Scrap the traditional stuff and check out these amazing loaded peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with nuts, m&m’s, dark and white chocolate chips, and chunks!
It’s insane to me the only cookie recipes I have on my site are cheesecake stuffed and protein cookies. I mean what on earth is going on that I don’t have more? This recipe here stems back over 20 years from an old job and is my attempt to recreate them and let me reiterate that they are seriously amazing!
Two Secrets to Making the Best Cookies
To me, there are 2 secrets to ensure your cookies are tender, moist, and nothing short of delicious. Here are each of those tips.
- Brown Sugar – Brown sugar has a higher moisture content than plain sugar ensuring these tasty treats will be moister and more flavorful.
- Under Cooking – I’m not telling you to serve these up raw, but always go a few minutes under because once your cookies come out of the oven they will continue to cook until cool; We call this carry overcooking.
On the sugar front, I like to do a combination of brown and regular sugar but you could absolutely use all light brown sugar.
Should I Flatten the Cookies Before Baking
When making these, you should not flatten them with your finger or a spoon. They will flatten out as they bake at 350° and sort of creating layers as they spread out. When it does this the cookies will begin to steam on the inside making them really moist.
I will say if you want really big flat cookies then go ahead, flatten away but they’ll be crispy and not soft in the middle.
How to Make Them
These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are actually pretty dang easy to make and here’s how you do it!
- Start by creaming some softened unsalted butter together with brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for 5-7 minutes or until it’s light and fluffy.
- Add in 1 large egg at a time until they are completely mixed in. In other words, don’t add the second egg until the first one is mixed in.
- Simply pour in your vanilla and continue to mix on medium speed.
- In a separate large bowl mix together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined.
- Turn the speed down to low and add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer in 3 batches until mixed in.
- Remove the mixing bowl and fold in the chocolate chips, m&m’s, peanut butter chips, and walnuts using a rubber spatula until incorporated.
Ok, so the cookie dough is finished up and now it’s time to scoop them onto cookie sheet trays lined with parchment paper. Like I said in the step-by-step video below I like them to be bigger so mine is 3 tablespoon scoops.
Scoop them out from the dough onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper about 4”-5” apart from each other and then bake away at 350° for 16-18 minutes or until the edges start to turn light brown.
Cool these completely before eating, or eat while warm because why not?
Why Are my Cookies Flat
Cookies can come out flat because of 3 main reasons and here they are:
Over Mixing – If you mix the dough too much it can overbeat the ingredients which won’t allow them to rise to their full peak in the oven.
The dough is too Hot – If your dough is too hot/warm they’ll fall too fast in the oven and slowly create layers as they spread out. Try chilling them after placing them on the sheet tray in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking.
No Baking Powder – There are quite a few recipes out there that do not use baking powder. I believe this ingredient is essential to tall thick cookies. If the recipe you love doesn’t have any of it, I’d add a teaspoon or 2.
Additional Ingredients
Here are some of the additional ingredients you can add to your batter:
- Walnuts
- Pecans
- Peanuts
- Pistachios
- M&M’s
- Reese’s pieces
- Oats
- Cinnamon
Skip those tiny little Christmas cookies and get into making these because they will blow the other ones right off the dessert table!
Recipe Chef Notes + Tips
On the sugar front, I like to do a combination of brown and regular sugar but you could absolutely use all light brown sugar.
Scrape the bowl of the standing mixer often to ensure all of the ingredients are being incorporated.
You can mix in the final ingredients into the dough with the stand mixer, but they may break up quite a bit because of the torque from the mixer.
These are large so I baked 6 on a tray at once, but If you prefer smaller cookies please feel free to do so.
How to Store: Add them in plastic bags and keep them at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
How to Freeze: Both the dough or baked cookies will freeze well covered in a container or plastic wrap for up to 3 months.
More Amazing Treat Recipes
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Video
Loaded Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sticks softened unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoons vanilla
- 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup candy covered chocolates
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Add the butter and sugars to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed to high speed for 5-7 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Add in 1 egg at a time until combined and then add in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and then add it to the mixer on low speed in 3 batches until mixed in. Be sure to stop the mixer in between adding the flour to scrape the sides.
- Remove the bowl and fold in the chocolate chips, candy, peanut butter chips and walnuts with a rubber spatula until completely mixed in.
- using a 3-tablespoon scooper scoop out the dough onto cookies sheet trays 4 to 5 inches apart from one another to allow them to spread out. It will take 3 sheet trays to get to 18 cookies
- Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes or until there is a light brown edge around the outside.
- Cool to room temperature on a rack and serve
Notes
- On the sugar front, I like to do a combination of brown and regular sugar but you could absolutely use all light brown sugar.
- Scrape the bowl of the standing mixer often to ensure all of the ingredients are being incorporated.
- You can mix in the final ingredients into the dough with the stand mixer, but they may break up quite a bit because of the torque from the mixer.
- These are large so I baked 6 on a tray at once, but If you prefer smaller cookies please feel free to do so.
- To Store: Add them in plastic bags and keep them at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
- To Freeze: Both the dough or baked cookies will freeze well covered in a container or plastic wrap for up to 3 months.
Gail says
These cookies look fantastic and I would love to make them for the holidays. I would like to make them smaller for my grandchildren. If I halve the size of the cookie should I cut baking time in half. I know you are busy so if you can’t get back to me I will do it by trial and error. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
Janine says
Billy, I’ve read all the stuff for these cookies. Can you explain the difference in texture and moisture in choc chip cookies using oil – coconut oil to be exact- and butter? I’ve looked on the ‘net, but find nothing.
Chef Billy Parisi says
Don’t have a lot of knowledge around coconut oil outside of knowing it’s high smoke point and flavor profile. It’s fat that burns hot so my guess is that it would keep the cookies light in color, but I can’t speak to the texture. My guess is that it would break down too much and the cookies would be flat.
Diana Nordahl says
I have started using grams for flour measurements. I have seen different gram weights to use per cup of flour (which I use Bob’s Red Mill). I have seen 125 grams and 142 grams to equal one cup white all purpose flour. How do I know what is best in this recipe? Thank you.
Chef Billy Parisi says
I’ve never seen that to be honest, I would most likely just go with a number in between.
Diana Nordahl says
These cookies are way too good to keep in the house. Crispy outside and soft in the center. And the cookies have intense flavor from the brown sugar giving a caramelization taste along with four different kinds of chips (of which I swapped out one for white chocolate chips) and nuts added. Bakeries have nothing over these.
Erin says
I’m with you…undercooking just slightly makes these cookies AWESOME!
Laura Reese says
These cookies are amazing. I really appreciated all your tips and the explanations you shared. I will use that in all my cookie baking!
Aimee Shugarman says
LOVE these loaded cookies. Just made a double batch and froze half for later 🙂