Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies are the perfect blend of rich chocolate and peanut butter flavors. You will love this delicious twist on the classic peanut butter cookie!
Love peanut butter and chocolate recipes? Be sure to also check out this fantastic Buckeye Brownie Cookie recipe!
Ingredients you will need
- Shortening (regular or butter flavor)
- Creamy peanut butter
- Brown sugar
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
Making Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
We all love a perfect, soft, sweet peanut butter cookie. It’s even better with chocolate!
To make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, you’ll begin by beating together the shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Then add the egg and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add this to the wet mixture and stir well.
A cookie scoop is a very useful tool for creating perfectly sized cookies. You’ll want each dough ball to be about 1 1/2 inches across. If you don’t have a scoop, you can use a spoon.
Roll each cookie dough ball between your hands to create a smooth ball. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet with at least 1 inch between them.
Flatten each cookie dough ball with a fork to create the unique peanut butter cookie crisscross pattern.
Bake your chocolate peanut butter cookies at 375ºF for 7-8 minutes until set. Cool them for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
We love these cookies with a tall glass of ice cold milk! Perfect after school snack or anytime a sweet tooth needs a treat.
Can I use Butter Instead of Shortening?
You may notice the shortening called for in the recipe and be wondering if you could use butter instead. Well, yes, you can! But before you decide, here’s what we found when testing this recipe by making it with butter and then shortening.
Shortening Results – the chocolate peanut butter cookies made with shortening were thick and soft. They did not spread much while baking, but did rise up a bit. In our little blind taste test at home, the shortening cookie won!
Butter Results – the cookies made with butter did spread while baking and were much thinner than the cookies made with shortening. They tasted very good and had a chewier texture.
Here is a side by side of the cookies; one made with butter and one with shortening:
Now, here they are again, but showing the inside of the cookies:
Do you know which is which? In the first picture, the cookie on the right was made with butter and the cookie on the left with shortening. In the second picture, the cookie on the bottom was made with butter and the cookie on the top is the shortening version. Both tasted great, but there was a distinct difference in texture and overall appearance.
In short, we do think the shortening works best with this recipe and is really worth a try. If you decide you would rather use butter, be sure to reduce the salt added to the cookie dough to 1/4 teaspoon (or use unsalted butter) and decrease the milk by 1 tablespoon.
Other Cookie Recipes You Will Love
3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies
Chocolate Heart Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter S’mores Sandwich Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening regular or butter flavor
- 3/4 cup cream peanut butter
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended. Add the egg and mix just until combined.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir until combined.
- Scoop the cookie dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet to form 1 to 1 ½ inch dough balls. Use a fork to press the dough down and create the traditional crisscross pattern on each cookie.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes at 375F just until set around the edges. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool.
Last Step:
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