You’ll love these chewy chocolate peanut butter cookies! They taste fantastic, use only 5 simple ingredients, and will be ready to eat in under 20 minutes. Chocolate and peanut butter lovers won’t get enough of this easy cookie recipe!
Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate
Remember that fluffy, classic peanut butter cookie with the fork marks in it that grandma used to make? Well, this peanut butter chocolate cookie recipe takes everything you love about your favorite nostalgic treat and adds homemade chocolate. The results? A rich, chocolatey cookie with a natural peanut butter taste. Yum!
There’s no need to make this recipe from scratch. We used peanut butter cookie cake mix as it creates the perfect cookie dough while also lowering the prep time. It can’t get any easier (and tastier) than that!
Why You’ll Love this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe:
- Unbeatable Taste: Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven!
- Super Quick & Easy: Get these cookies from the kitchen to the dessert table in under 20 minutes!
Be sure to try these brown butter peanut butter cookies too!
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then beat in the wet ingredients until the dough is smooth.
- Make balls of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Use a fork to press a crisscross pattern into the top of the cookies.
- Sprinkle each cookie with a little extra sugar, and then bake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes. Serve and enjoy your cookies!
Ingredient Notes
- Peanut Butter Cookie Mix: Forms the base of our cookies.
- Cocoa Powder: If you want a less chocolatey cookie you can substitute this for ½ cup of chocolate chips instead. The cookie will taste more like a peanut butter cookie and have chocolate pieces in it.
- Egg: Binds the cookie dough together.
- Salted Butter: You can use unsalted butter if you prefer. I always add a pinch of salt when using unsalted butter.
While you can use any unsweetened cocoa powder you prefer, I like to use natural cocoa powder here because the baking soda helps to neutralize the acidity of natural cocoa powder, letting its rich flavor shine.
Peanut butter cookie dough is exceptionally dense and does not spread well in the oven. Adding the criss-cross fork marks presses the dough down to an even thickness, allowing the cookies to bake more evenly.
Absolutely! Simply add ¼ cup of cocoa powder to your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe. You may need to add a bit of water to the dough to make up for the addition of the cocoa powder.
Chocolate peanut butter cookies can become dry if you add too much cocoa powder. Be sure to measure the cocoa powder using a kitchen scale or the spoon-and-level method to ensure that you don’t add too much!
What to Serve with Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Believe it or not, these rich peanut butter chocolate cookies can taste even better when served with various beverages and sides. Here are a few of ours that you’ve got to try!
- Homemade hot chocolate
- Copycat Frosty
- Boozy Oreo milkshake
- No churn vanilla bean and cheesecake icecream
Make Ahead Instructions
Chocolate peanut butter cookies can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to serve.
The cookie dough can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator up to 3 days in advance of when you plan to bake it or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Storage Instructions
Store leftover chocolate peanut butter cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Enjoy at room temperature or gently reheated in the microwave.
Freezing Instructions
Freeze fully-baked chocolate peanut butter cookies in an airtight container or Ziplock bag for up to 1 month. Let come to room temperature before enjoying.
Substitutions
- You can use your favorite homemade peanut butter cookie recipe instead of boxed mix; simply add cup of cocoa powder and a bit of water until the dough comes together.
- You can use any cocoa powder you have on hand for this recipe.
- If you want a less chocolatey cookie you can substitute this for ½ cup of chocolate chips instead.
- You can use neutral oil, such as vegetable, canola, or coconut oil, in place of the butter.
- You can top these cookies with brown sugar instead of granulated sugar.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve these cookies as part of your Christmas cookie spread!
- Take 2 cookies and sandwich them with chocolate buttercream frosting or peanut butter to make cookie sandwiches.
- Serve them alongside a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
Tips for the Best Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- If you don’t have multiple baking sheets, be sure to cool your baking sheet between batches. You can also cover the cookie dough and refrigerate it between batches to help ensure that the cookies don’t flatten out too much. To help your baking sheet cool faster you can fan it in the air several times or hold it in front of a fan to help cool it.
- Be sure to whisk together the cookie mix and cocoa powder well before adding the other ingredients or you may end up with peanut butter cookie mix chunks in your cookies. The cocoa tends to be fine enough it doesn’t clump but the cookie mix may if not well mixed.
- Don’t overbake the cookies. If they are overbaked, they will get hard and crispy. The cookies should have a set look to them and the edges should be just firm when you remove them from the oven. They will continue to set as they cool.
- These cookies can be eaten warm or cooled. If you want to reheat them you can microwave them for 10 seconds but be sure to include a damp paper towel when doing so to keep the cookies soft!
Peanut butter and chocolate cookies make a wonderful pair, don’t they? These are the perfect cookies to share with family and friends, but we won’t blame you if you have them all to yourself. They’re just that good!
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 17.5 ounces peanut butter cookie mix 496 grams (1 bag/box)
- ¼ cup cocoa powder 21 grams
- 1 large egg 50 grams
- 5 tablespoons salted butter 71 grams, melted (⅝ stick)
- Granulated sugar optional, for garnish
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and line one or two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Whisk the cookie mix and cocoa powder together in a large mixing bowl.17.5 ounces peanut butter cookie mix, ¼ cup cocoa powder
- Using a hand mixer, beat in the egg and melted butter until the dough is smooth, about 2 minutes.1 large egg, 5 tablespoons salted butter
- Using a 1½-tablespoon cookie portion scoop, make balls of dough and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet(s).
- Use a fork to gently press a criss-cross pattern into the top of the cookies but don’t squash them totally flat.
- Sprinkle each cookie with a little sugar, optional, and then bake for 7-10 minutes, or just until the edges are set.Granulated sugar
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack or serving warm.
Notes
- You can use your favorite homemade peanut butter cookie recipe instead of boxed mix; simply add cup of cocoa powder and a bit of water until the dough comes together.
- You can use any cocoa powder you have on hand for this recipe.
- If you want a less chocolatey cookie you can substitute this for ½ cup of chocolate chips instead.
- You can use neutral oil, such as vegetable, canola, or coconut oil, in place of the butter.
- You can top these cookies with brown sugar instead of granulated sugar.
- If you don’t have multiple baking sheets, be sure to cool your baking sheet between batches. You can also cover the cookie dough and refrigerate it between batches to help ensure that the cookies don’t flatten out too much. To help your baking sheet cool faster you can fan it in the air several times or hold it in front of a fan to help cool it.
- Be sure to whisk together the cookie mix and cocoa powder well before adding the other ingredients or you may end up with peanut butter cookie mix chunks in your cookies. The cocoa tends to be fine enough it doesn’t clump but the cookie mix may if not well mixed.
- Don’t overbake the cookies. If they are overbaked, they will get hard and crispy. The cookies should have a set look to them and the edges should be just firm when you remove them from the oven. They will continue to set as they cool.
- These cookies can be eaten warm or cooled. If you want to reheat them you can microwave them for 10 seconds but be sure to include a damp paper towel when doing so to keep the cookies soft!
- Nutritional information does not include optional ingredients.
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