Enjoy your favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies with a little peanut butter twist in these Gluten Free Double Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies. Creamy peanut butter and Reese’s peanut butter baking chips combine to give the perfect peanut butter taste in every bite.
I have great news! Wait for it…wait for it…
I HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!!
Yes people, this is an announcement worth making: My family and I are no longer homeless vagabonds bouncing from friend’s and family’s homes, waiting for our belongings to arrive from Hawaii. We have landed.
It was the weirdest feeling pulling up to our house for the first time, seeing our PODS container, and knowing that our entire lives (or at least what we deemed important enough) fit into that one very small container. I’ve never been so happy to see moving boxes since wearing the same five outfits for the past seven weeks was starting to get a little old. But who am I kidding??? I haven’t even opened up my clothing box. I’ve basically been wearing a variation of the same workout outfit for the past three days as I’m trying to move in.
Our move was quite the opposite of my parents’ move up in Utah that I had been helping with. Whereas my parents have spent years acquiring gadgets, knick knacks, and sentimental possessions to fill a beautiful home, Ben and I only packed up the essentials from Hawaii. We were giving things away left and right just to ensure that only the necessities would make the trek across the ocean. What took my parents 5 men and roughly 6 hours to unload only took us two guys (Ben and his bestie) and a mere hour and a half.
Additionally, what has taken my mom and her slew of family helpers (me included) weeks to unpack and help her get settled has only taken me, myself, and I a day and a half of reorganizing torture. Although not everything is completely put away, the house is basically 100% functional…minus having a few trash cans and rolls of toilet paper on hand. But who needs toilet paper anyway???
I had to laugh at Ben yesterday when he asked me what he thought to be a very simple question: “Hey babe, have you baked anything in your kitchen yet? Do you love it???”
My verbal response was “not yet”, but I’m sure that my nonverbal response in terms of my obviously agitated facial expressions went more like “Are you kidding me?! I have been unpacking all day and haven’t even made it to the grocery store since driving into Phoenix and you want to know if I’ve baked any cookies??? For real?!”
And to add to the pressure, since finally going grocery shopping last night, Braelyn has asked me three times already if we can bake cookies tomorrow. No rest for the weary all right!
So between painting, hanging pictures, and more unpacking, apparently it’s about time that I get my toosh back in the kitchen and bake some cookies for my family. It seems as though that’s what I’m expected to do around here. Haha.
Now if I were to choose a cookie to make on the spot, I’d have to whip up a batch of these Gluten Free Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies that have been on repeat this summer up in Utah. I believe I baked 3 batches in the 6 weeks that I was visiting.
The first batch I baked on a whim just to create a new recipe. The second batch I threw together to test out the exact ingredients I had jotted down from the first time baking these. And the last batch was simply to fulfill a request from my mom. No, not Braelyn, but my mom actually hinted for me to make another batch of these gluten free cookies, and she’s not even gluten free. She kept pointing out that the cookies were gone and it was about time to bake some more. And so I did, and those are now gone too.
These cookies are the perfect cross between a peanut butter cookie and a classic chocolate chip cookie. I don’t use as much peanut butter as a traditional peanut butter cookie recipe, so the flavor is a bit more subtle. But I do amp up the peanut butter flavor slightly by adding in some Reese’s baking chips, which are extremely delicious right out of the bag…because I know. Yeah, I may have eaten a few before the rest went into the dough.
The texture of these cookies is similar to a chocolate chip cookie that is chewy, chocolaty, and a bit gooey on the inside with a slight crisp on the outside. Basically my definition for a perfectly baked cookie. They have a beautiful rise and thickness where it’s just enough to look pretty but not puffy enough to be dry or cakey and not spread thin enough that they are flat and super crispy. They are simply superb.
I also love this recipe because I can use a pre made gluten free flour blend. I used King Arthur brand multi purpose baking mix for all three batches and had wonderful results. Because I make my own flour blends so often when I bake, it was nice to just grab one flour ingredient to scoop rather than five. Now that’s a happy baking day indeed…and a much less messy one at that.
Now the million dollar question is this: Will my home smell like freshly baked cookies tomorrow, or will I have to break in my new oven another day? Let’s hope it’s not the latter because I could use some warm peanut butter cookies as much as my children.
What would be the first thing you would bake in a new kitchen?
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum (if your gluten free flour blend doesn't already contain it)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2¾ to 3 cups gluten free flour (I used King Arthur brand multi purpose baking mix and used closer to 3 cups)
- ⅔ cup peanut butter chips, plus more for topping
- ⅔ cup milk chocolate chips, plus more for topping
- Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- To make cookie dough, in a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, eggs, sugar, and brown sugar, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Add salt, xanthan gum (if needed), baking soda, and 2¾ cup gluten free flour. Mix until well incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix on medium speed for an additional minute until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If dough is still sticky, add up to ¼ cup more flour until it no longer sticks to your finger and dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Add ⅔ cup peanut butter chips and ⅔ cup chocolate chips and mix on low or with a wooden spatula.
- Bake rounded tablespoon balls of dough on parchment paper 2" apart at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes until cracking on top and browning around the edges. Remove from oven and slide parchment paper with cookies onto a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool and set completely. While cookies are still hot, push extra peanut butter chips and milk chocolate chips into tops of cookies.
- Store extra cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in fridge for up to 1 week, or in freezer for up to 3 months.
