Super soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies stuffed with a gooey peanut butter filling.
I’ve been on a quest for YEARS for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe and I finally think I found it. If you like your chocolate chip cookies with crispy edges and a thick, soft and chewy center, this recipe is for you. I’m taking it over the top by also showing you how to stuff them with peanut butter for a melty, gooey absolutely delicious treat that you never knew you needed in your life. Peanut butter stuffed chocolate chip cookies are completely over the top and oh, so necessary.
There are THOUSANDS of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there and everyone has their favorite. The classic Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie is the first recipe I ever made on my own as a kid. I still love that recipe, but this one is tweaked a bit, using a few different techniques to get that elusive, perfectly chewy chocolate chip cookie and my goodness, I’m in love.
For recipe inspiration, I turned to technique extraordinaire, Alton Brown and the baking queen herself, Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction. This recipe is a riff on both of their famous chewy chocolate chip cookie recipes, modified a bit and then of course, there’s that peanut butter filling, which is why you’re here with me.
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What makes these chocolate chip cookies so chewy?
This recipe uses all of the typical chocolate chip cookie ingredients with some small tweaks for the best flavor and texture. The ingredient list below tells you about all of the little tweaks and ingredient changes to get the perfectly soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies…and then, how to stuff it with peanut butter.
Butter – I always use salted butter when I bake. A lot of recipes call for unsalted but I just think the extra salt makes them extra delicious. The traditional Tollhouse recipe calls for softened butter. This recipe calls for melted butter.
Brown Sugar – One of the major tweaks here is using more brown sugar than granulated sugar. I also use dark brown sugar for a richer flavor. Brown sugar has more moisture than white sugar and using more brown than white helps get that perfect soft and chewy texture.
Granulated Sugar – A little bit of granulated sugar helps the cookies spread just the right amount. I’m obsessed with Zulka Morena Cane Sugar and always have it in my pantry for baking.
Bread Flour – Here is the major tweak. Bread Flour instead of all purpose flour is the magic ingredient in achieving the chewiest texture. I always order King Arthur Baking Bread Flour from my favorite online grocery store, Thrive Market.
Eggs – Instead of two whole eggs, this recipe uses one whole egg and one egg yolk. This changeup really helps maximize the chew factor.
Cornstarch – Just a touch of cornstarch keeps the cookies soft instead of crispy and also helps keep them thick in the center.
Vanilla – There’s two whole teaspoons of vanilla in this recipe, giving it real flavor. Use the good stuff as you will taste the difference. I really only use Nielsen Massey, it’s simply the best!
Baking Soda – Always double check yourself when you’re baking and make sure you’re not confusing baking soda and baking powder. The results will be wildly different. Baking soda is what you want here.
Salt – A little salt in baked goods is an absolute must!
Chocolate Chips – Semisweet is the go to. Guittard Baking Chips are my favorite.
If you’re simply in the market for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, you can stop here. However, I highly suggest you be extra and stuff them with peanut butter and you only need two additional ingredients.
Peanut Butter – Creamy peanut butter works best here for the gooiest center. I like to use Justin’s.
Powdered Sugar – A little bit of powdered sugar mixed with peanut butter is all you need to take it to the next level.
Tips for making the best chocolate chip cookies
- Melt the butter and let it cool down a bit before mixing up all of your ingredients.
- Let your egg and egg yolk come to room temperature.
- Use the “spoon and level” method to measure your flour for the most accurate measurement. Scooping it with the measuring cup right out of the bag may result in packing the flour in too tight and throwing off the texture of your cookies.
- Chill your cookie dough for at least an hour. Do not skip this step. Because this recipe uses melted butter, the cookie dough will be pretty soft when it all comes together. Chilling the dough allows it to set up a bit before baking, ensure that your cookies stay thick and chewy and don’t spread all over the baking sheet.
- Resist the temptation to flatten out the dough before baking. The higher the dough mound, the less the cookies will spread and the thicker and chewier they will be. I try to shape them in to cylinder chunks for the best result.
- Lastly, these cookies are meant to be BIG, like bakery sized. I get the most consistent result when I make them large.
How to stuff these Chocolate Chip Cookies with Peanut Butter
First, mix the peanut butter and powdered sugar together. Dollop about a heaping teaspoon of the mixture onto parchment paper on a baking sheet or a plate, forming it into a disk like shape, and freeze for about an hour until hard. Freezing the filling first ensures that you do not have molten peanut butter cookie explosion during baking.
After you freeze your fillings and chill your dough, scoop out a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough and make a little well in the center. Place a frozen peanut butter mixture disk in the well and cover with another tablespoon of cookie dough. Shape the filled cookie into like a tall puck shape and bake! When you bread them open, there will be an irresistibly gooey peanut butter center.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups bread flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 sticks butter I always use salted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs 1 whole egg + 1 yolk room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Peanut butter fillings
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix peanut butter and powdered sugar. Drop heaping teaspoons onto a parchment lined plate or baking sheet and freeze for an hour until hard.
- In a heavy bottom sauce pan, melt butter and let cool slightly.
- Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and cornstarch.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined. About 2 minutes.
- Add in whole egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Gradually stir in dry ingredients.
- Stir in almost all of the chocolate chips. I like to save about ¼ cup to press into the tops of the cookies before baking.
- Chill dough for at least one hour before baking.
- Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and make a depression in the center. Place on of the peanut butter fillings in the depression and cover with another heaping tablespoon of dough. Form into a mound, keeping it tall so the cookies will be thick and chewy. Bake six at a time on each sheet as these cookies are large.
- When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies are light golden brown. Start checking them at around 9 minutes and rotate the pan if necessary.
Liz
Made a batch of these and they turned out perfectly!