If you’re a fan of the classic chocolate and peanut butter combo, these chocolate peanut butter cookies are about to become your new favorite treat! Rich, fudgy and downright irresistible straight from the oven—or with a glass of cold milk!
Why this recipe works
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. This recipe adds just enough chocolate to the peanut butter to make them awesome.
RELATED – You’ll also love my Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies. With a subtle hint of cinnamon and chocolate combined, you’ll be in cookie heaven!
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Ingredient Info and Substitution Suggestions
Get all measurements, ingredients, and instructions in the printable version at the end of this post.
SHORTENING – Regular or butter flavored shortening will work for this recipe. You can substitute butter in a pinch but it will change the texture of the cookies.
FLOUR – It’s always important to properly measure your flour when baking. It’s best to use the scoop and sweep method. Gently scoop flour into a measuring cup using a spoon until it’s overflowing. Use the flat end of a butter knife to sweep off the excess flour. Do not pack the flour or tap the measuring cup on the counter, you will end up with more flour than needed!
COCOA – Just like with flour, you have to be careful when measuring cocoa. If you pack it into the measuring cup or scoop it out of the container using the measuring cup, it will be way more than the recipe intends, causing your dough to be too dry.
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
These step by step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. You can Jump to Recipe to get the printable version of this recipe, complete with measurements and instructions at the bottom.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large mixing 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 tablespoons (using a cookie scoop works great) 2 inches apart onto ungreased insulated 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 wire cooling racks to cool completely.
Frequently Asked Questions & Expert Tips
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Serving Suggestions
Serve warm with a tall glass of cold milk or a hot cup of coffee for the perfect anytime treat.
I hope you love these as much as we do!
What others are saying about these cookies
Absolutely phenomenal recipe! These cookies are wonderful and as a baker myself, the dough is the easiest cookie dough I have ever worked with. Follow the recipe as it is posted and you will not fail! I have made these cookies twice now in just one week’s time! So thankful I found it!
~ Janice
This cookie recipe was perfect! First peanut butter cookies I ever made! Love that cocoa was included to give them a kick of chocolate with the peanut butter. They turned out perfectly! Super yummy! 💗
~ Kristina
I just finished a batch of these. I substituted the shortening for butter. After I put the dough on the cookie sheets, I put the pans in the freezer for about 15 minutes. I love a soft cookie and these have a great soft texture.
~Laura
More Cookie Recipes
- Chocolate Mint Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Filled Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Whoopie Pies
- Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
IMPORTANT – There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Pin It Rate ItIngredients
- ½ cup shortening or butter flavored shortening
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 ¼ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa DO NOT pack into measuring cup, scoop and sweep only
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
Things You’ll Need
Before You Begin
- You can substitute butter for the shortening, but the texture may be a little different.
- Just like with flour, you have to be careful when measuring cocoa. If you pack it into the measuring cup or scoop it out of the container using the measuring cup, it will be way more than the recipe intends, causing your dough to be too dry.
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.1/2 cup shortening, 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 large egg
- Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- Drop by heaping tablespoonsful (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.
Nutrition
The recipes on this blog are tested with a conventional gas oven and gas stovetop. It’s important to note that some ovens, especially as they age, can cook and bake inconsistently. Using an inexpensive oven thermometer can assure you that your oven is truly heating to the proper temperature. If you use a toaster oven or countertop oven, please keep in mind that they may not distribute heat the same as a conventional full sized oven and you may need to adjust your cooking/baking times. In the case of recipes made with a pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, or other appliance, a link to the appliances we use is listed within each respective recipe. For baking recipes where measurements are given by weight, please note that results may not be the same if cups are used instead, and we can’t guarantee success with that method.
This post originally appeared here on Apr 6, 2011.
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CJ says
Kinda bummed with how these turned out. They looked so good but it just had a weird taste and I don’t think I’ll make them again:(
Amanda Formaro says
Sorry you didn’t like them!
Kristina says
I made these for a holiday cookie party and they were a hit! I made two adjustmentsI used chunky peanut butter instead of creamy. Maybe this helped make it more peanut-ey? I see some have commented it wasn’t very peanut-ey but I thought it was a good balance.
My second change is one I think takes the cookie to a whole new level- I topped each cookie with an wrapped Reese’s peanut butter bell. They got a little melty in the oven but once cooled, they were AMAZING! Thank you for the recipe! 😊
Amanda Formaro says
Love the addition of the Reeses peanut butter bell, so glad they were a hit!
P Malloy says
Too much chocolate takes away from the peanut butter flavor I will stick to my old peanut butter recipe
Christina says
Do these freeze ok?
Amanda Formaro says
Yes! Just like peanut butter cookies :)
Jen says
Good and super soft!! but VERY chocolatey, I didnt eally taste the peanut butter, though my kids said they did! And my husband ate 3 right off the cooling rack ;)
I think maybe if we added in some reeses pieces or peanut butter chips ot would have made the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate just a little bit better :) thanks for the recipe!!!
Amanda Formaro says
Glad you enjoyed them Jen!
Ca says
Can I use butter? I don’t buy shortening anymore.
Amanda Formaro says
yes
Alice says
Do you need to use shortening ,can I justuse butter?
Amanda Formaro says
butter will work
Rebecca Mangrum says
These sound amazing and I can’t wait to try them. I was wondering if I could substitute self-rising flour and leave out the salt and baking soda of course.
Amanda Formaro says
I have not tried it, but here’s some information I found:
There are some cases in which you can substitute the same amount of self-rising flour for the amount of all-purpose flour called for in a recipe. If a recipe calls for ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 1 cup of all-purpose flour, it’s safe to swap in self-rising flour.
Colleen says
The cookies had a great texture and were not dry. However, the flavor was just ok.
Amanda Formaro says
The cocoa does mellow the flavor a little.
Lynn says
These cookies are very good. I followed another commenter’s suggestion of fluffing the flour and cocoa before scooping and leveling. I made the recipe exactly as written, baking for 7 minutes. They turned out perfectly. Thanks so much for a great and easy recipe.
Amanda Formaro says
Hooray! So glad you loved them , thanks Lynn!
Janna says
These cookies look like just what I’ve been looking for to serve as an after school snack!
Janice says
I just made my first batch of these and they are awesome! I used Tenderflake lard because I had no shortening, I did the scoop and sweep with the flour and cocoa and baked for exactly 8 mins. Perfection!
Amanda Formaro says
Yay, so glad you loved them, thanks Janice!
Cindi says
Very very good! Baked 7 minutes and perfect! So important to fluff any dry ingredients then scoop and level otherwise dry cookie. I added 1/4 cup caramel morsels and 1/4cup chocolate chip. I also used the butter shortening.
Amanda Formaro says
Love the addition of the caramel morsels, great idea!
Donna says
Hi, I just made these and they were cooled and they seemed to be dry? Can you tell me what I did wrong?
Are they supposed to be like that? Help
Amanda Formaro says
Hi Donna. If they dried out, I would guess one of two things. Either they baked too long, they need to be slightly underbaked. Or too much cocoa was used. When measuring the cocoa, use the same scoop and sweep type method that you do with flour. Do not pack the cocoa into the measuring cup. Hope that helps!
Terri says
This looks like a good one, but I would skip the shortening. I never like adding oil or butter or shortening to any recipe, so I do my best to avoid it.
Mike Taylor says
Perfect midnight snack, my girlfriend and I were craving something with milk, peanut butter, and cocoa powder in it and this came up…so we made them at quite literally midnight. These are delicious, thank you for posting.
Amanda Formaro says
Oh how fun! Love a good midnight snack :)
Lynette says
These cookies are fantastic! I will definitely be making them again!
Amanda Formaro says
Thank you Lynette, so glad you liked them!
Twila says
I 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
So glad you enjoyed them Twila!
Lizzie says
Recipe sounds good.
Did you really mean to drop by
heaping teaspoonfuls? Seems that would make a tiny cookie. Could you have meant by heaping tablespoonfuls? Thanks.
Amanda Formaro says
Yes thank you! I will correct it :)
Kevin says
I 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
Thanks Kevin! So glad you liked them, my family loves these :)
ann knoble says
very good