadent treats after seeing the cover of my cookbook, Sally’s Cookie Addiction, for the first time. The glorious monster cookies gracing the book cover are loaded with M&Ms and can be found in Chapter 2 and have recently been added to my website.
This recipe, however, skips those rainbow candies and focuses instead on a flavor relationship like no other. Chocolate chips and peanut butter. It’s a match made in cookie heaven! In this recipe, we’re combining that perfect pairing with textured oats to achieve the thickest, richest, and most satisfying cookie.
Tell Me About These Big Fat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Texture: Loaded with so many delicious add-ins, these cookies have chewy edges, soft centers, and are unbelievably thick. (I’m always shocked by how thick they turn out.) If you want to go even bigger and thicker, try these big fat dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies next!
- Flavor: Ordinary chocolate chip cookies are buttery sweet on their own, but the peanut butter-chocolate pairing here brings a delicious decadence to these cookies. If this flavor pairing is a favorite, be sure to add these peanut butter chocolate cookies to your list, too.
- Ease: Simple to make, the dough comes together in just minutes using a few staple pantry add-ins like old-fashioned oats and peanut butter. Make them for same-day snacking or prepare them ahead of a special occasion (see Note).
- Time: This dough can be prepped and chilled in under an hour. 20 minutes in the refrigerator (the same amount of time we chill dough for brownie cookies) helps the oats soak up some moisture and prevents the cookie from overspreading.
If you love these cookies but don’t have oats, try these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies instead. If you love these cookies but need a gluten free dessert recipe, try these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies or flourless monster cookies instead. We’ve got all the bases covered!
One reader, Dyna, says: “Hands down the BEST cookie recipe I have ever made, and I’ve made a lot of cookies… All the extra notes and suggestions too were spot on. Following those tips made for a beautiful, delectable cookie!”
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
- The weight of peanut butter. This cookie dough is adapted from my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The addition of peanut butter here, however, can weigh down the dough. To counter this, I add baking powder for lift.
- A spreading solution. When testing the recipe, I found the cookies weren’t spreading enough. I decided to swap the quantities of granulated sugar and brown sugar. Granulated sugar—dry and thin—helps increase cookie spread. Brown sugar—moist and thick—keeps cookies compact. Increasing the granulated sugar makes all the difference in this dough for the perfect spread. You won’t even miss that extra brown sugar flavor because the peanut butter is our front-runner.
- Fewer oats + more chocolate. When testing, I originally had a higher quantity of oats in the cookies. I decided to reduce that amount to make room for more chocolate chips. Can you blame me?
Choosing the Right Ingredients:
Peanut butter. Though natural-style peanut butter is my #1 choice for eating and snacking, I recommend using non-natural peanut butter for this particular cookie recipe. Natural peanut butter can be used in my regular peanut butter cookies (though the cookies are a little crumblier than intended), but it’s not ideal for today’s recipe. Instead, use Jif or Skippy. You can use creamy or crunchy, but I prefer creamy peanut butter as crunchy can make the cookies taste a little dry. You need 1 cup of peanut butter for this recipe.
Room-temperature butter. Like my basic soft chocolate chip cookies, the base of today’s oatmeal cookie recipe is creamed room-temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. You can’t cream butter and sugar together if the butter is too warm or too cold. (It usually spells disaster for your cookies!) Room temperature butter is about 65°F (18°C). It’s cool and slightly firm to touch, not warm or slippery. I recommend placing your butter on the counter for 1 hour prior to beginning the recipe to achieve ideal “room temperature” butter. If you don’t have an hour, here is my trick to soften butter quickly. You need 1 cup of butter for this cookie dough.
Whole oats: To ensure the cookies spread nicely and do not dry out, be sure to use whole oats and not quick oats. Quick oats are cut finer, and will soak up more moisture in the dough.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
After you prepare the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies dough, chill it for 20 minutes in the refrigerator. After chilling, it’s time to scoop the dough and bake the cookies. Each cookie uses 2 Tablespoons of dough which is about the same size as these regular chocolate chip cookies. Arrange the cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on your baking sheet. These cookies are large, so I use a medium cookie scoop and overflow it with dough (since the medium only holds 1.5 Tablespoons.)
More Quick Cookie Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches
- Mini M&M Cookies
- Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brownie Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
Big Fat Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are easy, thick, and exploding with peanut butter, oats, and chocolate chips to satisfy your cookie cravings.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240g) creamy peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 2 and 1/2 cups (450g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping if desired
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the oats. Once combined, beat in the chocolate chips. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover and chill the dough for at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop balls of dough, 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops—this is only for looks!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. 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. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Peanut Butter: Use a non-natural peanut butter like Jif creamy or Skippy creamy. I do not suggest using natural style or oily peanut butter as both produce crumbly, fragile, and sandy tasting cookies. (Try this recipe for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies if you want to use natural!) Crunchy peanut butter is OK, but I find the cookies taste a little dry with it.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Can I use spelt flour?
Hi Aimee, we haven’t tested this recipe with spelt flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
I did. They came out dry and flavorless. :-/ The flour was the only thing I changed from the recipe. Ugh!!! I will make again with regular flour.
These cookies turned out perfect. So good, my Sunday School class gobbled them up. Glad I left a few at home for me.
I would like to add nuts.. How do I adjust the recipe in order to add nuts?
Thank you, I love your recipes. Your site is the first place I look when I want to make something new. Yum
Thanks, Wanda
Hi Wanda! You can reduce the chocolate chips to add some nuts – keep the total amount of add-ins to 2 and 1/2 cups.
Great cookies, I have made them several times. I am just wondering though, given the strong flavour of peanut butter (which I love), can you leave out the vanilla?
Hi Bonita, you can leave out the vanilla if you wish, but you’ll lose a bit of flavor.
Dang. And I don’t even like peanut butter cookies. These are the shizzle.
This may become my husband’s favorite cookie. He went gaga over it after his first bite! They’re very easy to make, too.
Hi, I made these cookies and they were wonderful! I was wondering if you have any idea about the nutritional info per cookie, like calories, carbs, fats, protein etc. Even a basic idea would be great. Thanks!
Hi Larissa! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
My new favorite cookie. I love all of Sally’s recipes but this one is a little hidden gem.
I went to culinary school so everyone thinks my recipes are great due to that but I always tell them I use Sally’s baking addiction, her recipes come out perfect every time.
I have to disagree with the instruction to not use natural peanut butter! I’ve used Kirkland peanut butter every time I’ve made them, and the cookies are sooooo good – not crumbly, fragile or sandy tasting at all! I think the key is to make sure the peanut butter is mixed extremely well when you first open it, so all the yummy oils mix back into the peanut butter and it stays smooth. I also use whole wheat pastry flour and dark chocolate chips. This recipe is a staple in our house!
This has become a favorite in our house! I make a batch and freeze the cookie dough balls for future fast cookies and to make sure I’m not binge eating them.
These cookies are so dangerous lol Absolutely delicious!
I was wondering if you have ever tried making them with some sourdough starter?
Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Hi Rebecca, we’re so glad you enjoyed them! We haven’t tested them with sourdough starter, but let us know if you do any experimenting.
Can I make these cookies smaller for my younger grandchildren?
Definitely!
I would call these cookies decadent, yes definitely! Enjoying them; mmmm so, so, very good! I added 1/2 cup of Peanut butter chips and 1 cup semi sweet chips (finished an open bag) and 1 cup dark chocolate chips. These are my new favorites Peanut butter cookies. The texture and taste are superb! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
This is an Excellent recipe! Very straight forward and nothing tricky about it! Everyone I have shared these cookies with just rave about them. This recipe is easily in my top three. So glad to have found it.
. Thank you!
I’m not always with it these days, so I goofed up this recipe, but it still came out awesome! I had whisked all my dry ingredients together and set them aside and proceeded with the rest of the recipe. The next morning, my eyes caught the bowl of dry ingredients sitting atop the toaster oven!! I never put them in, but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. I had to laugh at myself, but the results of none of those ingredients making it into the final batter were sooooo delicious, I may never use them when making these cookies again. And I will be making them again. ;0)
P.S. I misremembered – I DIDN’T follow the rest of the recipe exactly (warned I’m not always with it. LOL) I did use quick oats since that was all I had on hand, decreased the chocolate chips so I could add raisins. My husband and I ate all of them in just 2 days.
Can you use quick oats for this recipe? That’s what I happen to have on hand.
Hi Dan, quick oats are more powdery and can dry out the cookies. We recommend sticking with whole oats for best results.
Can these cookies be frozen after baked then cooled? Would I wrap them single in plastic? Then in a freezer bag? Or what?
Hi LuAnn, definitely. You can freeze cookies stacked in an air tight container, or in a zip top bag.
Didn’t see the nutrition facts on this cookie. Wish it did, husband has high chol but loves treats
Hi Linda, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
loved this recipe cookies turned out wonderful
Question – can this recipe be made into bars? If so, what size pan & how long to bake? Tganks
Hi Robin, yes! This dough should fit nicely in a 9×13 baking pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but you could use these M&M Cookie Bars as a guide. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I made these cookies for my family and they loved it so much that I needed to make more in two days.
My fault, but a suggestion. I saw the note about not using natural peanut butter after I had the batch mixed. My cookies did indeed crumble, sadly, even though I saw that other commenters had some success this way. Maybe add “ see notes “ within the recipe, for those of us who forgot that 4th grade lesson too read all the directions to the end before starting a project. 😉 Otherwise— they tasted great and we made the best of them.
Great as is, but adding cup of sour dough start makes them sooper
These cookies were tasty but crumbled easily so I was disappointed.
I made more than a dozen of Sally’s cookie recipes for Christmas, and while they were all delicious, this one was my absolute favorite. This is the perfect cookie, in my opinion. My family, friends, and work colleagues all loved them.
I’ve been making these cookies for 3 years and they are the best recipe I’ve ever had. EVERYONE raves about them when I bring them to parties!! Do you have a less sugar/higher protein version of these?!
Hi Jessica! You may love these flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies – let us know if you try them too 🙂
I substituted 1/2c. of flour with a 1/2c. of unflavored protein powder and they came out great.
replace a 1/3 cup oats with equal parts protein powder.
I make these cookies all the time. Instead of using chocolate chips, I use peanut butter chips and a half bag of toffee chips. Oh, they are so good.
Oh my goodness Some of my favorite cookies I’ve ever made. And I’ve made a lot of cookies! So yummy and super moist!
I made these and they were a hit with my family. I did have one question though, could you please put the nutritional & calorie informationper cookie on the recipe “card” too?
Hi Lissa, we don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These are fantastic! Best peanut butter oatmeal cookies ever!
Wow! Just made these and they are delish! Low on chocolate chips cuz I made Sally’s Chocolate Crinkle Cookies — so used some chopped up Hershey bars. Can you tell I am snowed in? Love your recipes, Sally…you take the time to really perfect these recipes!