A sweet friend recently gave me two cookbooks from the guys who own Baked NYC. And because cookbooks, particularly baking books, are my kryptonite, I wasted no time in reading both cover-to-cover. Every single recipe in both books looks completely scrumptious, no exaggeration. But I was in a cookie-making mood, so the one that really caught my eye was their peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies (coincidentally, this happened on National Peanut Butter Day, which I was unaware existed, but had perhaps crept into my subconscious?).
Now, my other weakness is fiddling with recipes, so I couldn’t resist a couple of customizations. Baked’s recipe calls for creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate, but I had crunchy peanut butter and dark chocolate in my pantry and did not feel like braving the grocery store on a busy afternoon during ski season, so I went with those instead. And of course, I made a few tweaks for high altitude. These baked up perfectly at my house (9,600 feet elevation).
These are not old-school puffy, crumbly peanut butter cookies with the fork-tine criss-cross marks (remember those? Aww. So good). Thanks to a higher butter-and-sugar to flour ratio, what we end up with here is a thin but substantially chewy cookie with buttery-crisp edges, intense peanut flavor, and big, inky craters of dark chocolate. I mean. Come on. They are downright elegant (as elegant as a cookie can be, anyway).
A couple notes on ingredients: do not be tempted to use natural peanut butter. You actually want the sweeter flavor and emulsified texture of mass-produced commercial peanut butter (like Skippy, or Jif). I like chunky-style for those little crunchy pieces of peanuts, but you definitely can use creamy if you prefer. As for chocolate, go for the best bar you can find here. It’s a star player, and you want the deepest, richest flavor possible. Chop the bar(s) roughly, not too fine. You want some pieces about the size of chocolate chips, some slightly bigger.
It’s important to refrigerate the dough, or the cookies will spread in the oven. How long is up to you. I made one batch after chilling the dough for three hours, and the rest the next morning, and honestly, I couldn’t tell much difference, though the ones that chilled overnight had maybe a bit more chew to them. Point is, even though it’s hard to wait when you’re having a cookie craving, let’s look on the bright side and think about all the chores/errands/workouts/TV shows one could distract oneself with while waiting. Motivation!
I added a sprinkle of turbinado sugar (also known as raw sugar or demerara sugar) for a little caramelly-crunchy texture on top. It’s subtle, as it mostly melts into the cookie, but those tiny little crispies left after baking are just delightful.
Good luck keeping these around the house for more than a day or two. My son (who, incidentally, is possibly the only child on the planet who dislikes Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups), adores these and was busted sneaking a handful after we went to bed last night. I couldn’t get mad, though, since I almost did the same thing.
Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 3 1/2 dozen 1x
- Category: sweets
Description
A grown-up version of a classic peanut butter-chocolate chip cookie, this rich, chewy-crisp cookie features plenty of buttery peanut flavor and big, powerful hits of melty dark chocolate.
Ingredients
2 cups (9 oz) all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (8 oz / 2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (5 oz) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (6 oz) dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract (not imitation)
1 cup (9 oz) chunky peanut butter (such as Skippy – not natural style)
8 oz good dark chocolate, roughly chopped into chunks
turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Using a stand or hand-held mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully. Add peanut butter and vanilla until integrated into the dough.
Add about half the flour mixture, beating in slowly until just incorporated, then add the remaining flour. Don’t overmix – stop mixer as soon as dry flour is no longer visible. Fold in chocolate chunks with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
Refrigerate dough at least 3 hours, or overnight. When ready to bake, scoop into rounded balls with a medium cookie scoop (1.5 TBS), placing cookies about 2 inches apart. Flatten tops ever-so-slightly (don’t press down too hard – keep them high and slightly domed) and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes, until edges just begin to brown. Let cool on pans for a few minutes to set fully, then transfer to cooling racks.
Store in an airtight container.
I live in Blue River (~10,000 feet) and this recipe came out PERFECTLY! So happy to finally find a cookie recipe that doesn’t turn into a puddle of butter at altitude… although we’ve been known to eat it regardless. I’ve also made your salted butter shortbread cookies and those are soooo good as well. Keep up the amazing high altitude recipes, my husband and I are huge fans!
Thanks so much, Christin! I love hearing about people finding baking success way up here! 🙂
I made these at an elevation of 7,600 and they turned out perfectly with just a pinch more baking soda. Since I ran out the Bees Knees PB, 1/4 of the peanut butter was the natural stuff that was not suggested and they still turned out perfectly. The dough is just as delicious as the cookie and the texture of a softer cookie in the middle and a little crisper on the outside is wonderful and exactly what I was wanting. Thank you!
So glad you love them!
A slight bit of info out of order. Pre-heat the oven at the beginning of recipe and at the end, chill dough for at least 3 hours.