🥜🍪 My Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are lightly crisp around the edges, soft, chewy, and LOADED with nutty flavor and rich chocolate chips in every bite! Why choose between oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, or soft chocolate chip cookies when you can have them all?
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
A personal favorite of mine, these cookies combine elements from all my favorite cookies. The recipe is adapted from and very similar to the Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookie recipe, making it virtually foolproof.
- All you need is one bowl and a spoon, and these cookies are ready to eat in about 30 minutes.
- The higher ratio of brown to white sugar and egg yolk to egg white results in a super soft centers and a chewy texture.
- There’s no chilling required, and one batch makes 13 large cookies, making it the perfect treat for all your cookie cravings. I’d go ahead and make an extra batch before you find yourself snacking. They’re seriously addicting!
Ingredients You’ll Need
There’s a LOT of flavor packed into every bite of these cookies, all thanks to just a handful of simple ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need for this chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe:
- Butter – I recommend using unsalted butter and letting it come to room temperature for easy mixing. Feel free to use margarine or a vegan butter for dairy-free cookies
- Sugar – The combination of brown sugar (light or dark) and granulated sugar sweetens the dough, adds a touch of molasses flavor, and contributes to the chewy texture
- Peanut Butter – Use creamy peanut butter. I recommend a brand like Jif or Skippy. Natural peanut butter tends to separate and cause greasy cookies. I also don’t recommend crunchy peanut butter, because it won’t incorporat into the dough evenly. Have leftover peanut butter? Check out my peanut butter cookbook to put it to good use!
- Eggs – For vegan cookies, substitute a flax egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Flour – I use all-purpose flour. If you need gluten-free cookies, substitute a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour. Then, make sure to double-check the nutrition label on the rest of the ingredients
- Oats – Make sure to use old-fashioned oats. Quick oats and steel-cut oats will NOT work for this recipe! For gluten-free cookies, make sure to use certified gluten-free oats
- Baking Soda
- Mix-Ins – I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips. Or, experiment with mix-ins like peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, toffee bits, raisins, nuts, seeds, etc. I don’t recommend adding more than 1/2 cup, or your cookies will just be way too packed
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Melt the peanut butter and butter in the microwave in a large mixing bowl. Then, stir in the remaining wet ingredients. Wait a few minutes before combining ingredients to avoid scrambling the eggs! There’s no need for an electric mixer or stand mixer!
- Add the oats, followed by the remaining dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips or mix-ins of choice.
- Portion the dough, and chill it in the fridge.
- Arrange the cookie dough balls on a silpat mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving space between each cookie. Bake until the edges and tops are just set. (I like very underdone and soft cookies, so I baked mine for 10 minutes) The cookies will look pretty raw even at 12 minutes, and that’s ok. Take them out and let them sit and cool well before eating.
- Cool on the pan. There’s no need for a wire rack!
Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Large, Microwave-Safe Bowl
- 1 Cookie Sheet
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, discard extra white or save for another use
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not instant or quick cook
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup peanut butter chips, white chocolate or butterscotch chips may be substituted
Instructions
- To a large, microwave-safe bowl add the butter, peanut butter, and heat on high power to melt, about 1 minute. Stop to check and stir. Heat in 15-second increments until mixture can be stirred smooth.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg and yolk so you don’t scramble them. Add the egg, sugars, vanilla, and whisk until combined. It’s okay if mixture is slightly granular.
- Add the oats and stir to combine.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir to combine; don’t overmix. Dough is fairly thick.
- Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and stir to incorporate.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 13 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip – Strategically place a few chocolate chips on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading. Dough is a bit on the oily side before chilling and becomes less oily as it chills.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 11 to 12 minutes (for very soft cookies, longer for more well-done cookies), or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Cookie Recipes:
Edited to add the following related cookie recipes – November 2012
Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies – This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for straight up chocolate chip cookies, without oats or peanut butter added. They are soft, chewy, tender, moist, a snap to make, and have two kinds of chocolate in every bite. They are my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe
New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Jacques Torres) – I learned many valuable lessons when making these cookies, from loving bread flour in cookies to detesting cake flour in them; to baking cookies bigger to stuffing in extra chocolate. The cookies are very good, and I loved them on the first day, and I wrote extensively about my thoughts overall on them.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Skillet Cookie – This cookie combines three of my favorite cookies into one – chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal. The edges bake up crispy and chewy, and sweetened condensed milk is baked into the cookie, keeping the interior a literal hot, sweet, and gooey mess.
I don’t eat cookies anymore (though I bake them often for others), but when I did, it really depended on the mood. Some top rankers were double chocolate chocolate chip, regular chocolate chip (my mom’s recipe… don’t know where it originally came from, but who really cares), my mom’s Jumbo Raisin cookies (all of thoes ones slightly underbaked), and then shortbread with glaced cherries, and candy cane peppermint pinwheels were Christmas faves!
I don’t own one, but have used the scoops (ice cream style) at work, and they are sooo nice!! I never had the problem of the dough getting stuck on the release mechanism… I saw the one you have here in the pic at a store, but actually thought that the dough was not going to come out of it very well, but I guess my assumption was wrong! I’m hoping for some kind of scoop for Cmas actually… but I want it to be pretty big… 1/4 cup size or at least close… I don’t like making small cookies…. the only ones I make fairly small are shortbread because I like a small cherry to cookie ratio!!
As for the siplat matts… I hear people rave about them all the time… can someone give me a quick briefing on just WHY they are so fantastic… I mean, why not just use a non stick cookie pan?? Seems to work very nicely for me… but maybe there is more to these things?
PS. I have been wandering food blog-land A LOT lately, and this is definately one of the top I have been to! LOVE the pictures… especially the ones that show a broken or bitten into cookie so you can really get a look at the inside!! Also, your description of taste and especially texture as well as tips on how you achieve such are MUCH appreciated…. I don’t like making a recipe if I don’t know whether I will end up with a crunchy, crisp, chewy, moist, etc. cookie!
Texture and really detailed descriptions are so key – when someone writes ‘they were so good’ that tells me nothing b/c good to her and good to me could be so different so I try to be specific.
Cookie scoop – I have moved onto a wire one, ice cream-ish style, from William-Sonoma that I like a lot.
The Silpat gives the cookie traction so it has something to ‘grip’ rather than slide around on a greased cookie sheet, thus it can rise higher, not spread into a flat puddle. And nothing really sticks to them and really I could not imagine my life without them!
Your mom’s jumbo oatmeal raisin (slightly UB’ed) sounds heavenly!
Hi Averie! I live overseas where it is difficult to find whole old-fashioned oats but quick oats are available. Do you think this recipe would work with quick oats? Thanks!
It will work, they just won’t be as chewy or with as much texture. And before adding the full one cup of quick cook (I called for 1 cup of old-fashioned), I would maybe start with 3/4 cup and go from there based on how the dough looks because quick-cook are denser than old-fashioned and will dry out the batter quicker; they will act more like flour. LMK how it goes!
These are fab. I persuaded by 15 year old son to make these for our pre-Xmas cooking effort this afternoon. Needless to say, this afternoon’s cookies are gone and we need to make several more batches!
I am so impressed your 15 year old son made these! And I am so happy that you loved them and that more batches will follow! Ironically, in about 12 hours, I have a brand new choc chip cookie recipe post that’s going up that’s to-die-for!
I thought this was MY secret recipe…..”S’Moore’s Outrageous Cookies”…..I make them by memory….no recipe required! Baked on a stone or with parchment paper they come out soft, but with a browned exterior. PERFECT! I wrap each individual cookie in “saran”/plastic wrap. I have to warn those who partake: They WILL fall in love with me. You’ve been warned! DO NOT bake this recipe….unless….you’re willing to entertain a “following”.
Ok, you had me at cookie. An inveterate science geek who loves the science of baking (chemistry in real-time?), please let me know: which cookie scoop do you use? After purchasing/donating many kitchen gadgets including numerous cookie/ice cream scoops I’ve been fed up. I learned from a PhD food scientist this year that using a dab of syrup (or pb) ensures chewy cookies. Refrigerating the dough 24 hr is useful: the dough absorbs and retains more moisture = less spread. Weighing the dough balls roughly produces a more uniform cookie to those of us who can’t gestimate as easily. Sounds labor intensive though with a scale and one small piece of waxed paper it’s rather easy. Would to have the scoop, though, and avoid this step. Thanks in advance.
https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/10/scoop-it-simple-things.html
I love it. It’s from BB&Beyond is $3.99 CHEAP!
I do all those tricks, PB, refrig the dough, use a scoop, uniform size, etc. I love my scoop. Also see this post
https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/12/baking-supplies.html