Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

Soft Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies — These chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies are SOFT AND CHEWY on the inside thanks to the addition of pudding mix in the cookie dough! Dipping them in dark chocolate makes for the PERFECT flavor combo!!

Easy, Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I am no stranger to peanut butter and peanut butter cookies. I even wrote an entire cookbook, Peanut Butter Comfort, dedicated to exclusively to peanut butter recipes! 

I have a ton of different types of peanut butter cookies on my site. However, I’ve never made peanut butter cookies with pudding mix. It really helps keep the cookies so soft and chewy. It gives them a Softbatch-style texture. 

These chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies are about 3½ inches in diameter, so they are BIG cookies! You can of course make them smaller, and adjust the baking time downward as necessary, until they’re done.

I dipped these cookies in dark chocolate, and for me the combination of peanut butter plus chocolate is always a winner!

What’s Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies? 

To make the best soft peanut butter cookies, you’ll need: 

• Unsalted butter
• Creamy peanut butter
• Light brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Instant vanilla pudding mix
• Large eggs
• Egg yolk
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Dark chocolate melting wafers, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or Pound Plus Bars

How to Make Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars before adding the pudding mix, eggs and yolk, and vanilla.

Note that you are not actually making pudding – you are just adding the dry mix to the dough, as if it were like additional flour.

Use a large cookie scoop to portion the dough out into mounds, and chill the dough in the fridge for about 2 hours. 

Do not skip chilling the dough because your cookies will be more prone to spreading and will bake much flatter. If you are in a huge hurry, chill in the freezer for about 30 to 45 minutes to speed the process up.

Bake the cookies off for about 15 to 17 minutes. Because these are jumbo peanut butter cookies, they’ll take a bit longer to bake than smaller-sized cookies. Don’t be alarmed!

Always watch your cookies and not the clock when evaluating doneness, noting that the cookies will firm up as they cool so it’s okay to pull them from the oven when they look a bit underdone. 

After the cookies have cooled, melt Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers or semi-sweet chocolate chips and dip the cookies halfway into the melting chocolate before setting them aside to allow the chocolate to set up.

What Kind Of Peanut Butter To Use?

I recommend an old-fashioned type of peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. While you could use peanut butter with nuts, I really am a fan of creamy peanut butter in this recipe.

I haven’t tried and don’t recommend using a natural-style peanut butter because generally in baking, the type of peanut butter that separates doesn’t provide the best final treats.

What Kind Of Cookie Scoop To Use?

I recommend using a large cookie scoop. A large cookie scoop typically holds 3 tablespoons of dough.

If you don’t have a large cookie scoop, you can use a tablespoon, and then roll into a ball. However, I do love using cookie scoops when making cookies because they turn out exactly uniform this way.

Do I Have To Use Pudding Mix?

The answer in a nutshell is, yes, for this recipe you do. If you want to make any of my other dozens of peanut butter cookie recipes that don’t use pudding mix, check out all the other related recipes I included below this recipe.

Can I Use Cook and Serve Pudding Mix? 

No! Make sure you opt for Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix. Cook and serve will not work. 

Can I Use Sugar-Free Pudding Mix? 

I haven’t tried making this with sugar-free pudding mix. At times, sugar-free products can lead to inferior results as they behave differently when exposed to the heat of the oven so I would stick with regular pudding mix since I know that works for sure!

Tips for the Best Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Pre-portioning the dough before chilling makes prep a lot easier. The dough will harden quite a bit in the fridge, which is why you don’t want to leave it in one big dough mound because it will be much harder to portion out after chilling and could damage your scoop, so portion it out before!

Place it on a dinner plate to save space in your fridge. It’s okay if the dough balls are nearly touching each other.

I prefer Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers to melting regular ‘ole chocolate chips because they melt so effortlessly and smoothly, but use what you have. 

If you happen to have a Trader Joe’s in your area, their Dark or 72% Pound Plus Chocolate Bars are also perfect because the chocolate melts so beautifully smooth!

I love adding flakey sea salt to the chocolate while it’s still soft, it really helps bring out the peanut butter flavor but is completely optional.

Save Saved Review Print

4.75 from 8 votes

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies

By Averie Sunshine

These chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies are SOFT AND CHEWY on the inside thanks to the addition of pudding mix in the cookie dough! Dipping them in dark chocolate makes for the PERFECT flavor combo!!

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Chill Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 18

Save this recipe to your email

Enter your email and we’ll send it to you!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Email *

Send It!

Ingredients  

0.5x2x

• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• ▢ ½ cup creamy peanut butter, I recommend a classic version like Jif or Skippy
• ▢ ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
• ▢ ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ one 3.4-ounce box Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix, dry
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 additional egg yolk
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 cups dark chocolate melting wafers or semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• To a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium-high speed cream together (mix together; there is no actual cream involved) the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until smooth and fluffy. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the dry pudding mix (you're not making pudding; just add the dry mix), eggs, additional egg yolk, vanilla, and beat for 1 minute on medium-high speed.
• Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated; don't overmix.
• Use a large cookie scoop to portion out mounds of dough onto a parchment or plastic-lined cookie sheet or dinner plate. Wrap with plastic wrap to cover, and place the plate in the fridge to chill for 2 hours. Tip - To speed up this process, place it in the freezer for 30-45 minutes. Do not skip chilling the dough as your cookies will bake thinner and be more prone to spreading.
• Preheat oven to 350F, place dough on a Silpat-lined baking sheet, and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until just done. Because these are jumbo peanut butter cookies, they’ll take a bit longer to bake than smaller-sized cookies so don't be alarmed. Tip - Always watch your cookies and not the clock when evaluating doneness, noting that the cookies will firm up as they cool so it’s okay to pull them from the oven even when they look a bit underdone.**
• Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Once cooled, place a piece of wax paper or Silpat on a flat surface and then melt the dark chocolate melting wafers, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or Pound Plus Bars in a medium microwave-safe bowl in the microwave and heat in 30-seconds intervals, stirring between each burst until the chocolate has fully melted and can be stirred smooth.
• Dip each cookie halfway in the chocolate and then place them on the wax paper or Silpat to set.

Notes

*If you have a Trader Joe’s in your area, their Dark or 72% Pound Plus Chocolate Bars are also perfect because the chocolate melts so beautifully smooth!

**It's possible to make these cookies smaller; that wasn't really my intention in this "jumbo" cookie recipe; however, feel free to make them smaller and adjust the baking time as necessary so they're not overbaked based on the size you make them.

Storage: Cookies will keep airtight at room temp for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Unbaked dough balls may also be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months before baking, so you can bake off only as many as desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 384kcal, Carbohydrates: 50g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 47mg, Sodium: 287mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 31g

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.

↓ Click the Stars to Rate This Recipe ↓

Tried this recipe? Leave a review!

Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you've made and loved one of my recipes!

Favorite Peanut Butter Cookie Recipes:

ALL OF MY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE RECIPES! 

I wrote a Peanut Butter Cookbook with 100+ recipes using Peanut Butter!

Peanut Butter Blossoms — A soft and chewy recipe for the classic cookie that stays soft! Easy, full of rich peanut butter flavor, and topped with a Kiss! Always a cookie jar or cookie exchange favorite!