Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
A mashup of basically all the best cookies in the world, these easy peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are soft, chewy, and AMAZING!
I just want all of you to know at the outset of this post that if you’ve ever hidden your little self away to eat a cookie so delicious it brings you to tears just so that you won’t have to share it OR even if you’ve had the thought to do that but never acted on it (good for you, you valiant soul), then you are welcome here.
Here at my blog. A blog of no judging. No condescending stares. Just open arms to welcome you. You and your cookie hiding spot(s).

These cookies? Well, I’m telling you here and now that if you make them, you better make sure you have a darn good hiding spot ready because they are impossible to stop eating.
It’s no exaggeration to say they have catapulted to my new favorite cookie, which is saying a lot since I really, really love cookies.
While the recipe name suggests the cookie might be loaded with oats, in actuality, the oats are nearly undetectable in these babies, but are strictly necessary for structure and for the hint of heartiness they add to the flavor and texture of the cookies.
Quick oats vs. old-fashioned rolled oats
Quick oats are basically old-fashioned oats that have been cut up into smaller pieces during processing. This means that not only do quick oats absorb liquid faster if they’re used in breakfast oatmeal, but in recipes like these cookies, quick oats give a delicious oat flavor with a more subtle texture than old-fashioned oats.
I prefer quick oats in this recipe because they meld into the cookie dough without leaving the toothsome texture of old-fashioned oats. That’s not to say old-fashioned oats don’t have a wonderful place in cookies. They do! Like in these cookies and these cookies.
But these peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are perfection with quick oats. If you only have old-fashioned rolled oats on hand. Never fear! Give the oats a spin in a blender (just a couple pulses) or a food processor to break the large oats down a bit to resemble the texture of quick oats. Measure after blending.
That’s not to say you can’t live on the wild side and sub in old-fashioned oats for the quick oats in this recipe. Many, many commenters (see the thread below) have done just that and reported back with good results. There’s a chance the cookies may spread a bit more if using old-fashioned oats so just keep an eye on that.
Combined with the peanut butter and classic chocolate chip cookie flavors, these cookies really are special. A cross between these favorite oatmeal cookies and these perfect peanut butter cookies (and yet still entirely unique unto themselves!) – I’m afraid my hiding spot of choice may not be able to hold me and all my cookies. (Or maybe me and the result of all my cookies…)
My good friend and old neighbor, Sara, sent me the recipe, and when she prefaced the recipe by saying she was hiding in a closet eating one or three while her kids downed a healthy breakfast of oatmeal, I knew I had to make them. I mean, closet-cookie-eating means the cookies have to be good, right…and for breakfast? Even better.
Mostly, I was relieved to know that someone else I judge to be a wonderful, normal human being also hides in dark places to eat cookies. My whole life was justified in that moment.
One Year Ago: Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Two Years Ago: White Bean and Tuna Salad
Three Years Ago: Thanksgiving Dinner 101
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened to room temperature (I use salted butter)
- 1 cup (255 g) creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup (212 g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (100 g) quick oats (using old-fashioned rolled oats will give a different texture)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (340 g) chocolate chips (milk, semisweet, bittersweet)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until the batter is light in color, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt. When it is mostly combined but there are still a few dry spots, add the chocolate chips and mix until well combined.
- Scoop out tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a lined baking sheet (with parchment, silpat or coated with cooking spray), spacing the cookies 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until very lightly browned and still soft in the center. Remove the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.
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Recipe Source: from my friend Sara P.
Recipe originally published November 2012; updated with new pictures, recipe notes, etc.
Perfectest cookie ever!
These cookies are delicious. They baked up high and did not fall flat like so many chocolate chip cookies do. I used dark brown sugar. I used Skippy’s all natural peanut butter. I weighted the flour and oatmeal by ounces on my Escali scale. I weighted the peanut butter and sugars by volume on my Escali scale. I rolled 1.3 oz. of dough into a ball and placed on a sheet pan. I refrigerated the balls of dough for 1 hour. Then I place the cold ball of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and baked for 12 minutes. Yield: 3 dozen plus 10 cookies. Perfection.
These cookies look perfect and they taste great too. I love the combination of flavors. There is a little crisp edge and a soft middle. I baked a whole batch intending to give them out but my family gobbled them up all by ourselves. Whoops!
I just baked these cookies for the family. Is it possible to freeze some? They loved them!!!
Yes, they freeze great!
Perfect timing as always! I literally was looking for a PB cookie recipe (Mon is Natl PB Lovers Day – food holiday nerd here) and I had forgotten about this one. Yum! I know you hear it a lot, but I love your recipes, your humor, and your helpful tips. I am a better cook because of you, which has helped my kids on their cooking journey.
Thank you so much, Lavinia!
These are great! Easy, fast and tasty! Thanks Mel
These were excellent! Kids loved them! They know if it is Mel’s it is going to taste great. Thanks Mel
These cookies are so good !! Highly recommend this recipe. Have made them many times and they never last long lol. Seriously, thank you My last batch I discovered that I ran out of plain peanut butter so I substituted with “Mamba” (spicy Haitian peanut butter)…OH YESSS…next level delicious with a subtle roasted extra!!!!!
Just now made made your . Followed your recipe to the “T” and they came out beautiful! Taste awesome ! The only only thing I didn’t do… putting them on a wire rack … because I’m old school and put them on newspaper.
This is THE best cookie recipe. We can’t seem to love another more, and we’ve been making these since you posted them all those years ago. I’m pretty sure chocolate and peanut butter is my food love language.
Excellent recipe! Perfect! Passed up Martha’s recipe…. glad I did
These are delicious! We have peanut allergies at our house, so I subbed one cup of almond butter for the peanut butter and they turned out great. Thanks for the recipe!
These are the best cookies ever! Seriously, so so good, especially if you adore peanut butter!
I have made these a few times and they are delicious. I use maybe half the chocolate chips than the recipe calls for and they are still have plenty of chocolate flavour. I have also used a mix of peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. This is a great recipe for sharing…. always gets rave reviews.
A hit! My husband came homeafter a long day to inhale 5 cookies before taking a breath to say how great they were! Thank you for the recipe!
These are def my new favorite, my go-to, my dependable, my love! I make these very often and they have turned out fabulous each time!! Thank you, Mel, for opening this scrumptious door to the cookie world!
Glad to hear it, Christy!
Fat to flour ratio is off, and too much salt.
Hi Mel! What would happen if I made these with Old Fashion Oats?
The cookies may spread a little bit more…
I made these today & followed your recipe to the T. And, Holly Cow Mel, you are so right these cookies are ones you pig out on! Got to step away from the ! Great recipe. Just sharing.
Fantastically delicious cookies! The chocolate ratio was pretty high for our family (about 10 chips per medium small cookie) so the second time I cut the amount of chocolate chips in half (so one cup/6 oz instead of the two cups/12 oz) and added chopped walnuts–it was perfect! These freeze unbaked very well, just needed to add about 4-5 minutes baking time. Also love that you can cut the recipe in half or double it easily!
I was wondering why my cookies seemed to have a shortbread texture to them…then I saw the eggs on the counter—I forgot to add the eggs! I am still going to bring them to my office party because they still taste good-peanut butter chocolate cookies! Will make them again using the eggs!
Once again.. your recipe is amazing! My 5 kids devoured these! All I have to say when I try a new recipe of yours on them…is “it’s from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe” and I get no grief. Bless your heart for sharing. They think I’m a rock star baker/cook now.
You are a rock star!! 🙂
These are amazing! They make such a huge batch and always turn out just perfect 😀
I made these and tricked them out with leftover Halloween candy — Reese’s Pieces and Smarties with the chocolate chips and then half Peanut Butter cups on top! I used natural peanut butter and it was good because it tamed the sweetness of all the candy. Top notch – thanks Mel!
These are literally the best cookies I’ve ever made. Their texture always comes out perfectly and they are SO delicious. I’ve made them like 10 times. Thank you for the recipe!!
These are awesome! It made 4.5 dozen which was fine with me since I’m bringing some to a picnic and wanted some to bring into work. I cut down on the sugars a little and used natural PB. MMM great recipe!
I love your writing style and of course recipes! I have been wondering for sometime about the possibility of you making a cookbook!? And maybe adding excerpts from your fav. comments of variations. I know it would be a big cookbook…maybe even an encyclopedia of cookbooks!! This would solve my problem of having multiple tabs open of all the recipes I want to make from you! Plus, I’m totally a lover of real paper filled books that I can write in, put sticky notes on, and fold corners. How about it? Maybe a Christmas gift to your huge foody fan club? Sort of a big favor but really this book would SELL!
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sara! I’ve toyed around with it over the years but haven’t been ready to take the plunge on a cookbook yet. I’ll definitely post about it if/when I do. Promise!
So I have to tell you about our cookie experiment around these parts: we wanted cookies on a Sunday, turns out we have no butter. My husband forged ahead with your best chocolate chip (our go-to) with all crisco (erm, no thanks (ok, they were still delicious)) but I thought I’d try your whole wheat coconut oil cookies. Turns out, no wheat flour and only half a cup of oats (quick, I think). So back to the drawing board. I decided on a half batch of these with coconut oil, (natural) peanut butter and our little half cup of oats (I think I added flax seed to top it off). They were still fantastic, of course. A little crumbly, but worth the experiment. 🙂 can’t wait to try the whole wheat ones soon! (we have since restocked!)
These are the best!!! Definitely Closet Worthy!!!
Made these last night! I used old fashioned oats and natural peanut butter (it was all I had around). They were delicious! Also, it is so easy to do a half batch of these and they still turn out perfect! Thanks Mel! Love your blog.
Baked these tonight after seeing the rave reviews … These are absolutely to die for! Thank you for sharing!
Mel, I made these and I was told to make more by my husband and a friend told me to sell these they were so good. This is my go to cookie recipe now. Today I’ll make them and for my husband I’m going to add some pecans. He loves nuts in cc cookies, I’ll let you know how it turns out. This cookie is soo good, sets like a meal!
Hi my name is maria reyes and I’m trying to get your address cause we have to have a pretty recipe for my power point so that way it’ll be legalized. by law and so they know what we put in your cookies, they are so delicious where is your cafe located if you could email me your address.
Thank You Sincerely Maria Reyes
So these are divine!! ♥☺♥ Thank you so much for this recipe and all the other amazing gems you have shared,…it is much appreciated! We basically don’t speak when we are eating this,…there’s just a lot of moaning going on,lol. I used the natural peanut butter (what I had on hand), old fashioned oats (plus an extra handful for good measure ☺), and a combination of semi sweet and dark chocolate chips. These cookies mounded so beautifully and were truly melt in your mouth quality! Superb!
I made these little lovelies today and they were beyond heavenly. My husband rated them 9.5 out of 10, and well, if you know my husband, you’d know his picky palate rarely rates things this high. Yahoo to yummy cookies, husband approved!
Just made these and they are delicious! …a great combination of my 2 favorite cookies – peanut butter and oatmeal chocolate chip! Just to make sure…do you always use salted butter? With the salted butter, the salt in the peanut butter, and the salt in the recipe, they tasted like they may have been a bit salty…but not enough to stop me from making them again! 😀
Tracey – yep, I always use salted butter. I know that’s against all the rules of true foodies but it’s just kind of how I roll. 🙂
Us 8 love these cookies! Thank you for your recipes!
These might be my all time favorite cookie.
I just ate 5 of the cookies – I can now attest to the fact that they are as good as the dough 🙂 but, I better try one more just to make sure (and make it an even number – I can’t eat thing in an uneven number!)
These are soooo good!!! I’ve only eaten the dough so far though…but I’m sure the cookies will be just as delicious!!
I printed this out and will be making them soon. Yumm. I’m an out-of-the-closet cookie eater.
I,ve just had to remove myself from the kitchen to stop eating these they are quite simply delicious! I have made loads of your wonderful recipes and my family and I love them – just what is needed on a rainy English afternoon thankyou for sharing.
I decided to do a blend of peanut butter chips and chocolate chips and loved how it turned out.
These cookies are incredible! They’re the perfect combo of chocolate chip cookie (to satisfy my husband) and peanut butter (to please my own taste buds). Thanks for sharing!
I just pulled these out of my oven and they are delish! Just the right amount of peanut butter/chocolate combination. I think these are going to be a new go-to favourite!
My teenage son just made a double batch of these, and the first dozen are already gone (he’s not even done cooking three dozen yet!). Excellent cookies!
These cookies were excellent. They are so good I could have sold them. I had two quibbles though:
1) For me, the recipe made 4 dozen, and I didn’t make them small. Wow! Just make sure you have plans for something to do with 4 dozen cookies!
2) There is a lot of butter in this recipe, and I found the cookies to have a very strong butter taste. Some people like this, but for me I’m actually thinking about using half shortening (or some other substitution) next time so the butter doesn’t overwhelm the other flavors too much. Butter flavor is great but this was just a bit too much in my opinion.
Also I tried making them with chunky peanut butter and we really liked the stronger peanut butter taste.
We LOVE these cookies!! In the not even two months since you have posted this recipe I have probably made these 8 times. Also, my husband took them into work and they received rave reviews. Thanks for the perfect cookie 🙂
You are indeed true to your words. These lil’ treasures were beyond flavorful, moist, and packed with flavor. These cookies brought all smiles to our warm, Christmasy home. Thanks for the great recipes! Keep em’ comin’!
Loved these!