These chocolate peanut butter cookies are generously stuffed with creamy peanut butter and are just begging to be eaten with a large glass of milk. These are indulgent, bakery-style (and size!) cookies have 2 kinds of chocolate and marry everyone's favorite combination, chocolate and peanut butter.
If you are new to the blog, I am pregnant with our second child. It hasn't been a picnic but now that I'm solidly in the second trimester, life has been much easier!
That is until my beloved husband decided to eat the last of the tagalong girl scout cookies without asking his cravings-prone wife if she would like one last one. These were purchased by yours truly because aside from samoas they are one of my favorite girl scout cookies.
Before world war 3 broke out in our house, my pregnant self calmed down and decided to come up with a cookie that would combine the heavenly flavors of chocolate and peanut butter.
Alas, these super-indulgent chocolate peanut butter cookies were born. They are generously sized so that we can fit a large ball of peanut butter in the middle keeping it contained inside until those first few bites.
They are everything you love about a cookie: a little chewy, a little soft, and no dough chilling time!
How to make the cookies
To start making these cookies, you'll want to prepare the peanut butter mixture first so that you can place it in the freezer while you are making the cookie dough.
You will simply beat together peanut butter (not natural pean butter) and powdered sugar until it is combined. Place the bowl into the freezer while you make the cookie dough.
This will allow it to get really cold so that you can roll it into balls to stuff the cookie dough with.
Next, you'll make the cookie dough. This is a pretty typical cookie recipe that requires creaming the butter and sugars together first and adding the dry ingredients next.
For these chocolate peanut butter cookies, you'll start with creaming butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar together until creamy and then adding in eggs and vanilla. I like to use my stand mixer to do this but feel free to use a hand electric mixer instead.
Next, you'll combine all the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add these to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and mix until the flour is just incorporated. Last, you'll stir in the chocolate chips.
How to assemble the cookies
To assemble the chocolate peanut butter cookies, first remove the peanut butter from the freezer. Take a bit more than a teaspoon-sized amount of the peanut butter mixture and roll it into a ball using your hands and set aside.
Do this for all the peanut butter mixture. Take about a ¼ cup of cookie dough and flatten it into a disc using your hands. Place 1 peanut butter ball in the middle and fold the cookie dough up around the peanut butter until it's completely covered by the cookie dough.
Refer to the picture below for a step by step!
Now the cookies are ready to bake. Due to their large size, only place 6 cookies on the cookie sheet at a time.
Bake them at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. After the cookies came out of the oven, I placed a few chocolate chips on top of each cookie for aesthetics.
Feel free to do this if you want them to look like the pictures. You'll want to press each chocolate chip into the warm cookie slightly to get it to stay in place.
Cool the cookies on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to store the cookies
Thankfully, these cookies keep really well for a few days. Keep them in a zip-top bag or another airtight container on the counter for 4-5 days.
You can also freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls and have fresh baked cookies on hand whenever you'd like. Just place the formed cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet that will fit into your freezer and freeze for about 2 -3 hours.
Then place the frozen cookie dough balls in a zip-top bag in one layer and place in the freezer. They will keep for about 3 months.
If baking from frozen, you will need to add an additional couple of minutes onto the baking time. Start with 1-2 minutes extra and check them for doneness.
It's always better to underbake the cookie than overbake! You can also thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and bake as normal the next day.
For more cookie inspiration, check out my salted toffee chocolate chip cookies!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1 cup peanut butter not natural
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
Chocolate Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter slightly softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar packed
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups milk chocolate chips
Instructions
Peanut Butter Filling
- Combine peanut butter and powdered sugar and using an electric mixer, mix together until smooth.
- Place the bowl in the freezer while making the cookie dough.
- Once the cookie dough is made, remove the bowl from the freezer. Using your hands, take a little more than a teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and roll between your hands to form a ball. Do this with the rest of the peanut butter. You should have at least 20 peanut butter balls.
Chocolate Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar for about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low until just combined. Don't overmix! Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Take about ¼ cup of cookie dough and flatten into a disc using your hands. Place a peanut butter ball in the middle and fold the dough up and around the peanut butter to completely seal it inside. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough and peanut butter balls.
- Place 6 cookies at a time on the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for about 12 minutes. It is better to underbake than overbake! Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely after cooling on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes.
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