Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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These are the biggest, thickest Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies you’ll ever make! My recipe is simple and loaded with chunks of melty chocolate in every bite. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Big Peanut Butter Cookies
If you’re looking for a light and pretty (and peanut-buttery) cookie recipe, head over to my peanut butter crinkle cookies, because my peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies are nothing of the sort. No, these are big, thick, heavy cookies. They are the epitome of bakery-style: larger than life, chock full of melty chocolate, and heavy.
Despite their thickness, these are not cakey cookies; they are soft, dense, and chewy, like a cookie should be. They have a strong peanut butter flavor (similar to my peanut butter blossoms) that pairs nicely with the melty chocolate chunks and bits throughout. And seriously, these have some heft to them–they don’t mess around!
I think you’ll love this recipe not only for the cookies themselves, but also the ease of preparing them. Just a handful of ingredients are mixed together and chilled for 30 minutes before baking. You will need to have some patience with them while they’re still warm (they are fragile in this state!), but once they’ve had some time to set up, you won’t be able to stop eating them.
What You Need
Here are the key ingredients in my peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies:
- Peanut butter. Either creamy or chunky peanut butter will work here. Just make sure you don’t use a “natural” peanut butter that separates.
- Baking soda. Just a bit of baking soda encourages these cookies to spread slightly while still maintaining their thickness.
- Egg + egg yolk. The extra yolk adds moisture, tenderness, and contributes to the density of these peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. Adding a whole egg here could lead to cakey cookies that spread–and we don’t want that!
- Chocolate. I use semisweet chocolate, but you can use whatever kind you like (milk chocolate also works nicely with peanut butter!). I prefer to buy chocolate bars and chop them myself for the best chunks. Pre-cut chunks (sold near chocolate chips) will also work though!
SAM’S TIP: Make sure you measure your flour properly, or you could be left with a dry, crumbly cookie dough.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Them
- Beat the butters and sugars – Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs – Stir in the eggs and vanilla.
- Stir in the dry ingredients – Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Chocolate and chill – Stir in the chopped chocolate until incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
- Scoop and roll – Roll large scoops of dough (I use an ice cream scoop!) between your palms before placing on a parchment lined baking sheet at least 2″ apart.
- Bake – Bake at 350F for 13-15 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet.
SAM’S TIP: Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet, otherwise they’ll just fall apart on you while warm (don’t over-bake them though, or they’ll be dry and crumbly).
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! I have detailed instructions on how to do this in my how freeze cookie dough post. Just follow the instructions listed there for drop cookies.
It could be that you added too much flour, but the more likely reason is that your cookies were over-baked. Make sure you take them out of the oven when the edges are just beginning to turn golden brown and let them finish cooking on their baking sheets. This is my favorite baking technique for soft and chewy cookies and applies to many cookie recipes (I use it in both my best chocolate chip cookie recipe and my brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
Cornstarch helps cookies stay soft and thick without becoming cakey. It is one of my favorite ingredients to add to baked goods; you’ll also find it in my cinnamon coffee cake and blueberry muffin recipe for a soft and tender crumb.
Related Recipes
If you’re looking for a classic version, see my soft & buttery (and not-so-thick!) peanut butter cookie recipe.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Big Thick Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (260g) creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 8 oz (226 g) chocolate bars, coarsely chopped
- Sea salt for sprinkling on top, optional
Instructions
- Combine butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until light and fluffy.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (260g) creamy peanut butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until combined.1 egg + 1 large egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until completely combined (be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and no dry spots should be remaining).
- Add chopped chocolate and use a spatula to stir into the cookie dough until well-incorporated.8 oz (226 g) chocolate bars
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. While dough chills, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Once dough is chilled, remove from refrigerator and scoop into large ⅓-cup sized balls and roll between your palms to make a smooth ball.
- Place on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing cookies at least 2” apart.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) oven and bake for 13-15 minutes (edges may be just beginning to turn light golden brown). Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before removing and enjoying.Sea salt for sprinkling on top
Notes
Peanut Butter
You could use crunchy or creamy peanut butter. I recommend using classic peanut butter and not the “natural” sort that separates, as the cookies won’t turn out as shown with natural peanut butter.Chocolate
I like to use semisweet chocolate bars but you can use milk chocolate or your favorite type of chocolate instead.Storing
Cookie dough may be prepared in advance and refrigerated (tightly covered) for up to 5 days. Baked cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Note, this is an updated recipe. If you’re looking for the original, you just make my peanut butter cookies and add chocolate chunks (that’s what the original recipe was).
I swear something changed in the recipe at some point…this was my go to PB cookie recipe but the last few times I’ve made it, the dough is dry, the cookies are dry, even with underbaking….I can’t figure it out so I came back to check recipe and comments and quite a few others say it’s dry also, so at least I don’t feel so bad. 😅
I’m so sorry to hear this is happening, Sarah! Are you weighing your flour? They shouldn’t turn out dry. 🙁 Are you at a high altitude? I wish I could help more. 🙁
I was pretty disappointed with this recipe. The dough came out crumbly and dry and I could barely roll them into cohesive balls. The taste was also meh. It looked so good on the picture tho!!
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Fay! Did you weigh your flour? Did you make any substitutions?
Mine turned out great. I’d weigh the flour. Under baking is a must tho.
I made these cookies and was very disappointed since the dough came out very crumbly and almost streusel-like. It was nearly impossible to form them into balls, and they tasted very dry. They looked so good on the picture though!
love love love this cookie, best by far that i tasted
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Wendy! 🙂
I haven’t baked these yet but I plan on doing so. Do you know how many grams per cookie dough by any chance?
Hi Patricia! I’m so sorry I haven’t weighed these but I will make sure to do so next time I make them. I hope you love them! 🙂
This recipe did not turn out well! The cookie dough was so dry! It was hard to make a ball and major stick together! I baked a couple of pans and quit! The cookies were so dry I am so disappointed with this recipe! I’m thinking 3 cups of flour is too much! I won’t be making these again!
I’m so sorry to hear this happened, Rich! Did you weigh your flour? If not you may have accidentally added too much. 🙁
Another 5-star recipe from this site!! These cookies are amazing! The only thing we make sure to do (like every cookie using chips of some kind) is to place chunks in the dough balls before cooking them. We want every cookie to “Show its chips” when they come out of the oven. It ends up being a little more chocolate than the recipe calls for, but we’ve never had any complaints from too much chocolate.
We are so happy this one was a hit for you too! Thanks for the review 🩷
My cookies came out extremely dry too, and I did measure the flour with a scale. I’ve only baked one batch so far, so I’d like to fix this batter. Somehow, do you have any suggestions?
Hi Audrey! Did you make any other substitutions? Aer you at a high altitude?
Most excellent. I followed the recipe pretty close, but used dark brown sugar, and subbed milk choc chips and semi sweet mini chips. We also topped each cookie with 4-5 honey dry roasted peanuts. I used my biggest cookie scoop which was likely 2.5 Tbsp. Still baked about 14 minutes. Perfect taste and texture. Definitely bigger than my usual cookies and not mad about it lol
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Anna! 🙂
Awesome cookies. I am a seasoned baker/cook. This is definitely my current favorite cookies. I made one tweak. I did 4oz chocolate chunks and 4oz butterscotch chips instead of the 8oz chocolate chunks. Was amazing. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Will! 🙂
Aloha. I have not made these yet but I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate the weights and ingredients in the direction portion of your recipes. It makes it so much easier not to have to scroll back and forth through the recipe. Mahalo for all the delicious recipes. I am a total fan girl! lol.
I’m so glad it’s helpful, Jennifer! I hope you love the cookies! 🙂
The longer, written portion of the recipe says to make the dough into 2.5 tbsp balls, and the actual recipe says to make 1/3 cup balls – this is more than twice as big! The second number is all we saw originally, and our cookies are pretty good but needed longer than noted to cook through. As a result, the cookies did dry out a bit. I’d be curious to try them again with the smaller size.
I am so sorry for the confusion! I will make sure to update that. I’m not sure why the numbers are different. It should be 1/3 cup.
I’m not sure I understand. “J” above mentioned 2.5 tbsp. Sam says 1/3 cup is right. I made these 1/3 cup, and the balls were HUGE (almost the size of a tennis ball). When I baked them, they were still balls after the recommended baking time. I gave them an extra 4 minutes (19 minutes total), and they were still very tall (not shaped like the photos in the recipe) and barely starting to tan – not golden brown. They were somewhat dried out, as Sam warns.
I’m so sorry to hear this, Richard! If they didn’t spread, there was likely too much flour in the dough. 🙁
Hi! Thank you. The flavor was exactly what I was craving. Going against what you recommended, I did use a more natural peanut butter since it was what I had in the house. Also, I used salted butter and cut the salt slightly and, cut the sugar a bit. Again, the flavor was great, you helped me establish a good base. I found that the size of the dough balls was a bit too big, which caused me to have to bake an additional 5 minutes before they started to brown, but…they did dry out slightly, possibly due to using a non-suggested peanut butter and extra time in the oven. All this to say, I am going to bookmark this recipe and remember my learnings for the next time. Oh, and I really liked your video—super easy to follow!
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Britt! 🙂
Oh my gosh these are HUGE!! Lol. I cheated as I had a bag of chocolate chunks that I needed to use so had some extra pieces to press into the tops of the cookies before baking. The recipe was very easy to follow and the cookies came out soft and delicious. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Tracy! 🙂
So yummy! I used chocolate chips since that was what I had in the house.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Wendy! 🙂