Sometimes the best things in life deserve to be fussy. These salted peanut butter cup chocolate chip cookies take a little extra effort, but are so, SO worth it!

Golly, I’ve been debating about whether I should post this recipe or not. I alluded to these delectable morsels on The Facebook a week or so ago after I made over 50 of them to share with a bake sale going on to support a wonderful family in my area adopting two children from Haiti.

From what I hear (I was out of town during the bake sale), the cookies sold out. So that’s a good thing, right? And the few that I snitched prior to the bake sale (I’m only human after all) were out of this world.

Salted chocolate chip peanut butter cup cookies on a cooling rack.

Brian declared them “favorite cookies ever.” All this might leave you wondering why I wasn’t jumping at the bit to share this recipe with all of you.

Well, here’s the thing. These cookies are probably some of the best cookies to ever come out of my kitchen – texturally, taste-wise, in looks, everything. But, they are fussy. And there’s no getting around that even though I love to give you {mostly} recipes that are fairly simple and fuss-free.

In this recipe, the ingredients are given in ounces which means they need to be weighed and while you can google equivalents (like how much an average cup of flour weighs), the results can vary significantly (see this post on measuring flour and how much it can differ based on the method used) so you really need a kitchen scale.

Additionally, the dough needs to be chilled for a couple hours or up to overnight. Kind of funny-slash-ironic since I just exclaimed to the world in this cookie experiment post that I never chill dough because I hate planning ahead. I didn’t bake any of these right away so I can’t tell you the chilling absolutely, 100% makes a difference, but based on the results, I don’t dare try it any other way.

I’ve just made a permanent note to myself: these cookies are worth planning ahead for. And if that weren’t enough, all-purpose flour won’t cut it. You’ll need cake and bread flour instead.

I know. Really.

A salted chocolate chip peanut butter cup cookie on a piece of parchment.

I’m assuming half of you (that have made the NY Times recipe and love it) are saying “what’s the big deal? this doesn’t seem that bad” while the other half are shaking your heads going “Mel’s crazy; these cookies are way too…too…too much.”

Seriously. Don’t hate me, because all disclaimers aside, these cookies are so utterly delicious they make me want to weep. I’ll be making them each and every time I want The Wow Factor. You know. Those occasions when people swoon. Drool in your presence. Kiss your feet in order to get the recipe. Tell you that you are a goddess. Yep. that kind of wow factor.

Sometimes the best things in life deserve to be a bit fussy.

Top view of salted chocolate chip cookies on a cooling rack.

One Year Ago: Brownie Batter Dip
Two Years Ago: Mango and Black Bean Quinoa Salad
Three Years Ago: Red Berry Risotto Oatmeal

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Salted Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies

4.70 stars (13 ratings)

Ingredients

  • 8 ½ ounces (241 g) bread flour
  • 8 ½ ounces (241 g) cake flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 ¼ cups (284 g) 2-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
  • 10 ounces (283 g) light-brown sugar
  • 8 ounces (227 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (128 g) chunky or creamy peanut butter
  • 10 ounces (283 g) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 10 ounces (283 g) mini peanut butter cups, halved
  • Fleur de sel, for sprinkling

Instructions 

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, bread flour, baking soda and baking powder.
  • In a large bowl (you can use an electric stand mixer or use a handheld electric mixer), cream the butter until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
  • Add granulated and brown sugar and salt. Mix well.
  • Add the eggs, vanilla and peanut butter, Mix until the batter is very light in color, 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
  • By hand, mix in the chocolate and peanut butter cups. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Line baking sheets with parchment or silpat liners. Form balls of dough with about 2-3 tablespoons of dough (each of my cookie dough balls weighed 2.55 ounces – how’s that for fussy?).
  • Place on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges but still soft in the middle, 13-16 minutes. Keep the dough refrigerated in between batches.

Notes

A Little Fussy: these cookies are fussy, no doubt. The ingredients should be weighed, dough requires cake flour and bread flour and needs some chilling. But the results? Totally and completely worth it.
Serving: 1 Cookie, Calories: 407kcal, Carbohydrates: 50g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Cholesterol: 42mg, Sodium: 343mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 31g

Recipe Source: adapted slightly from this recipe at Huffington Post which was based on the famed Jacques Torres recipe (all I really did differently was use salted butter and decrease salt in the recipe and change the instructions slightly)