Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

These addictive Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies satisfy the cravings of both peanut butter and chocolate lovers! They're simple, delicious, and make for incredibly easy Christmas cookies too.

Creation of this recipe was sponsored by Toll House. All opinions are mine.

Our holiday traditions include baking lots of Christmas cookies with family and friends, snacking and talking and having a ton of laughs along the way. Let me tell you, a kitchen full of laughter is absolutely THE best. I love it!

And today we're adding to that cookie collection! These Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies got their name, because we've loaded them up with the perfect ingredient for the holidays - Toll House chocolate and peanut butter morsels. For real.

If that wasn't enough - you guessed it - we added in some extra chocolate chips too.

I attempted to take a bite and savor the flavor, but quickly found myself taking another bite and another. Yeah... savoring the flavor didn't work so great for me.

So I guess I'll be baking another batch of these soon, and maybe I'll even share a few.

Key Ingredients & Substitutions

• Butter. Softened together with the peanut butter so the two blend into one smooth base. Salted or unsalted both work; if you use salted, cut the added salt to ¼ teaspoon. Margarine works too, but use sticks rather than a soft tub spread, which has more water and gives you flatter, greasier cookies.
• Peanut butter. A creamy, no-stir peanut butter like Skippy gives the most reliable dough. Natural peanut butter that separates can make the dough oily and crumbly. Crunchy peanut butter is fine if you like a little extra texture.
• Brown and white sugar. Brown sugar keeps the centers soft and chewy, while white sugar helps the edges set. For an even softer, fudgier cookie, use all brown sugar.
• Cocoa powder. This is where the first layer of chocolate comes from. Regular unsweetened cocoa like Anthony's is what we use. Dutch-process cocoa works too and gives a darker, smoother chocolate flavor; since the dough has both baking soda and baking powder, either kind rises just fine.
• Peanut butter and milk chocolate morsels. The second layer of chocolate, plus pockets of peanut butter. We used the Toll House mixed bag, but it can be hard to find. Use ½ cup peanut butter chips and ½ cup milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips instead, and add the optional extra handful of chocolate chips if you want them extra chocolatey.
• All-purpose flour. Spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off. Scooping straight from the bag packs in extra flour and makes the cookies dry and cakey.

Helpful Tips

Soften the butter, don't melt it. Microwave the butter and peanut butter in 15 to 20 second bursts, stirring in between, just until they're soft and easy to stir. If the mixture gets hot and fully liquid, it melts the sugar, can start to cook the eggs, and leaves you with a runny dough that spreads too much in the oven.

Chill the dough if it feels soft. Because the butter and peanut butter are warmed, the finished dough can be soft and a little greasy. Cover the bowl and chill it for 30 minutes. Cold dough is easier to scoop, the cookies hold their shape and spread less, and the chocolate flavor gets deeper. You can chill it for up to 2 days; if it's too firm to scoop, let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.

Know how to tell when they're done. With dark chocolate dough you can't wait for golden-brown edges, so look for other signs. The edges should look set and dry, the tops should be puffed with a few small cracks, and the centers should still look soft and slightly underbaked. Pull them at 10 minutes for soft, fudgy cookies or 12 minutes for firmer ones. They keep setting on the hot pan during the 3 to 5 minute rest, so don't wait until the middles look firm.

Scoop evenly and press with a fork. A 1-inch cookie scoop keeps every cookie the same size so they all bake at the same rate. Pressing each ball with a fork gives them the classic peanut butter cookie look and flattens them just enough to bake evenly through the middle.

Line your pans. A sheet of parchment paper keeps the chocolate bottoms from scorching, which is hard to spot on a dark cookie. Bake one sheet at a time on the center rack, and let the pan cool before you load the next batch so the dough doesn't start melting before it goes in.

Variations

• Peanut butter chips. Swap the mixed morsels for a full cup of Reese's peanut butter chips for a bigger peanut butter punch against the chocolate dough.
• Gluten-free. Replace the flour with a 1-to-1 gluten-free baking blend that contains xanthan gum, such as King Arthur Measure for Measure. Chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking, since gluten-free dough is softer, and check that your chips and cocoa are labeled gluten-free.
• Peanut butter cup. Fold in a cup of chopped peanut butter cups, store-bought or homemade peanut butter cups, in place of half the morsels.
• Salty-sweet. Stir in ½ cup chopped roasted peanuts, or sprinkle a pinch of flaky sea salt over the cookies before they go into the oven.
• Holiday. Mix in red and green candy-coated chocolates, or press a few onto the tops as soon as the cookies come out of the oven.

Serving Ideas

A tall glass of cold milk is the classic partner here, and it's how we serve them at home. For dessert, sandwich a scoop of Chunky Double Chocolate Ice Cream between two cookies and freeze them for an hour to make ice cream sandwiches. They're also a great addition to a Hot Chocolate Charcuterie Board for dunking.

During the holidays, these dark cookies look great on a cookie tray next to lighter ones like Peppermint Snowball Christmas Cookies. They travel well, so they're a good choice for cookie exchanges, bake sales, and tins for neighbors and teachers.

Storing & Freezing

Store the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They don't need to be refrigerated. To keep them soft, tuck a slice of bread into the container; the cookies pull moisture from it and stay chewy.

To freeze baked cookies, let them cool completely, then freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet until firm. Move them to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them on the counter for 20 to 30 minutes, or warm one in the microwave for about 10 seconds for a just-baked taste.

The dough freezes well too. Scoop it into balls, freeze them on a lined baking sheet until solid, then store them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. There's no need to thaw them all the way: let the dough balls sit on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes so you can press them with a fork, then bake as directed, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the baking time. Unbaked dough also keeps in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days.

More Chocolate Peanut Butter Recipes

If you love these chocolate peanut butter cookies, be sure to check out these other delicious recipes:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
• Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels
• My Famous Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake

More Cookie Recipes

Need more cookies for the jar or the holiday tray? Try one of these next:

• Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
• Rocky Road Cookies
• No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies with Peanut Butter
• Caramel Stuffed Salted Pretzel Cookies
• Mama's Jumbo Snickerdoodle Cookies
• Chocolate Dipped Icebox Cookies

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