Soft and chewy, these simple, decadent triple chocolate peanut butter cookies are for seriously chocolate and cookie lovers only!

Some of you have been kind of angry with me over these chocolate peanut butter cookies. And rightly so.

I posted an Insta story and picture of them a week or so ago on Instagram without a real, live recipe (and some of you – ok, lots of you – have been hounding me for the recipe ever since).

A hand holding a stack of chocolate M&M cookies with a a bite taken out of the top one.

Initially, I wasn’t sure I’d post them here, considering the just so-so pictures were snapped super last minute before they were all devoured at a family lunch (special thanks to my cousin Lydia as the hand model).

I thought I’d make them again and have time for a legit photo shoot, but hello, life. It just hasn’t happened, especially with all the other cookie recipes waiting in the wings to be made.

Top view of a stack of chocolate M&M cookies.

But today’s the day. Bad pictures and all. Seriously, who knew these triple chocolate cookies would be so amazing?

But amazing they are.

In fact, they are some of the best chocolate cookies ever. With creamy peanut butter and ribbons of melted chocolate in the batter (hence, the “fudge” part of the recipe title), these chocolate peanut butter cookies are a no-brainer of an answer to the “what cookies should I make today” question.

Oh wait, you don’t ask yourself that question every day? Hmm. Weird.

A hand holding three chocolate M&M cookies stacked on top of each other.

Soft and chewy with that delicious hint of fudgy texture, these decadent cookies are a chocolate + peanut butter lover’s dream.

Delicious with the Reese’s pieces (and especially festive for Halloween), they would be divine, also, with peanut butter chips subbed in for the candy.

Like I do 99% of the time, I use my #40 cookie scoop (more on cookie scoops in general here!) for the perfect sized cookies. I mean, I wouldn’t say no to a cookie 5X this size, but you know, portion control and all that.

Sorry it took me so long to get them posted!

While you make them (eat a few in my honor, ok?) I’m off to save my household from being buried under the dirty laundry that somehow magically and exponentially increases overnight. Every.single.night.

On second thought, maybe we’ll just focus on discussing chocolate peanut butter cookies; much more my style.

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Triple Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cookies

4.88 stars (8 ratings)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (227 g) salted butter, softened to room temperature
  • ½ cup (128 g) creamy peanut butter
  • ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (159 g) light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup (43 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (see note)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (170 g) semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm
  • 1 cup (170 g) peanut butter chips or Reese's pieces
  • 1 cup (170 g) semisweet, milk or bittersweet chocolate chips

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl with a handheld electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and peanut butter until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes.
  • Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix until light in color, about 2-3 minutes.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.
  • Drizzle in the cooled, melted chocolate while the mixer is running, and mix until just combined.
  • With a spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the peanut butter chips (or Reese’s pieces) and chocolate chips.
  • Scoop heaping tablespoon-sized portions (I use my #40 cookie scoop) a few inches apart on the prepared baking sheets (roll the cookie dough into balls for a more uniform appearance to the baked cookies).
  • Bake for 10-11 minutes until set on the edges but still soft in the center. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Flour: keep in mind, these cookies are soft and slightly puffy so it’s really important not to overflour – especially if you don’t want them super cakey and puffy. Using the weight amount (10 ounces for flour, 2 ounces for cocoa powder) is a great way to ensure they’ll turn out just right, but if you don’t have a scale, check out this post on how I measure my flour (spoiler alert: I fluff the flour really well, scoop and level).
Chocolate: make sure the semisweet chocolate melted for the recipe is NOT overly hot when added to the batter. It should be lukewarm and mostly cooled without hardening.
Cocoa: I suspect many different types of cocoa powder would work here: unsweetened regular, dark (like Hershey’s Special Dark), or Dutch-process. Feel free to experiment!
Freezing: these baked and cooled cookies freeze great.
Serving: 1 Cookie, Calories: 214kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 24mg, Sodium: 135mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 15g

Recipe Source: adapted from How Sweet It Is