Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
on Mar 12, 2020
I may receive compensation in the form of payment or products to supplement my posts, but all opinions remain my own. Read our disclosure policy.
These dark chocolate peanut butter cookies are thick, extra fudgy, and have a rich chocolate flavor. One part brownie + one part chocolate cookie + one part peanut butter = one extra delicious cookie!
**This recipe was originally posted January 10, 2017 and updated March 12, 2020**
It’s no secret that I love peanut butter and chocolate. I’ve made gigantic peanut butter cookies, and my double chocolate cookies are an all-time favorite. So these dark chocolate peanut butter cookies are the perfect combination of the two. They have a rich chocolate flavor, extra soft centers, and are filled with peanut butter chips.
A few years ago I started seeing all these photos of chocolate peanut butter cookies from Levian Bakery in New York City on Instagram and Pinterest, and that’s where the inspiration for this recipe came from. So while I’ve never been to Levian Bakery, I tried to emulate their cookies (or at least how they look on Insta) in this recipe. They’re gigantic, super thick, soft in the middle, and have slightly crispy edges.
Let’s talk about what makes these cookies so incredible:
- We’re using brown sugar to up the chewiness level of these cookies.
- Adding cake flour helps to make the cookies pillowy soft. We’re not using entirely cake flour though – because I still needed the cookies to have structure.
- Dutch-process cocoa gives a rich, bakery-style chocolate flavor.
- Making the cookies ginormous is key. Each cookie is about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of batter. I use a large cookie scoop or even a dry measuring cup for this.
- Then chill the dough for at least 1 hour before baking. This keeps them thick and minimizes the chances of the cookies spreading.
You’ll notice the dough is very sticky and thick – that’s ok. Using a cookie scoop definitely makes this easier. But you can also pop the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes or so before forming it into balls too if you need to. (You’ll still need to chill the dough after forming it into balls).
After they’re done baking, I like to place a few extra peanut butter chips on the top of each cookie for appearance. Because extra peanut butter chips create the perfect “Please Eat Me” cookie. (That’s a very professional culinary term)….
These cookies are extra-large, soft in the middle, super fudgy and have so many peanut butter chips. The combination of rich chocolate and salty peanut butter makes them not too sweet, and the texture makes them truly incredible.
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour*
- 1 cup dutch process cocoa*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups peanut butter chips
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl beat together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Turn the mixer down to low speed and beat in the flour mixture about 1/2 at a time. The batter will be very thick.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Form the dough into balls using about 1/4 to 1/3 cup per cookie (I use a cookie scoop), and place 3 inches apart on lined cookie sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly.
- Cover the cookie sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the cookie sheets, and bake the cookies 1 tray at a time on the middle rack of the oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the tops look just set.
- Remove from the oven and place a few peanut butter chips on the top of each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for at least 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and continue cooling.Â
Notes
- If you don't have cake flour, measure out 1 cup all-purpose flour (in addition to the 1 cup you'll already be using). Remove 3 tablespoons of flour and add in 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift the mixture together 3 times.Â
- Natural cocoa powder will work too, but Dutch-process provides a richer flavor.
- If the dough is too sticky to form into balls, refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before forming it into balls. Then refrigerate the balls as the recipe states. I use a large cookie scoop to make this process easier.
- For smaller cookies, form the dough into balls about 1.5 tablespoons in size and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- Cookie dough balls can be frozen in a freezer bag. Bake from frozen for 1-2 minutes longer.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Nutrition information is based on 1 cookie, assuming the recipe yields 16 cookies. Â
Sounds divine, Fiona — and just just the cure after drooling over the Levian cookies I’m never going to buy: thank you so much! Best regards. –Joanna
These are very wonderful cookies! I think my batter was a bit soft, but that was easily fixed with some fridge time. The cookies came out moist and rich. I had some extra dark cacao powder and mixed a bit in to darken the cookies even more. I’m not much of a baker but I love finding good recipes to try, and will enjoy using this one often. Thank you!
Been looking for new recipes again, glad I found this. Thank you! This looks really lovely 🙂
Oh my gosh!!!! These cookies were the absolute best. They turned out exactly like the pictures. I think next time I might add some chopped peanuts in them too