Bakery style peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies made with creamy peanut butter, brown sugar, and chunks of dark chocolate. These no chill, soft cookies with crispy edges are filled with peanut butter flavor and melty chocolate chunks.
🌿 Ingredients You'll Need
- European Style Butter is what I HIGHLY recommend for rich bakery-style flavor. European butter (also known as cultured with 82% butterfat) adds so much more depth to your cookie.
- Look for brands such as Plugra, Vermont Creamery, Kerrygold or Cabot which state 82% butterfat. If you can’t get your hands on some, it’s OK to substitute with standard unsalted butter (the texture may not be quite as tender with standard butter).
- Creamy Peanut Butter is my choice for this cookie recipe, but creamy cashew butter will work as well. Its a good idea to avoid oil separated natural nut butters and super chunky peanut butter as they may result in a more crumbly cookie texture. Jif, Skippy, or Creamy Jif Natural brands are great choices.
- Olive Oil imparts a small bit of flavor and also added fat.
- Egg Yolks add additional moisture to the cookies.
- Whole Milk to create a softer cookie crumb.
- Dark Chocolate is the bitter contrast needed for the cookie dough’s sugary sweetness. I prefer to chop a quality dark chocolate bar into small chunks as it disperses little chocolate flecks throughout the peanut butter cookie dough. Dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips will work too.
- Dark Brown Sugar creates a softer chewy texture that makes a cookie melt in your mouth. Plus, the caramel and toffee notes from the added molasses are what we came for!
- Granulated Sugar gives structure and sweetness. By using a blend of two kinds of sugar the final cookie is perfectly balanced.
- Vanilla Bean or Pure Vanilla Extract to enhance the cookie dough flavor with classic vanilla notes.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I love making these easy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies whenever I need a quick batch to share with friends. Mix together simple ingredients like traditional peanut butter cookies recipes, but with the addition of chocolate and a little milk. These are the best peanut butter cookies to bake for a chocolate lover.
The best part about this cookie dough is that it requires NO CHILL time before baking. Rest the dough for about 20 minutes at room temperature, then scoop out 13 dough balls for perfectly sized bakery style peanut butter cookies. This is known as a baker's dozen, meaning you can eat one cookie from the cooling rack and still have 12 cookies left to share!
Before you start, I suggest weighing and laying all the ingredients out on the counter. A little 'mis en place' organization makes baking so much easier without the worry of missing an ingredient.
The method and measurements in a recipe play an important role in the final texture. Just a little too much flour will make your cookies crumbly.
Start by beating together the brown and granulated sugars with the softened European style butter in a stand mixer. Trust me the difference in butter makes the flavor and texture so much better.
Once the sugar and butter have formed a paste, mix in the vanilla and egg yolks one a time. You may need to occasionally scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula to make sure everything mixes together properly.
Add in the smooth peanut butter and olive oil, beating with the paddle attachment for just a minute or two until fluffy. Mix in half the flour mixture at a time, on medium speed. The cookie dough will look slightly tacky and may have a few traces of flour on the bottom of the bowl. Do a quick scrape with your spatula and then mix in the teaspoon of whole milk for a spin or two. The final dough should look moist and thick.
I've divided the chocolate chunks by mixing the majority into the cookie dough and saving the rest for a topping. Toss ¾ of the chocolate into the cookie dough for a quick spin to distribute. Let the dough rest for a little bit at room temperature. You can skip this step if you're in a hurry.
Scoop the cookie dough into 3-tablespoon balls, to make 13 cookies. Roll each cookie dough ball gently between the palm of your hands to slightly smooth out the shape and place them on parchment paper lined baking sheets spacing 2-3 inches apart. Take the remaining chocolate chunks and gently push 1-2 pieces into the tops of each dough ball. This gives a crinkly texture to the top of the cookies when they bake and leaves extra pools of melted chocolate.
Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes until golden on the edges. The cookies will be soft in the center straight from the oven and then firm up as they cool.
Cookie Baking Tips
Weigh Your Ingredients:
My recipes are all tested by weighing ingredient in grams to be the most accurate. By using a kitchen scale, your recipe will turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. This is the kitchen scale I use everyday.
Mix the Dough Just Enough:
When adding in the flour, mix until just combined. Add in the chocolate chunks for a a couple of spins on the mixer, or fold in by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Over mixing the dough increases gluten formation which leads to tougher cookies.
Measure with a Cookie Scoop:
I use a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop for these peanut butter cookies. Since the dark chocolate chunks are larger than regular chips, its better to have a bigger cookie with more dough to balance the chocolate.
DO NOT OVER BAKE the cookies:
Once you seem them start to brown on the edges, take them out of the oven. A little soft in the center and firming on the edges is the sign of a perfectly baked cookie. The cookies will continue to firm as they cool.
Do I Need to Chill Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough?
This Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie dough DOES NOT require chilling the dough before baking. However, allowing the dough to rest for about 20 minutes or chilling overnight in a large bowl in the fridge will improve the flavor and chewiness.
Chilled cookie dough will need to either come to room temperature before baking or bake a few minutes longer to account for the cold butter in the dough.
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
- electric stand mixer
Ingredients
- 125 grams all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 100 grams (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 220 grams (220 grams) dark brown sugar, packed
- 113 grams (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
- 128 grams creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon whole milk
- 170 grams 65-70% dark chocolate bar, roughly chopped, *divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180C) and line a large cookie sheet with two layers of parchment paper or a silicone mat with a top sheet of parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gently hand whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment on medium, cream together softened butter, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar to form a paste. About 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla and egg yolks one at a time, beat until incorporated. (1-2 minutes) Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
- Add in the peanut butter and oil, then beat again until fluffy (1-2 minutes). Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula if needed.
- Reduce speed to medium-low and spoon in flour mixture. Then, add in the teaspoon of milk last, give a final spin to distribute. Don't over work the cookie dough.
- Fold in 150 grams of the chocolate chunks with a spatula or wooden spoon. Cover Bowl of cookie dough and let it rest for about 25 minutes if time allows to enrich the flavor.
- Take a 3-Tbsp large cookie scoop and measure out 12 large cookie dough balls. Roll dough balls gently with your hands to slightly smooth and place 6 cookie dough balls on a prepared pan. Each ball should way around 65 grams before topping with additional chocolate chunks.
- Gently push 1-2 small dark chocolate chunks from the remaining chocolate onto the tops of each cookie dough ball.
- Bake 6 cookies at a time, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Place tray on the middle oven rack and bake for 11-12 minutes. Remove cookies from the oven when the edges start to turn golden brown and the centers still look slightly underbaked.
- The center of the cookies will firm as they cool. Careful not to over-bake the cookies or they will become crumbly.
- Place the cookie sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes before transferring cookies directly onto wire rack to cool completely.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
My recipes are all tested by weighing ingredient in grams to be the most accurate. By using a kitchen scale, your recipe will turn out as close to the written recipe as possible.
The recipe card includes both metric and US conversions, but since I create all my recipes with metric measurements, I can't guarantee the same results if you use a different measuring method. This is the kitchen scale I use everyday. Mix the Dough Just Enough:
When adding in the flour, mix until just combined. Add in the chocolate chunks for a a couple of spins on the mixer, or fold in by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Over mixing the dough increases gluten formation which leads to tougher cookies. DO NOT OVER BAKE the cookies:
Once you seem them start to brown on the edges, take them out of the oven. A little soft in the center and firming on the edges is the sign of a perfectly baked cookie. The cookies will continue to firm as they cool.
Ana
Hi. I made this recipe twice already and it came out perfectly, delicious, fantastic cookies. I love it so much. If I make this as a chocolate chip cookies, what is the replacement for the peanut butter? Ir as just leave it out and follow the entire recipe?'please help me I adore your recipe so much! So delightful!