Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

December 12, 2021

The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is quite special, but when it comes to cookies, adding peanut butter into the cookie dough creates a peanut butter cookie-esque texture that I am not always in the mood for…

I love a chewy, fudgy cookie and these cookies are exactly that, but with the addition of little pools of melted peanut butter and chocolate chips with a little sea salt over the top to round out the flavors in a truly fabulous way. In other words, they are the best of both worlds – the timeless flavor combination of chocolate and peanut butter with the chewy texture that you get from a straight up chocolate cookie, plus chocolate chips and sea salt, of course.

They are amazing and you are going to love them, so let’s get them started…

Begin by gathering 1 cup of room temperature butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 2/3 cup of granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1/3 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 cup of bread flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 1/3 cup of dark chocolate chunks and 2/3 cup of smooth peanut butter.

Note: The combination of all purpose flour and bread flour used in this cookie dough is to help achieve the chewy texture. A little added bread flour really helps to give cookie dough the best texture, but if you do not have bread flour on hand, you can use 2 cups all purpose flour instead.

In a large bowl, add 1 cup of room temperature butter with 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 2/3 cup of granulated sugar and use an electric hand mixer to beat until fully combined.

Add 2 large eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy.

Combine 1/3 cup of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 cup of bread flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and add it into the bowl.

Mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined and then add 1 1/3 cups of dark chocolate chunks and fold them in until they are evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray a cookie scoop and a teaspoon measuring scoop with non-stick cooking spray.

Note: Spraying the cooking scoop with non-stick cooking spray will help the cookie dough to be released from the scoop very easily. We will be using both the front and back of the teaspoon, so spray both sides.

Use the dough scoop to drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the parchment line baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Then use the back side of the teaspoon to depress little divots into the center of each portion of dough (as in the photo above).

You want the peanut butter to be a pourable consistency, so place it into the microwave for 15-20 seconds and then use the teaspoon to drizzle the softened peanut butter into each portion of dough. Don’t worry too much about being super clean. The ones that I drizzled around a bit ended up being my favorites!

Once the cookie dough and peanut butter are assembled, bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven for 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookie feel lightly set. Transfer the baking sheets onto a heat proof surface or cooling rack and let the cooking cool for about 5 minutes before transferring them directly onto the cooling rack to continue cooling.

While the cookies are still warm, sprinkle them with some flaky sea salt and maybe even a little extra finely chopped chocolate, just to make them pretty….

The marbling of melted peanut butter and the softened dark chocolate chips with those flaky sea salt crystals are simply a thing of beauty. Can you tell that these cookies have a great fudgy texture to them by looking at their edges? I can, but I already know that it is true, but you can trust me… the texture of these cookies are fabulous.

If you love chewy chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter and being happy, then make these cookies. You’ll be so glad that you did…

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