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These thick Peanut Butter Cookies are a peanut butter lover’s dream! They are thick, chewy, and loaded with peanut butter chips in every bite. Serve these big peanut butter cookies with a big glass of milk for the best experience!

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Sheet pan full of XL peanut butter cookies


BEST Thick Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes there’s nothing better than the classics, and one of my favorite classic cookies is peanut butter cookies. Well, I should clarify – these are giant peanut butter cookies because giant is so good, especially when we’re talking about cookies.

  • They are thick, chewy, and all about the peanut butter. It’s like a classic peanut butter cookie on steroids – extra big and filled with Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips.
  • These are easy peanut butter cookies, and each one is made with a whopping quarter cup of dough.
  • These giant peanut butter cookies are also freezer-friendly, which is what I usually do. I’ll make a batch, freeze them, and then pull them out whenever the peanut butter craving hits. They are so good!
All ingredients needed to make XL bakery style peanut butter cookies measured out on a sheet pan

Ingredients in GIANT Peanut Butter Cookies

Butter: Softened unsalted butter is the norm for cookies

Peanut Butter: You can use creamy or chunky but don’t use one you have to stir.

Sugar: Brown sugar and granulated sugar make these sweet and perfect.

Large Eggs: The standard size to buy!

Vanilla: For flavor

Milk: My secret peanut butter cookie ingredient!

Salt, Baking Soda, All-Purpose Flour: Typical for cookies. Be sure to measure your flour correctly.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips and/or Chopped Peanuts: These mix-ins take the cookies to the next level!

How to Make Thick Peanut Butter Cookies

  1. Cream: Cream the butter, peanut butter, and both kinds of sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer.
  2. Mix: Add the eggs, vanilla, milk, baking soda, and salt and mix until well combined. Slowly add the flour and mix just until the dough comes together.
  3. Additions: Stir in the peanut butter chips and peanuts. 
  4. Scoop: To make the cookie dough balls, scoop a ¼ cup of dough and place them on prepared baking sheets. Then, press each one down with a fork to create the criss-cross mark on each cookie.
  5. Bake: Bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes at 350°F or until the bottoms are lightly golden and the cookies are no longer glossy. Cool them for about five minutes on the pan before removing them. 
Stack of XL bakery style peanut butter cookies with top cookie split in half to show inside

Tips for Easy Big Peanut Butter Cookies

  • Not into thick peanut butter cookies? You can make these smaller! Just scoop one or two tablespoons of dough and bake them for about seven to ten minutes.
  • If you opt for smaller cookies, you can cut the recipe in half, so you don’t get as many. Or, feel free to double the recipe if you want more.
  • Because they don’t spread much, it’s important to use a fork to press them down before you bake them.
  • For the best cookies, don’t overbake them. Once they have lost the glossy sheen, take them out of the oven.
  • Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to three days. Or you can freeze them for up to a month.
  • Feel like dressing them up? Feel free to add some chocolate chips or different kinds of nuts.
Hand holding up one XL bakery style peanut butter cookie

FAQ

How do you make thick cookies?

For this recipe, I use more brown sugar than granulated sugar, which helps make them nice and thick. They’re also made with double the amount of dough. Usually, I scoop one to two tablespoons of dough to make cookies – for large, thick peanut butter cookies, I use ¼ cup of dough for each one.

Do you need to chill cookie dough?

For this thick peanut butter cookie recipe, you don’t!

How do you make the criss-cross marks on peanut butter cookies?

Use the tines of a fork and press down on the dough. Then, turn the fork to create marks going the other way, so it looks like a hash mark.

How long do you bake giant peanut butter cookies?

Bake large peanut butter cookies for 15 to 18 minutes. They are done when they lose the glossy sheen on top.

How to store large peanut butter cookies?

Store them in an airtight container for up to three days at room temperature.

Can you freeze them? 

Yes, the baked cookies freeze great. Once they are cooled, store them in a freezer bag, and they will keep well in the freezer for a month.

These are the perfect cookies for the peanut butter fans in your life! Make a batch of these Bakery-Style Peanut Butter Cookies, and you’ll see – everyone will beg you for the recipe. Enjoy!

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Close up shot of XL bakery style peanut butter cookies on a sheet pan

XL Bakery Style Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

5 from 47 votes
Bakery Style Peanut Butter Cookies are an XL thick peanut butter cookie recipe filled with peanut butter chips! These easy cookies are enormous and SO good.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Yield 24 cookies
Serving Size 1 cookie

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter softened
  • 1 ½ cups (401g) peanut butter
  • 1 ½ cups (300g) packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons (27ml) milk
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3 ½ cups (434g) all purpose flour
  • 1 package (about 1 ⅔ cups) Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
  • 1 ½ cups chopped peanuts , optional
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Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or a silpat baking mats.
  • Cream butter, peanut butter, and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, milk, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined. Slowly add flour and mix until dough just comes together. Stir in Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips and nuts.
  • Scoop ¼ cupfuls of dough and place on a cookies sheet at least 4-inches apart. Use a fork to press the cookies down with a criss-cross pattern.
  • Bake 15-18 minutes until the bottoms start to become light golden and the cookies are no longer glossy in the center.. Cool about 5 minutes and then remove from cookie sheets.
  • You can make these smaller (1 or 2 tablespoon size) and baking time will be less, about 7-10 minutes. Recipe can also be cut in half for fewer cookies, or doubled for more.
  • Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

If not using peanuts, use about 3 cups of peanut butter chips.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 712kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 405mg | Potassium: 439mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 516IU | Calcium: 73mg | Iron: 3mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Hand holding one XL bakery style peanut butter cookie with recipe title on top of image

Thick Peanut Butter Cookies! Bakery Style XL cookies full of peanut butter chips and peanuts – these are a peanut butter lovers dream cookie and so easy!

Last Updated on August 30, 2021



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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Recipe Rating




176 Comments

  1. Made it as written, the next morning the dough was dry and mealy and would not hold together or bake well. I ended up throwing it all out. I’m guessing it could have used another egg. Sorry. 

    1. I’m changing my rating, because my husband talked me out of tossing the dough and so I added some milk and flattened them out before I threw them in the oven. That and leaving them sit for the five minutes after baking on the sheet made the difference. I’m glad I pushed through, they were pretty good and very soft. 

  2. Love that you put a note that the dough will need to be chilled at the beginning of the directions!! Look forward to trying these soon!

  3. For those of you that want a bigger peanut butter flavor, try 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of ‘peanut butter high potent flavoring’ from Lorann Oils IN PLACE OF the vanilla extract. I’ve made these cookies both ways and prefer the peanut flavoring over the vanilla. Yum! Great recipe!

  4. Can’t wait to try these! I made a different cookie recipe that also had me chill the dough for a while with a slight variation… I scooped the large balls of soft dough, placed them on the cookie sheet and then chilled them already on the sheet. Then just popped them into the oven straight from the fridge. Much easier!

    1. Yes, I need to edit this recipe to that effect. I started doing that about a year ago, and it is much easier!

    1. Honestly? I don’t think so! I always use light because it’s what I buy, but if you have dark you can use it!

  5. These were SO good! I made these for my son’s 16th birthday. I used reece’s piece’s instead of peanut butter chips because I had a bag already. I spooned warm chocolate ganache on top of the cookies before serving. Amazing!!

    1. I am so glad you enjoyed them! Great call on the Reese’s and ganache! And happy birthday to your son!