These Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are the ultimate cookie for chocolate and peanut butter lovers. The cookie’s base is made with deliciously natural creamy peanut butter, gets a flavor boost from browned butter, and is loaded with peanut butter cup candy and chocolate chips.
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Why make a regular peanut butter chocolate chip cookie when you can make Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies?!
Yes, you read that correctly. This isn’t your typical recipe because these babies are full of chocolate chips AND peanut butter cups. All in one fantastic peanut butter cookie.
While each bite is full of chocolate peanut butter goodness, you’ll also stan over the cookie texture. The centers are soft and delightfully gooey with crispy and chewy edges to hold them all together.
And did I mention the butter? Instead of melting the butter or softening the butter like most of my gluten free cookie recipes call for, I took this a step further with browned butter.
If you haven’t tried browned butter (aka beurre noisette if you want to use your fancy French), it adds so much depth of flavor. It’s nutty and toasted and it’s a flavor profile that pairs perfectly with peanut butter and chocolate.
If you make these cookies for your friends or family, they’ll think you’re a culinary wizard.
Enjoy!
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Ingredients and Notes
- Unsalted Butter – butter with at least 82% butterfat has the best flavor and adds richness to the cookies. I like to use Kerrygold, Vital Farms, or Cabot Extra Creamy Premium Butter.
- Gluten Free Flour – I used King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour which contains xanthan gum. Add 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum if you use a flour blend, such as my Nightshade Free Gluten Free Flour Blend.
- Sugar – this recipe uses both brown sugar and granulated sugar. It’s a deliciously sweet combination.
- Peanut Butter – I used natural peanut butter. A no-stir variety works best in baking recipes. Try to use a peanut butter without added sugar.
- Peanut Butter Cups – again, this is your preference but you can use your favorite type of peanut butter cups. I like Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups or Unreal Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups to balance the sweetness in the cookies but Reese’s work great too!
*Be sure to read the full recipe card below for exact measurements and step-by-step instructions.
How to Brown Butter
While browning butter is an extra step, it’s easy and straightforward. One little step adds so much flavor, it’s 100% worth it.
Simply cut your butter into even-sized pieces then add it to a skillet or small saucepan and heat on medium-low heat.
Stir almost constantly, to help with even heating, until the butter is golden and the milk solids turn brown and sink to the bottom of the pan.
Immediately pour the butter (be sure to scrape out those brown bits!) into a heat-proof bowl to cool. If you leave the butter in the hot pan, it can continue to brown and burn.
Pro Tip: Use a light-colored pan so you can see the color of the butter change and the brown bits when they form. A black pan is too dark to accurately judge the color.
How to Make Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Visual Instructions)
Once you brown the butter, the cookie dough is quick and easy to make.
Tips for Making Gluten Free Cookies
- Don’t skip the chilling time. It’s essential to firm up the melted butter and to develop the flavor of the cookies.
- Additional Mix-Ins: you can add 1/2 up or substitute some of the chocolate chips with chopped dry roasted peanuts or sprinkle them on top of the cookies before baking.
- Press a few extra chocolate chips or chopped peanut butter cups into the tops of the cookies when they come out of the oven.
- Don’t move the cookies too soon. Gluten free cookies are delicate when they come out of the oven and have to cool on the baking pan for 10 minutes before you move them.
If you’ve made this recipe, leaving a star rating and note in the comments below would be so helpful for other gluten free akers!
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Gluten Free Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Browned Butter
Ingredients
For the Browned Butter
- 8 oz. Unsalted Butter
For the Cookies
- 2 ¼ cup Gluten Free Baking Flour with xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups chopped peanut butter cups
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Brown the Butter
- In a small saucepot, brown your butter on low heat, stirring often. Once browned, the butter will no longer be foamy and will be golden brown with brown flecks on the bottom of the pot.
- Pour the butter into a heat-proof bowl and set aside and allow to cool to room temperature before using. Be sure to scrape all the brown bits out of the pan – that's where the flavor is!
Make the Cookie Dough
- Whisk together the gluten free flour (with xanthan gum), baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and browned butter the bowl of a stand mixer. Then, add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.
- Beat until combined.
- Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla extract.
- Mix until completely combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
- Mix until the cookie dough comes together and there are no streaks of dry flour left.
- Next, add the chopped peanut butter cups and chocolate chips.
- Mix until everything is fully incorporated (see notes). Cover the bowl and chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours but 24 hours or overnight is ideal.
Bake the Cookies
- Prehead oven to 350℉ and line 2-3 half-sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Let the cookie dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes (to make scooping easier). Then use a large cookie scoop (2 ½ tablespoons) to portion the cookie dough into 30 cookies.
- Roll the cookie dough into round balls and place 6-8 on a prepared baking sheet.
- Bake on the center rack for 12 minutes. Then remove from the oven and cool on the pan for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Keep the extra cookie dough balls in the refrigerator while you bake the cookies in batches. Alternatively, you can freeze the cookie dough until ready to bake (see notes).
Notes
- Please read through the recipe before starting! It may look like a lot of steps but it’s because I broke each step down into the most basic form to make it easy to follow for beginner bakers.
- You can use the mixer to mix in the chocolate chips and peanut butter cups but it will crush the peanut butter cups a bit. If you want the peanut butter cups to remain more intact, fold them in with a silicone spatula.
- You can bake these cookies after 2 hours but for the best flavor and texture, chill the dough for the full 24 hours.
- Freezing and Storage I like to bake 6 cookies at a time and then freeze the remaining dough until we need more cookies. Roll the cookie dough into round balls and then flatten the dough balls a bit (shaped like a hockey puck). This will ensure they bake evenly from frozen.Having a stash of frozen cookie dough in the freezer makes it easy to have freshly baked cookies when the craving strikes! You can bake the frozen cookie dough for 13 minutes and the cookies come out perfect. And the best part about freezing cookie dough? After a week in the freezer (up to 3 months) the cookies have the most developed flavor.
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Nutrition Information
Disclaimers
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Facts are estimated and aren’t always accurate. Please consult a doctor or nutritionist if you have special dietary needs.
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