Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
It only takes 15 minutes to whip up a batch of these super SOFT & CHEWY Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies! A combination of sweet & salty will put these bakery-style cookies on your weekly craving rotation!
Servings 12 large cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons/1 stick)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter (I used Peter Pan brand)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (not packed, just scooped and leveled with a knife)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks You can use normal chocolate chips but I love using Trader Joe's Chocolate Chunks (shown in this recipe) or Kroger brand "Private Selection Dark Chocolate Chunks"!
Instructions
- Before starting, just a note that you want to work quickly while making the dough because we want the hot butter to help melt the chocolate, resulting in a deeper cookie color!
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Cut the stick of ½ cup unsalted butter into pieces (about 6-8 is fine). In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter for 45-60 seconds until melted. I recommend covering your bowl with a paper towel because it will splatter! We do want the butter hot, so after it pops once, check on it. If it's still not fully melted, microwave in 5 seconds intervals until totally melted.
- Immediately after removing butter from microwave, add 1 cup light brown sugar and mix on low speed for 10-15 seconds until combined. Mixing the hot butter with the brown sugar will help create the deeper caramely color - this is important!
- Add ½ cup creamy peanut butter and mix for 10-15 seconds on low speed until combined. While the mixer is on low speed, add in 2 large eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract followed by the ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add in 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour and mix for 10-15 seconds until all the flour disappears into the dough.
- Immediately add the 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks into the dough and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds. Allow dough to sit for about 5 minutes to slightly set so it's not as sticky. If you want the cookies to be a bit flatter like the photos above, after letting it sit for 5 minutes, turn the mixer back on and beat for 20 seconds on medium speed. This will add a little air back in & also work any melted chocolate into the dough to give it a deeper color - this step is also important for deep-colored, chewy cookies!
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop dough into 3-tablespoon sized scoops. If desired, press a couple extra chocolate pieces into the tops.
- Bake at 350℉ for 10-11 minutes. You want them to be slightly brown on top and look slightly underbaked (my oven was perfect at 10 minutes).
- Remove from oven and place entire pan on a cooling rack. If desired, press in a few more chunks to the top. Allow the cookies to cool on the hot pan for 10-15 minutes before removing them. This will allow them to finish baking on the hot pan. Once cooled, use a spatula to transfer them to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
To Store: These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are delicious warm but are also really good on Day 2 or 3 if stored in an airtight container or bag. They're still fine after 3 days but the texture starts to dry out a bit.
To Freeze: Being that these are super soft, these are also really dang good straight from the freezer. I find them best to eat after letting them thaw for about 5-10 minutes out of the freezer!
See FAQ in post above for more tips!
