Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt and Nuts

This bakery style chocolate chip recipe is for the ultimate peanut butter and chocolate chip lovers out there! Starting from a chocolate chip cookie base (as opposed to a softer peanut butter cookie base), these cookies have a bit more texture than a traditional peanut butter cookie, but still with amazing peanut butter flavor.

Plus, they are abundant with chunks from the mini-peanut butter cups, chocolate morsels and lots of nuts! I used a dreamy butter toffee cashew in this recipe, but the beauty of it is that you can change up the flavor easily by using a different nut. I have also made this recipe with honey-roasted almonds, salted roasted peanuts and plain walnuts in and all were great.

The proverbial icing on the cake (or cookie in this case) in my humble opinion, are the large flakes of sea salt that are sprinkled on the portioned cookie dough just before going into the oven. A sweet and salty combo is always a winner in my books, and it does not disappoint in this recipe. The salt flakes really enhance the overall flavors and texture in the cookie. Plus, they look really great!

Add this Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with sea salt and nuts to your cookie baking rotation and you will not be disappointed!

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make these peanut butter cup cookies:

• Peanut Butter: Use a “clean” peanut butter in this recipe–one that does not have sugar or oils added to it. The ingredients should just be “peanut butter” or “peanut butter and salt”. Either creamy or chunky works, but creamy is slightly preferred because there are so many other chunky elements in the recipe.
• Mini Peanut Butter Cups: I use Trader Joe’s brand of “Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups” in this recipe and they are perfect in size and flavor. (They are basically the size of a chocolate chip/morsel.) You can use any brand of peanut butter cup, such as Reese’s, but may need to chop them into smaller pieces for this recipe.
• Chocolate: Almost any type of chocolate will work here: dark, milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips, mini-chips or chunks. You can also use your favorite chocolate bar and chop it up roughly with a knife for interesting variations on the texture with different sizes and shapes. Chopping chocolate bars will also leave you with lots of tiny shards of chocolate and chocolate dust on the chopping board and, when you add all those in to the dough along with the bigger chunks, you get shards of chocolate all throughout the dough–highly desirable!
• Sugar: Both regular and brown sugar are used as the sweeteners for great flavor. Be sure to firmly pack down the brown sugar into the measuring cup when portioning.
• Butter: Both salted or unsalted butter work here. Butter gives the cookie richness and a buttery, tender crumb. The butter should be softened at room temperature before starting the recipe. Do not use margarine in this recipe as it will not create the same buttery cookie flavor and texture.
• Eggs: Act as a binder and provide moisture. Use large eggs.
• Vanilla Extract: Enhances the flavor of the cookies.
• Flour:The base of the cookie dough. Use all-purpose flour and measure it precisely by sweeping the top of the cup with a flat edge.
• Baking Soda: Helps the cookies to rise during baking.
• Nuts:I used a dreamy butter toffee cashew in this recipe, but the beauty of it is that you can change up the flavor easily by using a different nut. I have also made this recipe with honey-roasted almonds, salted roasted peanuts and plain walnuts in and all were great. Also, I keep the size of the nuts fairly chunky. Instead of pulsing them in a food processor to chop into very small pieces, I just carefully rough chop them on a cutting board, which leaves some larger pieces, some medium-sized and smaller pieces and some nut dust. It works well.
• Flaky Sea Salt: Use big sea salt flakes or coarse sea salt (a large finishing salt) to top off the cookies and add some saltiness to the sweet experience! If you do not have a flaked or coarse salt, then I suggest leaving this part off from the recipe Do not use regular fine salt here.

To make these chocolate chip cookies, you’ll need the following:

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cutting board with non-slip mat underneath (I use shelf liner)
• Sharp chef’s knife
• Multiple bowls to hold prep
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Rubber spatula
• Cookie sheet or sheet pan
• Cooling rack
• Oven mitts

More Great Recipes to Try

Sicilian Cheesecake with Ricotta, Orange and Almond

Anise Pizzelle Recipe (Classic Italian Wafer Cookies)

Easy Buttery Pecan Snowball Cookies (Mexican Wedding Cookies)

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Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt and Nuts

Michele

Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick, chewy, super-chunky and loaded with rich peanut butter and chocolate flavor. They are outrageously delicious with great texture from lots of nuts and sea salt flakes as well!

5 from 4 votes

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Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Chill Time 12 hours hrs

Total Time 42 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 30 cookies

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1¼ cups peanut butter
• ¾ cup softened butter at room temperature (1½ sticks)
• ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup miniature chocolate peanut butter cups or chopped peanut butter cups (about 6 ounces)
• 1 cup semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips or chunks (about 6 ounces)
• 1-1¼ cups nuts (See Note below.)
• Flaky sea salt such as Maldon salt or any sea salt flakes or fleur de sel coarse salt

Instructions

 

• Prep and gather all ingredients.
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
  1½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, ¼ tsp salt
• Then, combine the peanut butter, butter, brown and regular sugars and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and blend with either a hand mixer or in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment until well combined and creamy.
  1¼ cups peanut butter, ¾ cup softened butter, ⅔ cup packed brown sugar, ⅓ cup sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Add the eggs and continue to beat. Then, gradually add the dry ingredients (flour mixture), a little at a time, and beat until the mixture is well-combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, as needed.
  2 large eggs
• Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and fold in the peanut butter cups, chocolate chips and nuts using a large rubber spatula. Make sure that all of the bits are well-incorporated into the batter.
  1 cup miniature chocolate peanut butter cups, 1 cup semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips, 1-1¼ cups nuts
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cookie dough for 12-24 hours. (Note: You can portion out the cookies before chilling the dough if you prefer, as cold cookie dough can be hard to scoop. I often will break off pieces of the cold dough with my hands, which is easier, since I am okay with different-sized cookies, but realize that you may have a different preference.)
• When ready to bake, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350℉.
• Using a portion scoop or your hands, measure out about 2-3 Tbsp of the cookie dough at a time and drop it onto an ungreased cookie sheet or sheet pan. (You can make the cookies as small or large as you want.) Press down on the dough pieces slightly to flatten them a bit. Space out the dough pieces about 1” apart from each other.
• Sprinkle sea salt flakes over each piece of cookie dough. Then, bake the cookies for about 12 minutes or until they are golden brown. (Work in batches, if necessary, one sheet pan at a time. Once one sheet is ready, place it in the oven while scooping out and preparing the next batch.)
  Flaky sea salt
• Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool on the sheet pan for 2 to 3 minutes until they firm up a bit. (They will be quite soft upon removing them from the oven.) Then, transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• Once cooled, store cookies in a cookie tin. They will stay fresh for about one week at room temperature, if they are around that long!

Notes

• Either salted or unsalted butter can be used.
• Use a “clean” peanut butter in this recipe–one that does not have sugar or oils added to it. The ingredients should just be “peanut butter” or “peanut butter and salt”. Either creamy or chunky works, but creamy is slightly preferred because there are so many other chunky elements in the recipe.
• If I am lucky enough to have some hazelnut extract on hand, I will replace half the vanilla extract with it. It increases the overall nutty flavor of the cookie in a subtle way.
• The yield is approximate as it depends on how large or small you make your cookies.
• I used butter toffee cashews in this recipe, but the beauty of it is that you can change up the flavor easily by using a different nut. I have also made this recipe with honey-roasted almonds, salted roasted peanuts and plain walnuts in and all were great. Also, I keep the size of the nuts fairly chunky. Instead of pulsing them in a food processor to chop into very small pieces, I just carefully rough chop them on a cutting board, which leaves some larger pieces, some medium-sized and smaller pieces and some nut dust. It works well.
• Use a cookie scoop to measure out even sized pieces of dough, if you desire. 
• Store cooled cookies at room temperature for up to one week. I generally store my cookies in tins and not plastic as I feel they hold their crispiness better and will not become as soft as if they were stored in plastic containers.

 

Recipe by Mangia With Michele. Please visit my site for more great cooking inspiration!

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