My family loves my soft peanut butter cookies and my Nutella peanut butter cookies, so I decided to create a chocolate version of this fave. That was easy to do by just substituting some of the flour with cocoa powder. Nice and soft and full of chocolate peanut buttery flavor, yum!
I love this dough. It’s such an easy recipe and comes together nicely. I haven’t substituted butter for the shortening, so if you decide to do that I’m afraid I can’t offer up any experienced advice. I have used both regular shortening and butter flavored shortening, both with great results.
You’d also love my Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies. With a subtle hint of cinnamon and chocolate combined, you’ll be in cookie heaven!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening or butter flavored shortening
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
- Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.
- Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (using a cookie scoop works great) 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to racks to cool completely.
Amanda Formaro
President at Amanda's Creative Studio, Inc.
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four grown children. She loves to bake, cook, make kid's crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also a craft book author five times over and product developer as well as the owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can find her on social media by using the buttons to the left!
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Lynette says
October 24, 2014 at 10:50 amThese cookies are fantastic! I will definitely be making them again!
Amanda Formaro says
October 27, 2014 at 7:16 amThank you Lynette, so glad you liked them!
Twila says
February 18, 2014 at 5:21 pmI just made your cookies exactly as you wrote the receipe. Really good. I needed more so I made a second batch and used margarine. I usually use margarine for cookies because it tends to melt better and does not give you such a hard cookie like butter does. Just my opinion but I think that the flavor is better than shortening. Also I added some chocolate chunks and some peanuts. They were amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
Amanda Formaro says
February 21, 2014 at 7:32 amSo glad you enjoyed them Twila!
Kevin says
January 19, 2013 at 2:23 pmI stumbled onto this recipe a couple of days ago .. it looked great so I tried them the next day. Wow .. these made it to my top 5 list. Just the right balance of peanut butter and chocolate IMO.
Also, I made the recipe with butter vs. shortening .. turned out terrific in my opinion.
Thanks.
Amanda says
January 20, 2013 at 8:14 amThanks Kevin! So glad you liked them, my family loves these :)
ann knoble says
August 25, 2012 at 1:58 pmvery good
Lisa @ Snappy Gourmet says
March 17, 2012 at 8:23 pmCan’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter! These look great!
Kiersten says
February 18, 2012 at 10:49 amThank you so much for this recipe! I’m going to make them with my kids later today! I’m 39 weeks pregnant with baby #3 and have been craving a cookie EXACTLY like this so I am soooo excited to try it! Must get in those last calorie splurges before baby comes :)
(found you with a google search, btw!)
Amanda says
February 25, 2012 at 7:57 pmI hope you enjoyed them Kiersten!
Laura says
February 6, 2012 at 9:00 amHubs asked for chocolate peanut butter cookies last evening, so I googled it and found your recipe. Hubs was concerned they’d be crunchy, but they are soft and scrumptious!! We added white chocolate chips as well as butterscotch chips. Hubby and boys LOVED them! ;)
Amanda Formaro says
February 7, 2012 at 7:02 pmSo glad that you liked them! I love how soft they are too! :)
Jamie says
January 21, 2012 at 3:30 amTotally totally totally yummers!
Amanda D says
December 10, 2011 at 8:28 pmThank You a Million Times!!! Finally a good chocolate cookie recipe that uses unsweetened cocoa! My daughter has food sensitivities (gluten, egg, cane sugar) so baking sweets is pretty much fruit and oat-based and I’ve been dying to give her something truly decadent. This is a hit! I was able to easily substitute the brown sugar for an amber agave nectar and my usual egg and gluten subs and the flavor and texture are just amazing! (They usually fall flat when I try to alter a recipe.) Now that we’ve got some rich chocolaty treats baking in the house, it finally smells like the holidays!
Amanda Formaro says
December 11, 2011 at 7:19 amThat is an amazing comment, I am so glad to hear that Amanda, thanks so much for sharing that with me! I’m so glad you have a chocolate cookie that will work with your daughter’s health u=issues. Yay!
Sonya says
November 17, 2011 at 6:05 amI made these the other day and they were a huge hit :) I added in chopped salted peanuts and used a large cookie scoop to portion the dough out. They tasted like a brownie almost :) I also used real butter without any problems! thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Amanda Formaro says
November 18, 2011 at 12:21 pmThanks so much Sonya!
Amanda R says
October 14, 2011 at 4:09 pmI’m so excited to try this recipe. I put chocolate peanut butter cookies into a Google search and when I saw your site pop up, I knew this was the recipe for me!
From one Amanda to another, thanks in advance for this great recipe!
Amanda Formaro says
October 14, 2011 at 7:59 pmHow fun, thanks Amanda! I know you’ll love them :)
Liezl says
September 23, 2011 at 11:44 pmSo delicious! We loved them! Thanks for the recipe <3
Amanda Formaro says
September 24, 2011 at 7:44 amThanks Liezl, so glad you liked them!
hayley says
August 11, 2011 at 6:21 pmi just made these cookies and they are so easy to make!!! Can't wait for them to cool off :) thanks for the recipe!!!
Amanda says
April 16, 2011 at 5:47 pmLove the addition of the pb chips part, those sound great!
Barb, sfo says
April 16, 2011 at 2:51 pmThese are delicious! I added 3/4 cup of peanut butter/chocolate chips. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. It made 5 dozen cookies.
Little Brick Ranch says
April 15, 2011 at 2:49 pmYES!!! Ill take a dozen!! If you get a sec, pop on over to Foodie Friday and link up! Oh, and I found you at Blue Cricket Design. :)
Julie says
April 13, 2011 at 2:05 pmNow THAT'S my kind of pb cookie! Yum :)
thehungryhomebody says
April 12, 2011 at 7:30 pmYUM! My hubby's aways asking why peanut butter and chocolate cant be in the same cookie and now I finally have a recipe to make for him. thanks for sharing!
Megan says
April 12, 2011 at 8:33 amI bet these are fantastic! :)
Avanika [YumsiliciousBakes] says
April 11, 2011 at 3:20 pmOh yumm these look gorgeous Amanda
Carissa says
April 10, 2011 at 8:29 amWhat a genius cookie idea. Love it!
Found you on Tatertots and Jello
Michelle says
April 9, 2011 at 10:28 pmoh my …what a combination chocolate meets peanut butter swooon….
Lyuba @ Will Cook For Smiles says
April 9, 2011 at 12:15 pmSounds delicious! Great combination!
Tonya says
April 9, 2011 at 8:47 amThese look & sound delicious!! Two of my favorite things…chocolate & peanut butter…you can't go wrong with that combo! Stopping by from tatertots & jello!
Amanda says
April 9, 2011 at 7:21 amThanks everyone, they are awesome! Glad you found me anon! :) :)
Anonymous says
April 8, 2011 at 10:24 pmI just found your site via tastespotting.com All I have to say is, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have died and gone to dessert heaven! All of your treats (not just this one) look AMAZING!
Allison @ Alli 'n Son says
April 8, 2011 at 1:58 pmWhat a great idea! So simple, yet I never would have thought of it.
I'd love to have you share this recipe on my weekly link up, Sweet Tooth Friday. I hope to see you there. http://alli-n-son.com/2011/04/07/jelly-bean-cookies/
Krystine Stephenson says
April 8, 2011 at 1:09 pmThose look so yummy! I think I'm going to have to try them! Thanks for sharing!
http://lucyluvinyl.blogspot.com/
Miz Helen says
April 7, 2011 at 5:16 pmHi Amanda,
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, these cookies look delicious. I sure wish I had a couple right now they would be so good. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!
Velva says
April 7, 2011 at 5:15 pmOh delicious…chocolate and peanut butter, one of my favorite flavor combinations.
Velva
Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says
April 7, 2011 at 4:25 pmOh Yum—this sounds wonderful!
I Like To Cook 222 says
April 7, 2011 at 1:42 pmChocolate and peanut butter together! What could be better!
Tami says
April 7, 2011 at 8:41 amTold ya I was going to make them. http://tamiskitchentabletalk.blogspot.com/2011/04/jumbo-chocolate-peanut-butter-cookies.html
My cookie monsters gobbled them up!
Micha @Cookin' Mimi says
April 6, 2011 at 11:04 pmOh yum. I love pb cookies and adding chocolate is genius.
Sue says
April 6, 2011 at 10:47 pmWhat a great idea! Your photos are crystal clear!
Nutmeg Nanny says
April 6, 2011 at 9:36 pmThese look amazing! I love anything that has chocolate and peanut butter in the ingredient list :)
Maria says
April 6, 2011 at 8:56 pmI have to make these and soon!
Tami says
April 6, 2011 at 7:03 pmNo kidding, I'm heading to the kitchen to make these right now. How did you know that I've been craving chocolate and pnut butter?
Shelby says
April 6, 2011 at 5:42 pmOh how I wish I could eat and eat and not gain weight! LOL. These look so yummy I'd be afraid to have them around me! ;)
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
April 6, 2011 at 4:50 pmThere is always room for a new chocolate and peanut butter dessert in my life!
Cookin' Canuck says
April 6, 2011 at 4:36 pmThese look wonderful, Amanda – perfect for dunking into a glass of milk.
marla says
April 6, 2011 at 1:59 pmThese cookies look delicious! Chocolate PB is always a win :)
Katrina says
April 6, 2011 at 12:55 pmYum-meee!
Estela @ Weekly Bite says
April 6, 2011 at 12:43 pmThese look so rich & delicious!! Love the chocolate/PB combo :)