There’s a reason these Chocolate and Peanut Butter Marble Cookies are a staple in my house. My fiancé, Eric, LOVES them. They essentially were made for him. Like literally, I made this recipe because he can’t get enough of Ben & Jerry’s Tonight Dough, and these cookies felt like the next best thing. He loves all my cookies, but these are his favorite!
They are a hybrid of a brownie cookie and a peanut butter cookie, with tons of chocolate chips interlaced. Of course, they contain brown butter (the best cookies always do) and they are big, somewhat soft and definitely chewy.
These cookies are a love letter, and I hope you love them as much as Eric does. But believe me, he’ll always have dibs.
Table of contents
- Ingredients for this chocolate peanut butter marble cookie
- How to make the brown butter
- How to temper your brown butter
- Splitting up the doughs into two bowls
- How to make the brownie cookie dough
- How to make the peanut butter cookie dough
- How to make these chocolate peanut butter marble cookies
- How to cool and store these chocolate peanut butter marble cookies
- FAQ
- Looking for other cookie recipes?
Ingredients for this chocolate peanut butter marble cookie
The ingredients mirror each other for each cookie “side,” but there are a few slight tweaks to each recipe. Here is everything you’ll need for these marble cookies:
For both:
- 113 grams 70% cocoa chocolate chopped
- 226 grams/1 cup butter
For the brownie cookie:
- 118 grams brown sugar (1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons, spooned and packed)
- 1 tablespoon milk of choice
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 50 grams white sugar (1/4 cup)
- 175 grams flour (1 1/3 cup)
- 2 tablespoons dutch process cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the peanut butter cookie:
- 1 tablespoon milk of choice
- 118 grams brown sugar (1/2 cup 2 tablespoons, spooned and packed)
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 75 grams creamy peanut butter (1/3 cup)
- 50 grams white sugar (1/4 cup)
- 183 grams flour (1 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
How to make the brown butter
When you brown butter, you are essentially toasting the milk solids until they darken and deepen in color, lending rich caramelization flavor in the cookie.
To brown the butter, it’s best to put a skillet or saucepan on medium-low heat and melt the butter until it is golden yellow. Stir constantly to prevent the butter from scorching.
Continue to cook down the butter until the mixture starts to fizz slightly. Stir constantly as the butter begins to brown. When it gets to a golden brown color, remove from the heat and keep stirring until you get a rich dark brown color. Pour this into a large bowl.
Then you’re ready for the next step!
How to temper your brown butter
The next step is tempering the brown butter. You do this before adding the egg to ensure that the egg doesn’t curdle. This would only happen if the butter was still hot, so you add milk for extra richness in the recipe, as well as a way to bring the heat down in the brown butter.
To temper the butter in this recipe, first divide the butter evenly into two large bowls. Add 1 tablespoon of milk in each bowl and whisk together until the butter is a light golden color.
If the mixture feels around room temperature, then it’s time for the sugar and the egg.
Splitting up the doughs into two bowls
I mentioned this briefly above, but we started by browning one large amount of butter, and for the rest of the recipe we will be working in two bowls.
Since butter loses moisture as it browns, you’ll have less butter than when you first started. So each bowl will get about 100 grams of butter in it.
After the butter is split up and tempered, add the sugars to both bowls, but then add the peanut butter to just one bowl.
How to make the brownie cookie dough
For the brownie cookie dough, you’ll want to add Dutch process cocoa powder along with the dry ingredients.
Dutch process cocoa has a much darker and richer flavor than baker’s cocoa or even cacao. This ingredient is integral to getting that rich, brownie-like taste but with only 2 tablespoons of cocoa. So don’t skip it!
How to make the peanut butter cookie dough
The peanut butter cookie dough is simple. Just add the peanut butter to the wet ingredients, mix well and add in the rest of the dry.
The peanut flavor is subtle but there, and the color and richness is perfect in the cookie.
How to make these chocolate peanut butter marble cookies
Here’s a full (and DETAILED) step-by-step of how to make these cookies and mold them together!
- Add the 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) to a saucepan. Put the saucepan on low heat and melt the butter fully. Raise the heat to medium and stir constantly. Let the butter foam slightly. When it turns a rich brown color remove it from the heat and whisk until the butter turns dark brown.
- Divide the butter evenly into two large bowls. Since moisture has cooked off during the browning process, each bowl should contain about 100 grams of butter.
- Add 1 tablespoon of milk to each bowl and whisk to temper the butter. Let it cool for a few more minutes.
- Whisk one egg into each bowl. Then add the sugars and whisk again.
- For the chocolate batter, add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt to one bowl. Stir to combine.
- For the peanut butter, whisk in the peanut butter to the second bowl, then add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.
- Split the chocolate chips evenly between the cookies.
- Scoop out 3 tablespoons of the dough. Roll the dough together to create 10 large “marble” balls.
- Place the cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350°F. The key is to remove the cookies before they look fully done. They will continue to “cook” outside of the oven, so this method helps them maintain the chewy texture.
- Let cool and serve!
How to cool and store these chocolate peanut butter marble cookies
A key trick to these cookies is how you cool them. Or don’t cool them, in that regard.
I always recommend taking cookies out of the oven before they look fully “done.” This is because these chocolate peanut butter marble cookies continue to cook from residual heat when they are out of the oven, so pulling them out early ensures they stay moist and chewy in the center.
From there, you can either store them in the fridge right away or on the counter. In both circumstances, I recommend using an air-tight container and keeping the cookies in a dry place.
FAQ
Excitingly – yes! Miyokos Creamery has one of my absolute FAVORITE butter for vegan butter “browning.” So use 1 cup of that vegan butter, and then substitute in 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax + 2.5 tablespoons water) for each egg.
They will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks! It’s a great option for long-term storage.
Absolutely. I only used peanut butter because (surprise) it’s Eric’s favorite. But you can use almond butter, sunflower butter, or even tahini!
Looking for other cookie recipes?
You’ve come to the right place. Here are a few other popular favorites from the blog!
And that’s it for these Chocolate and Peanut Butter Marble Cookies!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Eric’s Favorite (Chocolate and Peanut Butter Marble Cookies)
Ingredients
- 226 grams/1 cup butter
For the brownie cookie:
- 118 grams brown sugar 1/2 cup 2 tablespoons, spooned and packed
- 1 tablespoon milk of choice
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 50 grams white sugar 1/4 cup
- 175 grams flour 1 1/3 cup
- 2 tablespoons dutch process cocoa
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the peanut butter cookie:
- 1 tablespoons milk of choice
- 118 grams brown sugar 1/2 cup 2 tablespoons, spooned and packed,
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 75 grams creamy peanut butter 1/3 cup
- 50 grams white sugar 1/4 cup
- 183 grams flour 1 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For both:
- 113 grams 70% cocoa chocolate chopped
Instructions
- Add the 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) to a saucepan. Put the saucepan on low heat and melt the butter fully. Raise the heat to medium and stir constantly. Let the butter foam slightly. When it turns a rich brown color remove it from the heat and whisk until the butter turns dark brown.
- Divide the butter evenly into two large bowls. Since moisture has cooked off during the browning process, each bowl should contain about 100 grams of butter.
- Add 1 tablespoon of milk to each bowl and whisk to temper the butter. Let it cool for a few more minutes.
- Whisk one egg into each bowl. Then add the sugars and whisk again.
- For the chocolate batter, add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt to one bowl. Stir to combine.
- For the peanut butter, whisk in the peanut butter to the second bowl, then add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.
- Split the chocolate chips evenly between the cookies.
- Scoop out 3 tablespoons of the dough. Roll the dough together to create 10 large "marble" balls.
- Place the cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350°F. The key is to remove the cookies before they look fully done. They will continue to "cook" outside of the oven, so this method helps them maintain the chewy texture.
- Let cool and serve!
Allison says
My cookies came out dry and cakey. They didn’t spread as much as yours seemed to. Sad because I was really excited about this recipe. I used a scale and measured all of the ingredients correctly. What did I do wrong?
Justine says
Hmmmm my only thought is that you cooked down the butter too far and it left each bowl with less than 90-100 grams – were you able to measure the butter after browning? These should be a very wet dough so I’m shocked they caked up!
Allison says
Thanks for responding! Yes I measured the butter and it was about 200 ml (unsure what that is in grams) but my dough wasn’t dry at all. That’s why I was confused too!
Justine says
Now I’m even more confused! My last thought would be either a difference in the egg size (that always gets me) or baking soda instead of baking powder, but none of these things should mess with the recipe enough to yield this result, especially if they dough is already very wet and pliable. I’ll do some testing this weekend and see if any trials mirror what happened to you!
Daniela says
I loved this recipe it was the best thing I have ever tried! I will do it again!
Anya says
These are delicious! Especially when you really twist the two doughs together to marble them it makes all the difference! Both doughs together is the perfect bite! Great recipe! Saving this one for sure!
Justine says
aw yay! I’m so so glad you liked it!