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. 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.
- 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
- 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 2 minutes. 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.
I already commented on how good these are but I’m seeing several people saying theirs were dry and crumbly. I was actually worried the dough was too soft and creamy but they worked perfectly. I highly recommend using a scale for your ingredients rather than measuring cups. That can make a huge difference in consistency and texture.
I just made these for the first time and they are incredible! My almost 30-year-old daughter (who has been enjoying my baking for her whole life) said, “Mom, these might be the best cookies you’ve ever made.” They melt in your mouth.
Finally a peanut butter cookie that taste like it’s from our favorite bakery! I used my kitchen scale for the flour, sugars, and Jif peanut butter, and baked them no longer than 14 minutes. Perfect texture. Rolling in white sugar adds a subtle touch. Used choc. chips in half of the batter to compare to plain. It’s a tie. Also- weighed 60g balls the first batch. Switched to 40g for the rest of them. Turned out beautifully. I can always count on Sally!
Now this is a peanut butter cookie! I have made them before and they do not disappoint! I use dark chocolate chips and they turn out amazing! Awesome peanut butter flavor and huge cookies!
These may be the best cookies ever. I had a jar of chocolate Jif no one was gonna eat so I used that instead of straight peanut butter. I also made them slightly smaller than 3 T, maybe 2 or so, since my husband doesn’t like giant cookies (14 min bake time).
Yeah. I don’t make peanut butter cookies a lot, but if I do, it’ll be this recipe.
This is my new go to peanut butter cookie recipe. I did not add chocolate chips because one of my children does not like chocolate. They were amazing without them.
The whole batch was gone in three days. They’re that good!
I didn’t care for the texture. It was almost sandy when you bite into it. Hoping the texture gets better the next day. I’m surprised it lacked some peanut butter flavor as well. I even used peanut butter chips and recess pieces. Very simple recipe. I wouldn’t remake though.
Mine came out the same! Dry and crumbly. I only baked 9 of them, the rest of the dough is in the fridge. Came to the comments to try and find a solution!
These cookies are my new favorite! I baked a few at once and then froze the rest of the dough after shaping into balls. I bake them frozen, just keeping a careful eye on them. Absolutely delicious!
Good recipe – I did reduce flour to 2 1/4 c based on other reviews stating it was a dry cookie. I also accidentally doubled the size of my cookies because I didn’t realize the size of my scoop! Great cookie – I used dark chocolate morsels and sprinkled white chocolate on top! Love the recipe.
Mine turned out dry…any thoughts on what I can try next time. I followed recipe exactly
2 cups smooth peanut butter (jiffy) and 2.5 C flour
Hi Tracie, How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out the cookies. Over baking can also cause them to become dry and crumbly, so you can try reducing the bake time by just a minute for next time. Hope this helps!
I weighed my flour and mine came out the same! It was dry when I was shaping the dough as well, I baked one batch to see if the texture would change, but it did not.
My dough is dry and crumbly. I too followed directions exactly. I haven’t baked them yet. The dough is still in the fridge. Is there anything I can add to the dough so they don’t fall apart and aren’t dry? Vegetable oil perhaps?
Hi Donna, you can reduce the flour and/or peanut butter next time – perhaps reduce both by 2 Tbsp. What type of peanut butter are you using? Try adding the 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter to this dough and let us know how the cookies turn out!
Hi! So I find myself living in my tv temporarily and my cookie sheets do not fit ♀️. Think this might work in muffin pan?
Hi Layce, we’d recommend using a half cookie sheet if possible to keep the cookie structure. We’re not sure how they would bake in a muffin tin. Let us know if you give anything a try!
So first of all, I’m not living in my tv, lol. I meant RV. We had no option to go and get a half cookie sheet so I went ahead and did the muffin tin thing. They came out sooo good, I just left them in about 5 more minutes and they were perfect. I’ve made these before and they taste the same just like a lil mini cookie. I love all of your recipes Sally as does hubby!! Thank you again
We’re so glad it worked out, Layce!
So so yummy I always use this recipe, is there a way to measure calories for it thought?
Hi Randi, so glad you love these! 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
Made a good many but found the dough very crumbly and hard to work with and you have to use like half a jar of peanut butter for one recipe. Found a different recipe with great peanut butter taste and easier to deal with and less ingredients
I was diagnosed with cancer and made my special cookies with this recipe. They are great for my condition, thank-you very much.
I made today, great taste just crumbly. Any help?
Hi Tom, we’re glad you enjoyed these cookies! How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out the cookies. Over baking can also cause them to become dry and crumbly, so you can try reducing the bake time by just a minute for next time. Hope this helps!
I love these cookies, they are highly requested and loved by my coworkers! I make the dough, refrigerate it, roll it into balls, and freeze in a freezer bag so they are ready to bake when I need a cookie fix. I used mini chocolate chips and regular chocolate chips. Love the peanut butter flavor, Sally has the best cookie recipes!
CAN THIS BE CONVERTED TO A 13 X 9 BAR COOKIE STYLE?
Hi Samuel, 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.
I followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t refrigerate the dough. My toddler couldn’t wait. The cookies were crumbly/powdery but not dry somehow. I found the texture really odd for a cookie. They were very soft when I took them out of the oven and I let them cool on the cookie sheet. Maybe my problem was not refrigerating the dough. The cookies were easy to make but I wouldn’t make them again be cause of the texture.
Hi Bre, chilling the dough is key here to giving the cookies the best taste and texture. That’s likely the culprit for them being crumbly rather than thick and chewy. Thanks for giving them a try!