Deliciously thick Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies inspired by Levain Bakery in New York. These chunky cookies are filled with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. There’s no chilling the dough, so they’re ready to eat in 30 minutes!
Chocolate brownie meets peanut butter cookie ❤️
These soft, chewy and oh-so-thick Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies are HEAVEN. Inspired by the famous Levain Bakery in New York, they’re big and chunky and filled with chips – both peanut butter and chocolate.
The best part is how easy they are to make. There’s no chilling the dough, so they’re ready in just 30 minutes. Boom.
why you will love this recipe
- Makes super thick and chunky cookies
- They’re soft and fudgy inside
- There’s no chilling the dough
- Ready to eat in 30 minutes!
recipe testing
In 2018, I visited Levain Bakery in New York. They’re famous for their super thick, chunky, gooey cookies. And that trip inspired my New York-style Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe – one of my most popular recipes, ever.
So since it’s COOKIE MONTH here at Sweetest Menu, and we just did Funfetti Cookies, I couldn’t wait to share a chocolate cookie recipe with you. More specifically, a copycat version of Levain Bakery’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies.
So I took everything we love about my favourite Double Chocolate Cookies but made them into a gooey peanut butter version.
These brownie-like cookies are ultra-thick, with a crusty exterior and a soft, fudgy centre filled with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. Ya welcome!
what you will need
You don’t need any special ingredients for these cookies – just the basics. Even if you can’t get hold of peanut butter chips, you can use any chips you like. They’re still guaranteed to be dee-licious.
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Egg
- Plain flour: Or all purpose flour.
- Cocoa powder: I use Dutch processed cocoa powder which offers a darker, richer colour. But natural unsweetened cocoa powder will work fine too.
- Baking soda
- Peanut butter chips: I use Reese’s peanut butter chips.
- Chocolate chips: You can use dark or milk chocolate chips.
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How do these cookies stay thick?
This recipe has been specifically designed to create NYC-style, super thick Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies. Here’s how:
- We use cold butter: Butter helps cookies spread in the oven. The warmer it is when it goes into the oven, the faster it’ll melt causing the cookie dough to spread. So by starting with cold butter, it means the butter won’t be too warm after mixing – therefore limiting the amount of cookie spreading.
- We use ALL brown sugar: Often cookie recipes will call for a mix of both caster or granulated sugar and brown sugar. But caster sugar causes cookies to spread more than brown sugar – so we choose to use 100% brown sugar for this recipe.
- We use a cold egg: Again, to keep the dough as cool as possible, we use a cold egg.
- We use LOADS of chips: As we learnt with my Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies, lots of mix-in’s will also help prevent cookies from spreading too much. So we stuff this cookie dough with as many chips as possible!
How to make new york-style cookies
Once you’ve made your cookie dough, it’s time to scoop and roll your cookie dough, right? Scoop yes, roll no.
If you want to make textured cookies like mine, you want to scoop the dough and then sort-of just piece it together. There’s no need to be perfect – and there’s no need to roll them smooth. Misshapen and messy is best!
Frequently asked questions
Yes of course! You can use milk, dark, or white chocolate chips, Caramilk or butterscotch chips. They’ll no longer be peanut butter cookies of course, but they’ll still be 100% delicious!
Cookie spreading is a common issue. In fact, I wrote an entire article about flat cookies. This recipe should create a thicker cookie, however, plenty of other factors can affect cookie spreading – for example; different ovens, warm climates, type of pans etc. So if you’re worried about your cookies spreading too much, bake one tester cookie first and see how it goes. If it spreads too much, pop your cookie dough in the fridge for one hour and try again.
Cold butter is magic for making thick cookies. But if you’d rather use softened butter, you absolutely can. You just may have to chill the dough for 1-2 hours before baking to achieve the same thickness.
I use Dutch processed cocoa powder which offers a darker, richer colour. But natural unsweetened cocoa powder will work fine too.
more NYC cookies
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Let’s Bake
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Big, thick Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies inspired by Levain Bakery in New York.
Ingredients
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, COLD (straight from the fridge), roughly chopped
- 190 grams (1 cup) brown sugar
- 1 large egg, cold
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 40 grams (1/2 cup) Dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 160 grams (1 cup) peanut butter chips
- 80 grams (1/2 cup) dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Line two baking trays with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add cold butter and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until combined and creamy. Add egg. Beat again until combined – but try not to over mix.
- Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and beat on a low speed until soft cookie dough forms. It may appear dry at first but keep mixing and it will come together.
- Add peanut butter chips and chocolate chips and beat briefly. Scoop out cookie dough, roughly 2 tablespoons per cookie, and place on prepared oven trays, leaving room for the cookie to spread.
- Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes. Leave cookies to cool completely. They will firm up as they cool.
Notes
Cocoa powder: I use Dutch processed cocoa powder which offers a darker, richer colour. But natural unsweetened cocoa powder will work fine too.
Peanut butter chips: I use Reese’s peanut butter chips for this recipe. If you don’t have access to peanut butter chips, you can swap them for another chocolate chip.
Cookie dough: If you want to make textured cookies like mine, you want to scoop the dough and then sort-of just piece it together. There’s no need to be perfect – and there’s no need to roll them smooth. Misshapen and messy is best!
Cookie spreading: This recipe should create a thicker cookie, however, if you’re worried about your cookies spreading too much in the oven, bake one tester cookie first and see how it goes. If it spreads too much, pop your cookie dough in the fridge for one hour and try again.
Cold butter: Cold butter is magic for making thick cookies. But if you’d rather use softened butter, you may have to chill the dough for 1-2 hours before baking to achieve the same thickness.
Leftovers: These cookies are soft and fudgy when fresh. They will firm up over time. I recommend heating leftover cookies in the microwave for 5-10 seconds to make them melty and gooey again.
Storage: Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
Nutrition Information
H. says
Dough was too dry.had to add some liquids.
Will not bake this one again.
Jessica Holmes says
Sorry to hear that. Did you measure the cocoa powder and plain flour using a kitchen scale? It’s super easy to over-measure dry ingredients like flour when using cup measurements and adding too much flour will create a dry dough.
Elaine vets says
I have several cookie scoops how do I know which one to use. I really want the cookies to come out perfect
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Elaine, I usually just eyeball it or use a medium cookie scoop, which equals about 1.5 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie.
Karen says
Anxious to try these for the chocolate peanut butter lovers on my Christmas list!!
Question-do you really place them as close together as the photo above appears? I usually only put 6-8 cookies per baking sheet
Jessica Holmes says
Sorry for the confusion Karen! Yes you are right. I only put six on my baking tray too. The photo is just to show what the cookie dough balls look like. Hope you and the pb lovers in your life love these!
MRS_S says
Jill says
Hi! Please try to copy Janie’s Pie Crust Cookies. Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jill, I’ve never had those but I just did a quick google search and they sound incredible!
Carolyn says
should cornstarch also be used in this recipe similar to the levain chocolate chip/walnut cookies? or does the cocoa powder help to keep the cookie form.
Jessica Holmes says
You can if you like! But I don’t find they need it.
Amanda says
I made these tonight in place of the traditional recipe from the Reece’s recipe. I love that they stayed thick. Mine stayed almost in the shape I put them down in and seemed a bit dry. What did I do wrong?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Amanda, I’m so glad they stay nice and thick for you. But if they didn’t spread at all, it would simply be a case of adding too much flour. This is easy to do if using cup measurements. I highly recommend using a baking scale for accuracy or just remove 1 tablespoon of flour next time.
Melody says
The cookies were delicious, but they weren’t as big as I thought they would be and it made about 2 dozen cookies. I made them with a 2 tbsp scoop and they cooked in the time you gave. They didn’t spread too much. What did I get wrong?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Melody, that’s an easy fix – it just sounds like your cookies were smaller than mine. Just use a bigger ball of cookie dough per cookie next time. You can make them as big or as small as you would like. I only get about 12-13 cookies per batch, so perhaps double your cookie dough balls next time.
Anna says
Easy to follow recipe and delicious. I’m not usually a fan of double chocolate cookies but these are so good! Will definitely be making these again.
Jessica Holmes says
Aww so happy to hear that Anna!
Happiness says
Hello. If i don’t have peanut butter chips can i use peanut butter straight?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, yes you could swirl some peanut butter into the batter. Or try my Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk Cookies.
Lindsey says
Made these cookies today and they were absolutely delicious! If you’re a chocolate lover like myself these are the cookies for you. Not only so yummy but also very simple to make. My entire family loved them as well and they were gone in seconds. Seriously cant wait to make them again!
Jessica Holmes says
Ohh love hearing that Lindsey!