These Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies are easily dairy-free and will surely become a recipe you come back to again and again.
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Chocolate and peanut butter is one of my favorite food combos. I’m honestly shocked it took me this long to create a recipe featuring this flavor profile, but here we are. Say hello to the most beautiful Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. They’re over the top chocolatey with just the right amount of peanut butter. They melt perfectly in your mouth and stay with you long after they’re gone. You simply won’t be able to help yourself from making them again.
Key Ingredients for Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
All-Purpose Flour: Good ol’ trusty AP. I haven’t tested any gluten-free flours, unfortunately.
Cocoa Powder and Baking Soda: I found this article quite helpful in explaining different types of cocoa powder. Of note, you can use either natural or Dutch-processed cocoa because this recipe contains brown sugar, which has needed acid to react with the baking soda.
Butter: You can use dairy or vegan to keep things dairy-free.
Brown and White Sugar: A mix of both to perfectly balance depth of flavor and sweetness.
Egg: For binding and structure.
Chocolate Chips: I used semi-sweet; make sure it’s dairy-free if needed!
Peanut Butter: I prefer the all natural stuff, meaning peanuts and salt are the only two ingredients. However, more traditional varieties like Skippy or Jif should work just fine.
Powdered Sugar: For our peanut butter frosting!
Helpful Baking Tips
- Measuring the Flour: Make sure to spoon your flour into the measuring cup and level it with a butter knife. If you pack the flour, it may cause the cookies to be dry and crumbly. I put my measuring cup in a bowl as I spoon and level to catch excess flour and minimize waste.
- Bring the Butter and Egg to Room Temperature: To make sure everything creams together correctly. You want the butter to be soft to the touch (it should leave an imprint if you test it with your finger), but not shiny or oily. If it’s too warm, the cookies will likely spread too much when baking.
- Baking Soda: Make sure you’ve purchased within the last six months for best results. It loses effectiveness over time.
- Mixing Your Batter: Don’t overmix! It puts too much air in the dough, which leads to more gluten development. This can cause flat cookies or unpleasantly gummy cookies. I often stop my mixer before everything’s fully combined and fold the rest together using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
- Mixing Speed: While it can be tempting to crank up the speed on your mixer, I don’t recommend it. It can make the cookie lose its structure, which will lead to a flat cookie. I recommend using low to medium speed and paying good attention throughout.
- Oven Time: Ovens are finicky. Temperature can vary fairly significantly. I recommend beginning to check your cookies around the 9-minute mark. It’s okay if they’re slightly undercooked, as they will continue to bake on that hot cookie sheet!
- Sift the Powdered Sugar: An annoying extra step, yes. But It prevents lumpy, unappetizing frosting.
If you make these Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, be sure to leave a rating, review, question, or concern. You can also connect with me on Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok.
More Cookies!
- Vegan Apple Oatmeal Cream Pies
- Orange Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Cookies and Cream Cookies
- Gluten-Free Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Decadent Brown Butter Sugar Cookies
Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Equipment
- Large Bowl
- medium bowl
- Hand or Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheet
- parchment paper
- mesh strainer
Ingredients
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Peanut Butter Frosting
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup peanut butter (I used all natural peanut butter with only nuts and salt as the ingredients, but more traditional varieties like Jif should work too)
- ½ cup powdered sugar sifted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk of choice
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat for easy clean-up.
- Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set to the side for now.
- Place softened vegan butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large bowl and beat on high with a hand mixer (using dough hook attachments) or a stand mixer (using paddle attachment) for 2 minutes or until combined and somewhat fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and beat once more until combined, about 30 more seconds.
- Add previously combined flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on low to medium speed until just-combined. It's important not to over-mix otherwise the flour will become overly glutinous and result in gummy, dense cookies. I often stop my mixer before everything is fully mixed and mix the remainder with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to ensure I don't overdo it. Finally, fold in chocolate chips until just combined.
- Use a small cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon to form the cookie dough into 16 balls. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet and use the back of a drinking glass to gently flatten each cookie. You may need to do multiple batches depending on the size of your baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the cookies are set and no longer wet on top but look underdone (they'll bake more on the hot baking sheet while they cool!). Remove from oven and let them set and cool 30 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, make your peanut butter frosting. Use your hand or stand mixer (use the flat paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) to beat together the butter and peanut butter until well-combined. Add in sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract and beat on medium-high until well-combined. Add a tablespoon of milk and continue to beat for an additional 30 seconds or so to make the frosting perfectly fluffy. (psst, it's a little extra work, but I sift my powdered sugar first to remove any lumps! It makes such a huge difference.)
- Use an offset spatula to spread frosting on the bottom of one completely cooled cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, and gently press together. Repeat until you have eight sandwiches. Enjoy!
Notes
Photography by Hope Agresti
