Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

A Peanut Butter Cookie With Real Chocolate Pockets

These chocolate peanut butter cookies lean into the classic flavor combo with a generous 1½ cups of peanut butter and a full cup of chocolate chips. The brown sugar (rather than half white, half brown like most chocolate chip cookies) gives them a deeper caramel note and keeps the centers soft and chewy.

The one-hour refrigeration is the step that separates great peanut butter cookies from greasy ones. Cold dough holds its shape during baking, prevents excess spread, and gives the peanut butter flavor time to develop. Skipping this step gives flat, oily cookies with no character.

The glass-flatten move is the traditional technique that gives the cookies their signature wide, slightly cracked surface. Pressing the dough balls down firmly to 1½ inches creates more surface area for the chocolate chips to peek through and the edges to crisp.

Pro Tips

• Use a regular commercial peanut butter, not natural-style. Natural PB separates and gives oily, crumbly cookies. Smooth or chunky both work fine, just not the kind you stir.
• Cream the butter and sugar a full 3 minutes until very light and pale. Underbeating gives a denser, less tender cookie.
• Dip the bottom of the glass in sugar before each press to prevent sticking and add a sweet crackle to the surface.
• Pull the cookies when the edges are barely browned and centers still look soft. They finish setting on the sheet from residual heat.
• Cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring. Hot peanut butter cookies are extremely fragile and break with rough handling.

Variations

• Substitute peanut butter chips for half the chocolate chips for a doubly nutty cookie.
• Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before flattening for a more crackly top.
• Press a Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie right after baking for a peanut butter blossom variation.