These flourless peanut butter cookies are loaded with chocolate chips and peanut butter cups for a perfect chocolate and peanut butter pairing. All you need are simple ingredients for this one bowl, smaller batch recipe!
If I'm in the mood for "cookies as a snack", I'm making healthy peanut butter cookies. But if I'm hankering for "cookies as dessert dessert"? Then these flourless peanut butter cookies, loaded with fun chocolate mix-ins, are on the menu.
Reasons to Love This Recipe
- Flourless peanut butter cookies naturally have very few ingredients at their base. This recipe takes advantage of their simplicity and adds in chocolate to make a classic dessert combination.
- It's a one-bowl recipe that is made by hand.
- These cookies stay soft for days, but they also freeze well!
Recipe Ingredients
- Peanut butter: Basic creamy supermarket peanut butter works best for flourless peanut butter cookies as it's less oily at the onset and makes the cookie dough easier to work with. Natural peanut butter varieties would likely be too oily to handle.
- Brown sugar: While some recipes use an equal amount of peanut butter and brown sugar, I've found you can pull back on the sugar content while still achieving perfectly sweetened cookies. Dark or light brown sugar is fine.
- Chocolate chips: To maintain a cohesive cookie dough, the smaller the mix-in, the better. Mini chocolate chips are my top pick, but you can also roughly chop regular chocolate chips. Semisweet or dark chocolate both work great.
- Peanut butter cups: No matter the size of your Reese's, chop them into smaller pieces for the same reasoning as above. Even the unwrapped, mini varieties are a little big to be stirred into the cookie dough as-is.
- Espresso powder: This is optional, but boosts the chocolatey flavor without adding a mocha or coffee flavor on its own. Use just a tiny bit, a pinch, to not overwhelm the flavor.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Whisk together the egg, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and espresso powder (if using) in a medium mixing bowl. Add the peanut butter.
- Stir the peanut butter into the liquid ingredients for several minutes until a thickened, barely-sticky ball forms.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups, ensuring that the mix-ins are as evenly dispersed throughout the cookie dough as you can get them.
- Scoop balls of cookie dough and refrigerate for at least two hours, ideally longer. Using a two-tablespoon capacity scoop will yield you about ten cookies.
- When you're ready to bake, place the balls of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and evenly press down on them with the bottom of a flat glass until they're around a half-inch tall. They don't spread or expand while baking so you don't need to leave a lot of room between each one.
- Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are turning golden-brown and the surface is appearing drier. The center of each cookie may still seem soft, but they will firm up as they cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Make sure to mix in the peanut butter cup pieces and chips very well. Flourless peanut butter cookies are crinkly by nature, and having uneven pockets of chocolate can lead to more cracks in each cookie.
- And speaking of the mix-ins, the smaller the better. Mini chocolate chips are my preference, but you can also roughly chop regular chocolate chips too. This helps form a nice and cohesive cookie dough.
- While peanut butter cookies typically feature a cross-hatch design on top, I found doing so with this recipe looked a little sloppy as the chocolate and Reese's in the dough prevent evenly-pressed marks. I prefer to simply flatten them with the flat bottom of a glass.
- This dough must chill! Otherwise the oils from the peanut butter will make the dough too soft when warm, leading to flattened cookies that spread too far.
Recipe FAQs
How can I switch up this recipe?
You can only use chocolate chips or peanut butter cups, or leave them out entirely! Any other small-sized mix-in that would mesh well with the peanut butter flavor would also be a fun variation. A flavored peanut butter (or other nut butter) could also work, so long as it has the consistency of standard peanut butter and isn't too oily/runny.
How do you store these cookies?
Store flourless peanut butter cookies only once they have cooled completely. This prevents condensation from being trapped in the container, which can lead to them going bad faster. They are fine stored at room temperature for several days. You can also freeze them for four to six months or so, after which they might take on a staler flavor.
More Peanut Butter Recipes
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Loaded Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
These flourless peanut butter cookies are loaded with chocolate chips and peanut butter cups for a perfect chocolate and peanut butter pairing. All you need are simple ingredients for this one bowl, smaller batch recipe!
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Servings: 10 cookies
Calories: 204kcal
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup packed brown sugar light or dark
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- Tiny pinch of instant espresso powder (optional)
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips or chopped regular chips
- ¼ cup chopped Reese's peanut butter cup pieces
Instructions
- In medium-sized bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, salt, and espresso powder until frothy and well-combined.
- Add the peanut butter to the bowl and stir/mix for several minutes until a cohesive ball of dough forms that isn't sticky and holds its shape well. At first the dough will be very soft and sticky, but after a few minutes of stirring it will thicken up and lose its stickiness.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups. Aim to disperse the mix-ins as evenly as you can throughout the dough.
- Using a two-tablespoon capacity cookie scoop, portion out ten evenly-sized cookie dough balls. Place these on a sheet of parchment paper set over a plate and refrigerate for at least two hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Place chilled cookie dough balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. They will not spread much at all during baking. Flatten the top of each cookie evenly using the flat bottom of a glass until the cookie is about a half-inch tall.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are beginning to turn golden-brown and the surface is appearing drier. The center of each cookie may still seem soft, but they will harden and set up as the cookies cool. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.
Notes
Ingredient Notes
Peanut butter: Natural peanut butters are not recommended as they're more oily and can impact how the cookie dough handles.
Chocolate chips: If chopping up regular-sized chips, either semi-sweet or dark chocolate varieties are good to use.
Recipe Tips
- You want your mix-ins to be small in size so they don't overwhelm the dough. Heavy pockets of chocolate chips or peanut butter cups can make it harder for the cookie dough to stick together, leading to more crackles, so be sure they're well mixed in.
- These cookies can remain chilling in the refrigerator up to overnight.
- Scoop the cookies before chilling so that the dough isn't overly firm. Scooping after they chill will be much more difficult, and you risk breaking your cookie scoop.
- Once cooled, store these cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to several days, or freeze for 4-6 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 19.2g | Protein: 6.2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3.8g | Cholesterol: 17mg | Sodium: 131mg | Potassium: 158mg | Fiber: 1.7g | Sugar: 16.1g | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 2mg
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Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
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Catherine says
Dear Alyssa, These cookies look splendid! What a delightful treat! xo, Catherine
Alyssa says
Thank you Catherine! 🙂
marcie says
These cookies look so thick and chewy, just the way I like 'em, and flourless cookies are some of my very favorite. I wish I had a dozen!
Alyssa says
Thanks Marcie!
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel says
Oh my. YUM!! Chocolate and PB is the BEST combo. I do like healthy cookies... but I LOVE unhealthy ones. 😉 LOL! And I love that this makes a small batch since I pretty much always eat the entire batch in 1 day!
Alyssa says
Haha! I feel the same way Jess. Both are great to have for whichever cravings strike!
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
Ok, these are amazing Alyssa! I love that they are flourless. And peanut butter cups IN peanut butter cookies? I'm in peanut butter and chocolate heaven!
Alyssa says
My sweet tooth definitely had its way with these! Haha thanks Natalie!