Rich chocolate cookies stuffed with a creamy peanut butter surprise! These peanut butter stuffed chocolate cookies are my most recent favorite cookie, and I think you’re going to love them just as much as I do!
I can’t think of a better way to welcome a new week than with a cookie recipe. Not just any cookie recipe, but a big fat chocolate one with a peanut butter surprise.
This cold and dreary Monday, I’m coming at you with a peanut butter stuffed chocolate cookie, featuring not one but two different types of chocolate and a creamy, peanut-buttery filling. Forget sneaking Reese’s cups out of your kid’s plastic pumpkin tomorrow night, this is a peanut butter and chocolate combo that puts those orange-wrapped candies to shame.
I based the chocolate cookie portion off of my beloved double chocolate chip cookie recipe, with a few tweaks to make the dough stable enough to hold in a peanut butter filling.
You’ll need to chill the dough for a little bit to make it easy to handle and mold around the peanut butter filling, and this also keeps it from spreading too much int he oven and leaking out all of that peanut butter goodness.
A few notes I want to mention that are actually good practice for just about any cookie recipe:
- When baking your cookies, don’t place cookie dough on a cookie sheet that’s still warm from the oven, this can cause them to spread too much as the dough starts cooking/melting prematurely.
- Prepare all of your cookie dough balls and in between batches keep the dough chilling in the refrigerator while the other batches cook. The colder the dough is, the less it will spread in while baking.
The peanut butter filling reminds me of a seriously creamy fudge, or maybe even of my buckeye recipe. It’s only three ingredients; you’ll mix everything together, drop the filling by 2-teaspoon-sized scoops, and then chill in the freezer while you prepare your chocolate cookie dough. It might seem like a small amount of filling while you’re scooping it, but you’ll find that you need a lot of cookie dough to cover it.
This recipe makes a lot of dough, but only makes 18 cookies. They are big, thick, better-than-bakery-style cookies, though, and incredibly decadent.
Enjoy!
If you like peanut butter and chocolate, make sure to check out my peanut butter pie, my Reese’s stuffed chocolate chip cookies, and my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!
Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
PB filling:
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (256g)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (62g)
- 1 tsp vanilla
Cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 1 ¼ cup brown sugar (250g)
- ½ cup sugar (100g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ⅓ cup flour (292g)
- ½ cup cocoa powder (50g)
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup mini chocolate chips optional
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips for tops of cookies, optional
Instructions
Peanut Butter Filling
- Prepare your peanut butter filling first by combining peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl and stirring until all ingredients are well-combined.
- Drop peanut butter mixture by 2 teaspoon-sized scoops onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer to chill while you prepare your cookie dough.
Chocolate Cookie Dough
- Combine softened butter and sugars in large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat together until well-combined.
- Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring well until ingredients are well incorporated.
- Stir in mini chocolate chips.
- Cover bowl with cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Once dough is nearly done chilling, preheat oven to 375F (190C) and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
- Remove cookie dough from refrigerator and peanut butter filling from the freezer.
- Use a 1 ½ Tbsp-sized cookie scoop and scoop a heaping portion of cookie dough.
- Make a crater in the center of the dough with your thumb and gently press a frozen dollop of peanut butter filling in the center.
- Take another scoop of cookie dough and cover the peanut butter filling. Roll the dough around the filling until you have a smooth ball of cookie dough with no peanut butter showing.
- Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake on 375F (190C) for 13 minutes.
- Once cookies have baked, remove from the oven and within 3 minutes of removing from the oven, gently press additional chocolate chips onto the top.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Pj
Excellent recipe, very happy with the end result. It actually looked like the picture!👍
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Bri
Have you tried with cacao powder? Would there need to be any adjustments our could I sub 1:1? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Bri! I haven’t used cacao powder very often but I think it wouldn’t be an issue here. I understand that it’s a little more bitter and potent so you may want to use a little less. 🙂
Ellen
Can I use dutch cocoa instead of the natural unsweetened cocoa you used for this recipe? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Ellen! I wouldn’t recommend it. I can’t guarantee the cookies would turn out the same. 🙁
Pj
I did, it less bitter. I prefer Dutch process so you may or may not like it. Dutch process or regular cocoa powder comes down to preference.
Lora Cothran
These look yummy but do I use unsweetened Cocoa powder or Dutch processed?
Sam
Hi Lora! I use natural unsweetened cocoa powder here. 🙂 I hope you love them. 🙂
Mary
Hi,
I’d like to include these with my cookie trays I make for Christmas. I like to make and freeze all my doughs a few weeks before Christmas and then unthaw and bake at the same time so they are all fresh. I would think I can make the balls with the peanut butter in the middle, freeze on a cookie sheet and dump into a freezer bag for baking later. What do you think?
Sam
Hi Mary! While I haven’t tried it, I think that will work just fine. 🙂
Tammy
I like the recipe but I want to know do you have to keep them in the fridge, so the peanut butter and the chips doesn’t go soft.
Sam
Hi Tammy! These will be fine at room temperature in an air tight container. 🙂
Dede
Can I make these and freeze them before I bake them
Sam
That should work fine for these cookies. 🙂
Eric
I think this recipe would be great converted for muffin tins. I’m going to play around with this decadence.
Genevieve
Hi! I’ve tried the recipe with reduced sugar, somehow to cookies are not hard enough, they are like brownies consistency. Just wanna know if the amount of sugar affects the outcome?
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Genevieve! These are supposed to be a soft and chewy cookie. They aren’t supposed to get crispy. If they were gooey in the middle they may have needed an extra minute or two in the oven. 🙂
Genevieve
Thanks for the reply! I try baking them again but still didn’t achieve the result. Will try it again
Rachel
These look great! Can’t wait to try them 🙂
Sam
I hope you love them, Rachel! 🙂
Kay
Hi Sam,
For the PB filling, 1tsp vanilla, is that vanilla extract? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Kay! Yes that is vanilla extract. I’m sorry. I should go correct that so it’s not confusing. 🙂
Helen
What brand of coco did you use please
Sam
Hi Helen! I typically have Hershey’s brand in the house. 🙂
Olivia
Hi, would it be possible to use a ready made box of cookie dough? As during the quarantine it’s hard to find ingredients. Thank you!
Sam
Honestly I am not sure how it would work, I haven’t tried it. If you do try it would you let me know how it works out for you?
Olivia
Hi,I tried it,wasn’t too bad but was a little too soft I will definitely try your recipe when I have the ingredient. Thank you!
Vicky M
Hello,
Can I make these without cocoa powder or would I have to adapt the amount of flour? And also could I replace the sugar with coconut sugar to make them a little healthier? Thank you!
Sam
Hi Vicky! The amount of flour would need to be adapted, I can’t say exactly how as I haven’t tried it but it would need to be increased. I have not tried this recipe with coconut sugar and am not familiar with baking with it, I believe it could work but am hoping someone else who is familiar with it can chime in.
Vicky M
Hi Samantha,
So I swapped the 1/2 cup normal sugar for coconut sugar and subbed 50g of flour for coconut flour just to experiment and omitted the cocoa powder. The result is great! Next time I’d freeze the peanut butter in tsp portions and for a lot longer though as it sadly isn’t runny. I also think that’s because I only had chunky peanut butter not smooth! So can confirm this works with a few alterations too 🙂
Thanks so much
Sugar Spun Run
I am happy that it worked out, Vicky. As for your creamy centers, you want to use creamy peanut butter next time. Thanks for keeping me posted on how they turned out. 🙂
Chelsey
I loved this recipe – it was an absolute hit around the house ! 🙂
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the cookies, Chelsey! 🙂
Emily A
Loved the tips for this recipe! I have made similar cookies the last two years, but the butter and dough were too warm and they spread. These came out great! I will say that my peanut butter was a little bit too bit and I needed to sue a lot of dough around it. So, I had to put only 6 or so cookies per sheet. Good tip to add in just in case! Thanks for a great recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the peanut butter stuffed chocolate cookies, Emily. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Vince
I don’t live near town, and don’t have unsalted butter. How much difference will that make?
Sam
Hi Vince! You’ll just need to reduce the amount of salt that you use in the recipe to 1/4 teaspoon and you’ll be fine to use salted butter. I hope that helps, and I hope you enjoy the cookies!