It’s Day 3 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Series! Today’s recipe is for one of my favorite flavor combinations, peanut butter and chocolate. These high altitude Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies are so soft and chewy, with a delightful snap from the dipped chocolate, and finished with a sprinkling of sea salt. Chocolate peanut butter candy has nothing on these cookies.
Looking for more recipes like this? You’ll love this chocolate peanut butter cake, no churn peanut butter mocha chip ice cream, and flourless chocolate chip peanut butter cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Perfect for a Christmas cookie box.
- They’re easy to make, they stay soft for days, and they’re a cookie that everyone will love!
- These have the best combination of salty and sweet flavors.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter. I used creamy peanut butter for my peanut butter cookies, but you can certainly use crunchy, too. And while I usually don’t bake with all-natural peanut butter since it has a less stable consistency, you can bake cookies with it, but you’ll need to reduce the flour by about 2 tablespoons to compensate for the runnier texture.
- Unsalted Butter. Flavor, moisture and richness.
- Granulated Sugar + Dark Brown Sugar. Sweetness, moisture, and a hint of molasses.
- Egg. Binds the cookies together.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour. Provides structure.
- Oats. Adds a little crunch and texture. Oats are great with peanut butter cookies.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the cookies, making them puff up a bit as they bake.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness. Peanut butter cookies should always have a good pinch of salt, both in the cookies, and sprinkled on top.
- Nutmeg. Just a little spice nicely complements all the flavors, but feel free to omit it.
- Chocolate. I’m a dark chocolate person, and you’ll never find a milk chocolate bar in my house. But these chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies can be dipped in any chocolate that you like. Milk, semi-sweet, dark, or extra dark. Use what you like, and they’ll be great. I’m partial to Chocolove Dark Chocolate, and I usually keep the 55% Cacao bars on hand, although I’ll sometimes go darker, up to about 70% Cacao. Also, their packaging is just so pretty.
Instructions
Cream the Peanut Butter, Butter and Sugar.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the peanut butter, butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down occasionally.
Mix in the Egg and Vanilla.
With the mixer on low, mix in the egg and vanilla extract.
Add the Dry Ingredients.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the nutmeg. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients by spoonfuls, mixing just until combined.
Shape and Chill the Dough.
Line several large baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to portion the dough. (I mounded the dough a little in my cookie scoop and got 27 cookies.) Set the dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet, and flatten the dough slightly with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Bake.
Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for 9 minutes, until a pale golden brown, slightly set around the edges, but still soft in the middle.
Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. If needed, refrigerate the baked cookies for a few minutes to firm them up, before dipping them in the chocolate.
Dip in Melted Chocolate.
Melt the chocolate gently in a double boiler, just until smooth. Remove from the heat.
Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate, gently scraping off any excess on the edge of the bowl. Set them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the chocolate with 1/2 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt.
Let the chocolate set completely before storing the cookies in an airtight container.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still make this recipe if I’m not at high altitude?
Yes, you can! To adjust this cookie recipe for sea level or altitudes below 1,000 feet, I’d suggest reducing the flour by 2 tablespoons, and increasing the sugar by 2 tablespoons.
Can I use natural peanut butter for cookies?
You sure can! Natural peanut butter that needs to be stirred is runnier and less stable than other peanut butters that have added oils. When I bake cookies with natural peanut butter, I add a couple extra tablespoons of flour to make up for the thinner consistency.
What kind of chocolate did you dip the cookies in?
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High Altitude Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt, divided (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 8 oz good-quality dark chocolate
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the peanut butter, butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar for 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping the bowl down occasionally.
- With the mixer on low, mix in the egg and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the nutmeg.
- With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients by spoonfuls, mixing just until moistened.
- Line several large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to portion the dough. (I mounded the dough a little in my cookie scoop and got 27 cookies.)
- Set the dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet, and flatten the dough slightly with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for 9 minutes, until a pale golden brown, slightly set around the edges, but still soft in the middle.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. If needed, refrigerate the baked cookies for a few minutes to firm them up, before dipping them in the chocolate.
- Melt the chocolate gently in a double boiler, just until smooth. Remove from the heat.
- Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate, gently scraping off any excess on the edge of the bowl. Set them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle the chocolate with 1/2 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt.
- Let the chocolate set completely before storing the cookies in an airtight container.
Can you make this dough ahead of time and freeze until baking?
Yes, I’d suggest scooping the dough balls and freezing those.