Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · chocolate chip cookies stuffed with creamy peanut butter

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Soooo if you gave me the option between chocolate and peanut butter, of course I’m going to choose chocolate.

That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy peanut butter. I actually really do! Sometimes when I want a quick breakfast or a snack I’ll just have some peanut butter toast. I actually have lots of peanut butter recipes on the blog, which you can scroll to the bottom of this post to browse my peanut butter recipes. I love using it on pancakes and in oatmeal!

Maybe you’ve missed it, but right before sharing this recipe I released my guide to the Best Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie! In that recipe, I go into more details about how to nail the perfect stuffed cookie texture in terms of why I’m using the ingredients I am, ratios, technique, and more with a simple Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookie. With all of this experimenting and tasting (tasting is the fun part!), of course I just had to share the complement of a Nutella stuffed cookie - peanut butter stuffed cookies!

Now, you could follow the Nutella stuffed cookie recipe and just replace Nutella with peanut butter. Sure, that’s a-okay! But to make this cookie a little more special, we’re going to double down on the peanut butter goodness and add a whole peanut butter cup into our cookie to make some incredible stuffed chocolate chip cookies!

We’ll also top these peanut butter stuffed cookies with some special chocolate chips. I’m using swirled milk & white chocolate chips, but if you don’t have those, don’t worry! I would just recommend adding some white chocolate chips and some milk, that’s all!

I’m also going to drizzle some almond butter once the cookies have finished baking to really bring all our goodies together. Why almond butter? Well, peanut butter in my opened jar was at the end and it's too solid to put in a squeeze bottle for drizzling. Furthermore, the new unopened jar of peanut butter was crunchy salted caramel, so that won’t work! You could use a crunchy peanut butter in your filling if you really want, but the nuts in the peanut butter won’t come out of the bottle, so for drizzling you need it to be creamy! Thankfully I had a brand new jar of smooth almond butter that could be used for garnish here!

Remember to watch the video to get visual idea of how to assemble these peanut butter stuffed cookies! I love sharing video recipes to go along with the blog posts since sometimes just reading a recipe can be abstract, and in this case since we’re stuffing the cookies, you may want to see how it’s done instead of just reading about it! I release my video recipes at the same time as my blog posts, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell icon so you’re notified when those release! In the video, I also share how to stuff three other fun cookies varieties, and those recipes are also here on the blog so you can save and print out those recipe cards for later!

Tools Needed

• Large bowl
• KitchenAid
• Measuring spoons
• Baking tray
• Parchment paper
• Baking tray
• Wire rack

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies

Here are the ingredients we’ll use for this peanut butter stuffed cookies recipe. A fairly straightforward list of pantry staples if I do say so myself! The only thing you may need to run out to buy is cake flour, but if you’re a seasoned baker, I’m sure you already have it! Remember, for all measurements and the full recipe instructions, make sure you scroll down to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD! You can easily scale the quantities based on how much of the peanut butter filled cookie recipe you want to make! You can make a huge batch and freeze any extra dough, so no worries! I recommend making more instead of less, because these totally will be addictive! Also remember that you can use this same dough for any stuffed cookies you’d like, so I definitely recommend making the entire batch of batter so you can play around with lots of variety!

• All-purpose flour
• Cake flour
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar
• Egg
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Chocolate chips
• Chocolate chunks
• Reese’s peanut butter cup
• Peanut butter
• Swirl chocolate chips (if you can't find swirl, mix semi-sweet and white!)
• Extra peanut butter or almond butter, for drizzle

How to Make Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies

For the Cookie Dough for Peanut Butter Filled Cookies

1. In a large bowl, add in the sugars and butter. Start your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and run on medium speed. It will take about 30 seconds to a minute. You can also use a hand mixer.
2. When you have a smooth texture like peanut butter, add the eggs and mix again. Mix until the dough looks nice and fluffy and the color is much paler. It will take about 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
3. Sift your flour separately and then stop the mixer and add in the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder. Continue to mix until you have a nice and thick dough.
4. Stop the mixer and add in the chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. Continue mixing until they are well combined. The dough should be soft and smooth.
5. Make golf-ball sized portions of your dough and place on a baking tray that is lined with parchment paper. Allow to chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or until completely chilled.

For the Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Spoon 1 Tbsp of peanut butter per cookie onto another baking tray lined with parchment paper. Once you have your dollops, place the baking tray in the freezer and allow the peanut butter to become completely solid.
3. After your dough has chilled and the peanut butter is solid, take two portions of dough and flatten them out. Add a peanut butter cup on the bottom portion and top with the frozen peanut butter portion. Make sure you have enough room on the sides to make a lip to seal the stuffed cookie.
4. With the top portion, make a dimple to create a dome. Close the stuffed cookie and pinch the lips to a seal. Once it's all sealed, toss the ball from one hand to another while lightly pressing on it to create a nice and smooth ball.
5. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes or until you get a golden brown color on the sides. Once cooked, allow the cookies to cool down on the baking sheet for 12 to 15 minutes.
6. Then, transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. If you'd like to eat immediately, then drizzle with molten almond butter or nut butter of your choice, break open your cookie and enjoy!

Tips for the Best Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

1. Your dough should be thick and dense and should give some push as you press down on your dough. But it should be wet enough to stick to create a seal with the stuffing.
2. Bake a test cookie before making an entire batch so you can adjust the consistency. It is better to have a wetter dough than to have a dryer dough because you can always add more flour.
3. When adding your filling, make sure there is enough room on the sides of the cookie so that you can properly seal the cookie without the filling leaking out
4. Gently press the seams to seal and then toss in your hands to form a smooth round ball. No need to flatten before you bake.

Storing Leftover Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookies

You can store any unused cookie dough or baked peanut butter stuffed cookies in the fridge or freezer! Raw cookie dough will stay fresh in the fridge for up to two days, and baked cookies will stay fresh for about 1 to 2 weeks. Store raw cookie dough in a plastic bag, already rolled into dough balls. Store the baked cookies in an airtight container.

If freezing raw cookie dough, roll out your dough balls and first freeze the dough balls on a baking tray, covered with plastic wrap. Once the dough balls have been completely frozen, then transfer into a plastic bag. Raw cookie dough will stay good in the freezer for 1 to 2 months. To thaw raw cookie dough, place at room temperature or in the fridge.

Store baked cookies in the freezer by transferring into a large plastic bag. You may also freeze baked cookies for 1 to 2 months. To reheat your cookies, place in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds, or until entirely warmed through. You could also place the cookies in an air fryer at 400 F for about a minute or two. Enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

What This Cookie Dough Does Not Have

If you bake a lot, a few things in this dough will be missing from where you expect them. There is no vanilla extract. The flavors here come from the brown sugar, the browned edges, and the peanut butter doing the heavy lifting in the middle, so I never felt the dough needed it. There is no cocoa powder either, which means this is a chocolate chip cookie and not a chocolate cookie, however dark the photos look once the drizzle goes on. I use two whole large eggs rather than separating out an egg yolk, and the salt goes in dry with the flours rather than being creamed in with the butter.

The equipment list is shorter than you would guess as well. There is no whisk anywhere in this recipe and no medium bowl for dry ingredients: one large bowl and a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or a hand mixer, does the creaming and the mixing. I sift the flour separately before it goes in, and that is the only extra vessel involved. Nothing is ever cooked in a pan on the stove either. The only heat in the whole recipe is the oven at 375 F.

How the Two-Part Peanut Butter Filling Works

Most stuffed cookies hide one thing in the middle. This peanut butter filling is two things stacked. A whole Reese's peanut butter cup sits on the bottom, and a frozen dollop of plain peanut butter goes on top of it, so you get the firm candy shell and the loose, salty smear in the same bite. To make the dollops, spoon one tablespoon of peanut butter per cookie onto a parchment-lined baking tray and put the tray in the freezer until the peanut butter is completely solid. Two tablespoons of soft peanut butter would slump out of the seam the moment it hits the oven; frozen, it holds its shape long enough for the dough to close around it.

I portion the dough by hand into golf-ball sized pieces rather than using a cookie scoop, because two of those portions make one cookie and scoops give you a rounded mound rather than something you can flatten. Take two chilled portions and press each into an even layer in your palm, wide enough that there is a lip of bare dough all the way around the filling. Stack the peanut butter cup and the frozen peanut butter on the bottom disc, dimple the top disc into a dome, then close the two and pinch the lips shut. Tossing the sealed ball gently from hand to hand smooths the seam better than rolling it does. If you want them to look like a bakery counter, a scattering of sprinkles over the warm nut butter drizzle is an easy finish, though nothing in the dough mixture itself is decorated.

Quantity, Timing and Reading the Nutrition Panel

This recipe makes 20 cookies, which is a real batch rather than a test quantity, and the numbers behind it are worth knowing before you start. Prep runs about 20 minutes, the portioned dough needs at least 20 minutes in the fridge, the peanut butter needs long enough in the freezer to go solid, and the bake is 12 to 15 minutes at 375 F. Allow about an hour and a quarter from start to first cookie. The cooling is not optional: 12 to 15 minutes on the hot baking sheet, then 10 more on a wire rack, or the molten filling runs straight out when you break one open.