Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

A sweet & simple recipe for soft, chewy peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies loaded with melty milk chocolate candy bar pieces. Recipe includes a how-to video!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I have a short and sweet post for you today. Partly because this recipe is so simple it needs little introduction or explanation, and partly because I’m currently still in a sugar coma from excessive chocolate bunny consumption yesterday.

I don’t often buy candy (because let’s be honest there’s more than enough sugar in my life anyway) but Zach’s mom always gives us an Easter basket full of our favorites, and we’ve already demolished over half of it so far. Things aren’t looking too good for the second half right now, either.

But anyway, let’s talk peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. If the recipe looks familiar to you, that’s because it is, it’s a hybrid between my popular soft and chewy best peanut butter cookies and my peanut butter blossoms. I’m completely obsessed with this recipe because it yields the softest, butteriest/peanut-butteriest cookies.

Butter All The Way

Most peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie recipes use shortening rather than butter. Considering that peanut butter has a distinct enough flavor that you shouldn’t notice the lack of butter, and that shortening has a higher fat content (which should mean softer cookies) I didn’t challenge this for a long time. For years I made my peanut butter cookies with shortening.

But the flavor and texture always fell flat! The cookies crumbled too easily! The flavor wasn’t bad, but couldn’t it be improved? I wanted a cookie that was soft and chewy like my chocolate chip cookies, but obviously with a distinct peanut butter flavor (and with buttery undertones, not shortening ones!).

This is that recipe! Soft and chewy with a distinct peanut butter flavor (enhanced by real butter), once you try it you’ll never go back to shortening based recipes again. Pair it with milk chocolate candy pieces and you’ve got yourself a dream cookie.

Ok, I’m sorry, I promised you a short and sweet post today and here I am rambling about butter and shortening.

Just one more quick word about chocolate. I chopped up chocolate Hershey bars for these peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies; while I’m a dark chocolate girl at heart, nothing pairs quite as well with peanut butter as milk chocolate. You can use your preferred variety of chocolate (chocolate chips will also work) and if you found yourself with a surplus of Hershey bars or milk chocolate bunnies in your Easter basket yesterday, well what a great way to use them!

Enjoy!

Other Recipes You Might Like:

• Brown Butter Toffee Cookies
• Butter Pecan Cookies
• Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chewy peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies loaded with melty milk chocolate candy bar pieces.

Check out the how-to VIDEO at the bottom of the recipe! 

4.75 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Chilling Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 27 minutes

Servings: 18 cookies

Calories: 240kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

• 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened (140g)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed light or dark (135g)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50g)
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter¹ (140g)
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 teasoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (185g)
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour in the UK)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz milk chocolate², coarsely chopped (I used 5 Hershey bars)

Instructions

• Combine butter, sugars, and peanut butter in a large bowl and use an electric mixer (you can use a stand mixer instead) to beat until creamy and well-combined. 
• Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well. 
• In separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
• Gradually, with mixer on low speed, stir flour mixture into peanut butter mixture, pausing occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl.
• Use a spatula to stir in chocolate pieces.
• Cover cookie dough with plastic wrap and transfer to refrigerator. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Once dough is almost finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Once cookie dough has chilled and oven has preheated, remove dough from fridge and scoop cookie dough into roughly 1 1/2 Tablespoon-sized balls. If desired, gently roll into balls between your palms and then place onto prepared cookie sheets.³
• Place cookies at least 1 1/2 inch apart on prepared baking sheets and bake for about 12 minutes.
• Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before serving.

Video

Notes

¹I don't recommend using a "natural" peanut butter (the kind that separates and you need to stir before using).

²I love using milk chocolate because it complements the peanut butter so nicely, but you can use your favorite variety of chocolate -- semisweet, dark, or even white chocolate will work here.

³The cookies don't need to be rolled, this just makes them look neater and more uniform.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 240kcal

Tried this recipe?Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!

This recipe was originally published on March 9th, 2016. Photos updated and recipe improved and updated April 22, 2019.