I’ve been so excited to get into Fall flavors. I took a drive early this week and marveled at the changing leaves. Golds and auburns are occasionally fluttering across our windows, and soon the lawn will be covered. To celebrate fall, I decided to make an apple pecan cake, inspired by my favorite sticky buns. I spent Thursday baking it, but it was undercooked. The recipe still needs development. Luckily I also made brown butter peanut butter cookies to use up some of my dark chocolate. And they were delicious. 

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

My favorite dessert combination has always been peanut butter and chocolate. I had no interest in candy each Halloween when I was a child, only Reese’s PB cups. And Kit-Kats. I used to eat honey-roasted peanut butter out of the tub with dark chocolate in college. And I made dark chocolate peanut butter cake as one of my first recipes for my greeting cards. Nothing beats the nutty, earthy, and sweet combination of creamy peanut butter with crisp, dark chocolate.

Last year I made peanut butter chocolate eclairs, which were amazing. Before I left for Portugal. But on the actual day of Halloween, in Portugal, we went to the grocery store, a short, steep walk from our apartment, and bought 3 or 4 packs of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. I remember I was surprised to see them in the checkout isles when I first got to Porto. In Italy they were hard to come by. But I stared at them every time we picked up groceries. Finally, on Halloween, we decided to make a gluttonous batch of American-style cookies, filled with peanut butter cups. 

Memories of Cookies in Portugal

We also lived near an American-style cookie shop, which sold hockey pucks of buttery biscuit-looking things. The smell was always tantalizing when we walked by. But they charged so much for them. We constantly bragged about how we could make 10 times as many for the same price. And better. So, after dark on the eve of November, near the end of our trip, we threw together a cookie dough. Jake chopped up PB cups and we put all of them in. I think I chilled the dough for a little bit to develop the flavor, before we went for a walk. Then, we baked them.

They spread a lot and were thin but chewy. The Reese’s cups melted and flattened but held their flavor and texture once chilled. I spent the next week eating one each day for breakfast, as you do on vacation, with a tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. One of the things I miss from our little Portuguese grocery store. So this week I was thinking about how I haven’t made cookies in a while. I’m also starting an exciting new project, revolving around cookies and art. So I’ve had brown butter peanut butter cookies on my mind.

My Love of Peanut Butter + Chocolate

I love peanut butter so much. I could eat it with a spoon on most days. So I set out to create a cookie that was rich, chewy, buttery, and packed with peanut butter flavor. Most peanut butter cookies I’ve eaten are dry, brittle, and flat-tasting. I’m sure peanut extract is a thing. But I wanted to use a combination of high-quality peanut butter and ground peanuts in place of some of the flour. I knew I would start with brown butter, but it’s less moist than using softened stick butter. I hoped the oil from the peanut butter would be a good supplement. And the baking time would be super important.

As I mentioned, I endeavored to make a huge, glamorous apple pecan cake this week with sticky bun sauce and toasted peanuts on top. Like an upside down cake, or a tarte tatin. It all went swimmingly, after a rainy day trip to the penultimate farmers market of the season and to my favorite farm stand. I had a bit of spare change in my wallet and used it to buy 3 honey crisp apples. When I came home, I spent the cozy, rainy day baking, and it seemed like the cake would never bake. I took it out after 90 long minutes, and it felt done. But it was too moist.

Recipe Testing for Fall

It tasted delicious, but my recipe needs a little work. More flour, less liquid. You’ll see it soon enough. But I remembered that I had some brown butter peanut butter cookies in the freezer from a baking project. Some were left raw, in balls, so that I could bake them any time. I decided to bake them and use my photos from the original baking day, which contained a plethora of glamour shots of melted chocolate, sea salt, and rippling brown butter peanut butter cookie dough. I also couldn’t wait to eat one. 

My mind wandered back to when I made them. It started with a routine cookie-making step, which I’ve come to love. Melt butter in a saucepan until brown. Then, turn off the heat and stir in the sugars. I make my own brown sugar instead of buying it now, which is easy and totally worth it. I’ve convinced myself that it makes cookies taste better. So I added my sugar and stirred it up into a luscious, grainy sauce. I also added cinnamon to infuse some spicy, autumn flavor into the nutty brown butter. 

Peanut Butter Brown Butter Cookie Dough

Next I added my peanut butter, which melted nicely into a creamy, thick sauce. I use Justin’s, which is a good mixture of high quality and healthy for my everyday cooking. It also requires minimal stirring, which is a big pet peeve of mine. Next I added an egg, cracked riskily right into the pan. And I added a splash of vanilla, of course, which goes into almost all of my desserts. I let it cool while I put together the rest of my ingredients. The dry ingredients. 

I started with roasting peanuts in the oven. Just to bring out their natural flavor. When they were cooled, I crushed them up in a food processor, with a little corn starch to keep it from clumping. The key is to not over-mix it, or it’ll turn into peanut butter. Then I poured it into a sifter, with my flour, baking soda, and salt. Which I of course sifted into my brown butter peanut butter cookies to actually turn them into cookies. Along with a heap of crushed dark chocolate shards. You can make these plain, but who wants cookies with no chocolate?

Scooping and Baking Cookies

Finally I had a thick, scoopable cookie dough. It smelled intensely of peanuts and peanut butter. Along with a delightful note of nutty butter and cinnamon. The chocolate shards broke up and dispersed beautifully into a rich, amber dough. I found my cookie dough scoop in the silverware drawer and balled 8 cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Some were frozen, some were baked. I chilled the ones I was baking. It makes a big difference in the texture, and I think it helps develop more flavor, too.

On the baking day I got out my brown butter peanut butter cookies and placed them on a baking sheet. I preheated the oven and flattened them a little when they came to room temperature, just to help them spread in the oven. They also got a light sprinkle of sea salt. All that was left to do was bake them. Quickly the scent of rich brown butter cookies, melted chocolate, peanut butter, and spices flowed out of the oven door. The cookies relaxed and spread a little. And when they came out I banged the pan on the counter. 

Baked, Moist, and Chewy

Ir helps them settle and have a more craggy texture and better spread. I leave them on the baking sheet, too, to make sure they stay nice and moist as they cool. The key to making these brown butter peanut butter cookies moist is to underbake them a little. You’d think they should be golden all over and not have any pools of soft dough in the center, or they’ll be raw. But the perfect cookies are taken out of the oven a little underbaked. They finish cooking and set up well on the baking sheet. 

Peanut butter cookies can be unbearably dry. But these tasted amazing. At first you taste the peanut flour, which has a slightly dry mouthfeel. But as you continue eating, you realize that the cookie is actually melting in your mouth. The texture is like a hybrid between peanut butter cookies and peanut butter fudge. The chocolate melts and pools beautifully with reflections of light in the black pools. The pops of sea salt speckle the tops like jewels. 

The Cookie of My Dreams

I let my cookies cool for about 15 minutes. Then, I picked one up with a spatula and placed it on a napkin. I sat in the living room while catching up on reality TV, indulging in my cookie. They have the same signature texture and shape of my beloved oatmeal brown butter cookies, and my ice cream cone cookies. Thick, chewy, and packed with flavor. You really get the peanut flavor, but it’s not dry. Because they’re underbaked, the oil from the peanut butter preserves the moist, chewy texture beautifully, and the dark chocolate adds a complementary rich flavor. 

The pops of sea salt really bring out the peanut flavor, too. Aided by the peanut flour. Then there’s the cinnamon and vanilla, which gives them a nostalgic autumnal quality, and the brown butter, which adds a huge amount of nutty flavor. They remind me of the peanut butter cup cookies we made in Portugal. But these are heartier, thicker, and chewier. My ideal bakery cookie. Which would put that little expensive cookie shop in Porto out of business. I just thawed another one for this weekend, for my mom, who loves chocolate even more than me.

Rich, Delicious Cookies

This is a pretty simple recipe. It’s easy to make. But it’s so completely delicious. If you love peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies, these are for you. The brown butter adds so much. The chocolate pushes the envelope of almost being too dark. The peanut flavor is so strong. And the cookie isn’t dry and crumbly. If you make them, let me know! I can’t wait to make these again. For Halloween or any day when I’m craving peanut butter. 

Thank you for reading! Check out my Etsy for 100’s of art prints and recipe cards. Use code THEFORKEDRING for 25% off. 

Print Pin

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

A rich, chewy brown butter cookie filled with peanut butter and dark chocolate

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword brown butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, peanut butter, peanut butter cookies

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 13 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 whole egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 oz 72% dark chocolate

Instructions

• Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add your butter and cook until melted and browned (about 4-5 minutes).
• Remove from heat and add cinnamon. Stir to combine. Then, add your brown sugar and white sugar.
• Let mixture cool slightly and stir to combine. Then, add your peanut butter, which will melt as it incorporates.
• Add your egg and vanilla extract and whisk until combined.
• In blender or food processor, combine roasted peanuts and cornstarch. Pulse in short bursts until peanuts are finely ground. Do not over-blend.
• Place a sifter over a large bowl. Add your ground peanuts, AP flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Then, add your dry ingredients and dark chocolate, chopped into large chunks, into your cookie dough.
• Fold your dry ingredients and chocolate in with a spatula. Chill dough 1-2 hours or up to overnight.
• The next day, remove dough from fridge and allow to come to room temperature (1 hr).
• Scoop cookie dough into 8 equal balls onto two parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing cookies at least 2-3″ apart.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Press dough balls down with the bottom of a glass or cup into thick pucks. Bake for 12-14 minutes until gooey in the center and golden around the edges.
• Remove from oven and let cookies chill on the baking sheet for 15-30 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve.

Notes

• You can bake these cookies immediately if you don’t feel like chilling them! Just bake for 1-2 minutes less because the dough will be warm going in. 
• Chop your dark chocolate bars with a bread knife. It’s so much easier!
• If your cookies come out of the oven misshapen, run a large cookie-cutter around them and move it around the cookies in a circular motion before they cool. This will make them super round and beautiful!