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“The texture of the shortbread, the light sweetness, and classic flavors… just so delightful! This has become one of my very favorite cookies!” ~Valerie
peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are my signature shortbread cookie
They’re closely followed in popularity by my Double Dark Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. I’m not surprised, after all, when was the last time you saw a cookie that intensely chocolaty? But there’s something magical about the epic combination of creamy peanut butter and chocolate that lures people in every time.
These cookies have a melt-in-your-mouth texture thanks to the creamy peanut butter and their shortbread base. They’ll even stick a wee bit to the roof of your mouth…better have a cold glass of milk ready.
these peanut butter cookies are made with a short list of ingredients:
- creamy peanut butter ~ I don’t recommend using natural style peanut butter for this cookie, the consistency tends to be oily. Personally I think the best pb is Jif.
- butter ~ unsalted and at room temperature
- flour ~ all purpose
- sugar ~ confectioner’s or granulated sugar, both will work.
- kosher salt
- chocolate chips ~ use milk, semi sweet, or dark, it’s up to you. I love dark chocolate with peanut butter.
slice and bake cookies are a favorite around here
Who wouldn’t love to have a log or two of cookie dough hanging out in their fridge?
You can get all the measuring and mixing and messy hands out of the way early and then have the luxury of fresh dough waiting at your beck and call. Let me put it another way: when you’ve got this dough in the fridge you’re 12 minutes away from nirvana.
If you want to try a rolled dough version of these, try my Milk Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
tips for success with peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
- Make sure to start with room temperature butter. This helps the dough come together smoothly.
- Measure your flour carefully. I fluff the flour first to loosen it, then scoop the measuring cup and level it off. This helps insure you get an accurate measure and not too much flour, which will affect the quality of the cookies.
- I make the dough in a stand mixer, this helps the dough come together with less effort. If you’re doing it by hand, take the time to mix the dough until it comes together and there is no dry flour left.
- Use regular, creamy peanut butter, not natural peanut butter. I use Jif.
- If you have trouble with the dough crumbling when you slice it, this can be due to the chocolate chips. I just form any broken slices back into shape on the cookie sheet. It helps to use a very sharp knife, and you can also try a sharp serrated knife to cut through the chips. You can use mini chips which will solve the problem, but I prefer the taste of the big chunks of chocolate. To skirt the issue altogether, roll out your dough and cut with a round cookie or biscuit cutter.
- If you make smaller cookies (i.e. more than 10-12) adjust the baking time, it will take slightly less time for them to cook.
- Expect these cookies to have a shortbread texture, which is to say delicate, and very buttery. They aren’t the same as a regular chewy or cakey cookie. Shortbread has a distinctive texture resulting from the combination of butter, sugar, and flour, without egg.
chocolate + peanut butter is a dynamic flavor duo
The simplicity is part of the charm of these cookies, you really get to taste the pb and chocolate, which is the main reason we make them in the first place 🙂 If you’re a fan of the combo, join the club:
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (important!)
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I like Jif)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar Note: you can also use granulated sugar.
- scant 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips of your choice, milk or dark
Instructions
- Cream the butter and the peanut butter together in a stand mixer, with a hand mixer, or a wooden spoon. Make sure to get the butter and peanut butter completely combined and creamy. Beat in the vanilla.
- Add the flour, sugar, and salt and mx until the dough comes together and is no longer dry.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, and turn the dough out onto a piece of waxed paper. Gently pull the dough together and form it into a log. If it is still crumbly, work it with your hands until it holds together smoothly. Roll it up in the paper, smoothing the shape as you go. Twist the ends securely and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours. The log will be roughly 7 1/2–8 inches long.
- While the dough is chilling, pre-heat the oven to 350F
- Slice the log into slices with a sharp knife. Not too thick, not too thin, about 1/2 inch. If a slice crumbles a bit, just smoosh the dough back together. These don’t have to be perfect disks.
- Bake on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet at 350F for about 12-14 minutes, depending on how thick your cookies are. The cookies will not be browned, and they may look undone, but don’t over bake. One of the joys of shortbread cookies is that they fall apart and melt in your mouth.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.
Nutrition
don’t forget to pin!
Why can’t you use natural peanut butter?
You can definitely use it, but I think the natural peanut butter is more oily and may not give as good a result. At the very least, make sure it is well blended before you add it!
Well, I ground my own so it was not oily, I increased the flour by 1 teaspoon, and kneeded the dough for about 25 turns before rolling in parchment, rested it in the fridge for about 20 min. Cut and baked and it was not as fragile as so many have noted. I think the kneeding helped compact it. I used mini chips and had no problems chopping through the dough. Thanks and Yum!
Sounds good!
Tried to make this tonight… Nothing went right. Did exactly what the recipe had asked for and it just kept crumbling. Had a hard time wrapping it in the wax paper because it kept falling apart. When it came time to cut it i wasnt even able to cut it with out it falling apart. Tried to throw it in the freeze and still the same problem. Was pretty disappointed.
I just made these again today Marc-Andre, so they are fresh in my mind. When you finish mixing the dough it should be well combined and not crumbly. Did you make sure to start with room temperature butter, and completely cream it together with the peanut butter? Also be sure that you measured your flour correctly — I always fluff it first to loosen it, then scoop it with the measuring cup and level it off. As for the slicing, the chips do cause it to crumble a bit, and I just reform the disk on the baking sheet. I urge you to try again!
These are only the second cookies I’ve ever made. They are DIVINE. No problems with crumbling. I used salted butter accidentally, and still put in the sea salt, and there is a lovely little after taste of salt. I’m keeping this recipe forever. Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to comment Elena — I am so happy you loved them, and I’m honored to have my recipe be your second cookie ever!!
Just tried this recipe, and agreed with what others have said it was a bit crumbly when slicing them but was able to pack them back on – though hard to get a disc shape again. After baking they definitely didn’t still look like discs like the above picture…just normal cookie shaped.
Tastes really nice but….so very crumbly, need to be delicate picking it up to eat, so have the same issues as Franklin, not sure how I will transfer them…or even bring these to someone else’s house! Any solutions? Anyone else have this issue?
Hi, I was just wondering if these work as a drop cookie too?
You can definitely do them that way, Samantha. You could form balls and then flatten them slightly, since shortbread dough pretty much holds its shape.
Can you use real smooth peanut butter?
Sure Cass!
Any chance you can put the ingredients up in grammes or oz’s please
or a dog named “Hoover” !!!
I did enjoy the peanut butter and chocolate chips but it seemed a bit floury to me didnt taste right what should i do to fix it so it doesnt taste like that
Not sure, Hallie. Shortbread does have a different taste than other cookies, the butter (or in this case peanut butter) and the flour mix to create the distinctive texture and taste. You may want to try a different recipe…have you tried my fourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies? https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2013/11/flourless-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
I’ve always thought that my mom’s shortbread recipe was the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve tried a lot. I haven’t tried these yet but my first thought was that you need to cut the flour in half and then use corn starch to replace half the flour. This makes them melt in your mouth more. My mom’s recipe is 1lb of butter at room temperature and beat with beaters for at least 10 minutes. Blend together 2 cups flour, 2 cups corn starch and 1 cup icing sugar. Blend into butter, roll into balls and flatten on cookie tray. Bake at 300 for 20 min. Must be completely cool before eating, or the flavour won’t be there. I’ve also made the as a gluten free and they turned out amazing.
Made them this afternoon; turned out perfectly. Took suggestion of sprinkling sea salt on them after they were cooked. Yummy!
Thanks for taking the time to let us know, Wayne!
I just made these cookies and they are very tasty, but like many others, all of my slices crumbled. It’s not so neat as making a log of dough, but for the next batch I decided to use a 2-tablespoon scoop to scoop the dough onto a foil-lined cookie sheet and used my fingers to flatten it. Then I froze the dough and put it in a resealable container.