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Peanut Butter Chocolate Meltaway Cookies – for the chocolate and peanut butter lover in your life! These light little bite-sized cookies are not too sweet and get a nice salty bite from the crushed roasted peanuts.
Cookies are a great dessert choice and always welcome at get togethers, special occasions and events, and even just because! These are our back-to-school cookies because today all the kids in our neighborhood are back to school. It seems like the start of the school year comes around more quickly every year, and I bet the kids think so too!
These light peanut butter cookies truly melt in your mouth.
Meltaway cookies are made with an eggless shortbread-like dough and minimal pantry ingredients. Be sure to use good quality butter so the cookie will be crisp and buttery, not greasy and flat. I used regular Jiff brand peanut butter in these cookies each time the recipe was tested. I haven’t tried making these meltaway cookies with an all-natural style peanut butter. Peanut butter brands like Jiff and Peter Pan have a creamier texture than all-natural, so I don’t know if the drier, thicker spread will work well.
The simple chocolate icing is made with melted chopped semi-sweet chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar.
Surprisingly the icing is not very sweet and sets up well making these cookies great for stacking and packing. It takes an hour or two for the chocolate to completely firm-up, so don’t worry if it doesn’t happen immediately. Even when dry to the touch, the chocolate icing is not hard or crispy. It’s more of a chocolatey glaze than drizzled melted chocolate and compliments the peanut butter cookie perfectly. Each time I’ve made these cookies I used chopped good quality chocolate for the icing. I have not tested with chocolate chips to see if it will set up the same, but in theory chips should be a fine substitute.
Please don’t skip the crushed dry roasted salted peanuts on top. That little salty bite and crunchy peanut really seals the deal! Chocolate and peanuts and absolutely made for each other!
As there are many children with food allergies these days, it’s always best to check with the teacher before bringing peanuts into the classroom. With that in mind, these meltaway cookies also make a great after-school snack or a little sweet treat for your office lunchbox.
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Meltaway Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter (I used Jiff or Peter Pan brand)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (57g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (196g)
- ¼ cup cornstarch (4 tablespoons)
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the icing:
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (86g) plus more if needed for consistency
Instructions
To make the cookie dough:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter on medium speed until creamy. Add ½ cup of powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and blend again until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and gently mix on low until incorporated, scraping down sides with a spatula as needed.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Add the flour mixture in three batches to the creamed butter mixture. Blend on medium-low until each addition is incorporated. Scrape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- To bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop a level spoonful of dough using a 1-inch cookie scoop. Roll each into a tight ball and place two inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Press each dough ball gently with the flat bottom of a small glass or measuring cup, to the desired thickness. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Slide the parchment paper with cookies onto a wire rack to cool. Repeat with a new piece of parchment paper placed on a cooled cookie sheet. Cool cookies completely before icing.
To make the icing:
- Combine the chopped chocolate, milk and peanut butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of lightly simmering water (do not allow the water to touch the bottom of the bowl). Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat but leave the pan on the stove. Add the powdered sugar and stir until combined. The icing may seem somewhat thin but it will thicken and harden. Immediately ice each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the chocolate mixture. Quickly sprinkle each cookie with chopped salted peanuts before the chocolate has a chance to set. Place on a wire rack and allow the icing to harden before storing cookies.
Recipe Notes
- To help the icing stay at a good spreadable consistency, keep the bowl over the pan of hot water while icing the cookies.
- If you feel the dough is a little dry, add another tablespoon of peanut butter. The moisture content in butter and peanut butter varies from brand to brand. I use Land-O-Lakes butter and Jiff and Peter Pan smooth peanut butter for these cookies.
Nutrition
Here are a few more of our favorite meltaway cookie recipes you might enjoy:
Lemon Meltaways truly melt in your mouth and are similar in texture to a buttery shortbread cookie. The lemon brightens the cookie and gives it an irresistible freshness. Simple to make with just a few pantry ingredients they come together in no time. Click HERE to get the recipe!
Coconut Key Lime Meltaways – a light and buttery bite-sized cookie with a big tropical flavor. Click HERE to get the recipe!
Here’s a link to one of my favorite cookie sheets. Click on the photo for more information:
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If you love the peanut butter chocolate combo as much as we do, you might like these recipes from some of our favorite bloggers! Sue from The View from Great Island made these gorgeous Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies that look so incredibly delicious. The icing is absolutely dreamy! Mary from Barefeet in the Kitchen knocked it out of the park with these No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Bites. What a great, easy snack that everyone will love! And finally, Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake has a great recipe for one of my favorite childhood treats – Classic Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies. A must try recipe!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Tricia
Amy
Hi, I made the lemon version of these and I’m Wi seeing if I could use a combination of that recipe or this one to make a “plain” melt away with a chocolate glaze for my son. Sadly he’s not a huge peanut butter fan. I was thinking of using the lemon recipe with no lemon and this glaze with no peanut butter but I worry about the consistency effect. Thanks!
Tricia Buice
Hi Amy – I would make the lemon meltaway with no lemon, but increase the vanilla. You can add any kind of glaze you want or just use melted chocolate. Enjoy!
Julie G
This is a perfect recipe. Super easy to make. The dough is beautiful and they rolled easily. When I flattened them out I took care to reshape a bit and avoided cracked edges.
The texture after they baked was just like a regular peanut butter cookie. Loaded with peanut butter flavor but slightly soft from the cornstarch doing its job.
For the frosting, I added the confectioners sugar a bit at a time until I got the consistency I liked. Frosted them, sprinkled the nuts and allowed them to dry.
Excellent taste and they store nicely. I froze a few and that worked out great as well.
These cookies are going to fast become a family favorite. It’s a perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter!
I saw the Lemon Meltaways too…hmmm, they’ve got my name all over them!
Amy
I just made the lemon ones last night and they are fantastic and addictive! Came here to see how the chocolate ones went so I could make some for my fruit-averse 13 year-old. Thanks for leaving a 2021 comment 🙂
Tricia Buice
Thank you Amy. Hope you’ll give them a try!
Maria
Hello can I use a cookie cutter? Can I freeze the dough?
Tricia Buice
Hi Maria. You can use a cookie cutter if you want to. And as for freezing the dough, I would freeze the baked, un-iced cookies instead. Let us know if you give it a try! Thanks.
Mary
Consistency was really strange, would not make again.
Tricia Buice
Sorry you didn’t care for the cookies Mary – but thanks for the feedback. Any cookie dough with cornstarch is a little different than just flour. I love all our meltaway cookies and most find them delicious.
Irene
absolutely the worst cookies I have ever made. Just made them for my daughters welcome home and I’m too embarrassed to even serve them. I used Jif peanut butter and LOL butter. The consistency is something I can’t even describe. Dry but mushy?
Tricia Buice
I am so sorry these didn’t turn out for you Irene. I strive to only publish well tested and delicious recipes. I’m not sure what went wrong but maybe they were under baked? I never recommend making a new recipe at the last minute for a special event. It just never seems to work out well. Sorry this was your experience.
Kate
My cookies came out dry and cracked around the edges. They’re still delicious but aren’t as pretty as the ones in the pictures. Also, when I added the powdered sugar to the icing it became super thick. I had to add at least another tablespoon of milk and even then I didn’t have enough for all the cookies. I’d definitely double the icing recipe next time around. Really yummy cookies!
Tricia Buice
I’m sorry Kate. I updated the icing recipe based on several comments from readers. As far as the cookies being dry, peanut butter and butter brands can vary greatly in the amount of moisture they have. Perhaps next time you can add another tablespoon or two of peanut butter. I don’t have any problems with this recipe using Land-O-Lakes butter and Jiff smooth peanut butter (not the natural kind). Press the cookie dough balls gently and if they crack a little, try and squeeze them back together. A few cookies might crack but they shouldn’t all have this issue. Thanks for trying them and I hope you’ll try again!
Shirley
I must have done something wrong with this recipe. My cookies are very dry and cracked around the edges, not smooth and perfect looking like the picture. I love peanut butter cookies and thought these would be great for my christmas baking. Can you help? I followed the recipe to the tee.
Tricia Buice
Hi Shirley. Sorry they cracked. Make sure you are using a good quality butter and a regular peanut butter, not all-natural. Also, be careful when measuring your flour. Spoon lightly into measuring cups and level off with the dull side of a table knife. Don’t pack the flour or you’ll end up with too much. Not sure if any of these things happened, just trying to figure out why they were dry. Humidity can play a roll in baking, but it shouldn’t affect these cookies that much. I haven’t heard of anybody having troubles with them being dry. Also, make sure your butter is very soft when starting to ensure the mixture mixes well. Hope you’ll try again. Sometimes thing just don’t turn out right, or at least that’s the way it works for me. Good luck.
Kathleen Krug
Can the peanut butter cookies be made in advance and kept in refrigerator or the freezer?
Tricia Buice
Hi Kathleen. I think making the cookies ahead of time and refrigerating or freezing is a great idea. I would wait to ice the cookies until they are thawed or closer to the time you will be serving them. Glad you’re going to give them a try!
Carole Glock
Not sure what I did wrong, but icing on these choc. Melt away cookies was not thin like a glaze— did follow recipe and did not over cook so had to make a second batch of icing. Cookies were very good.
Tricia Buice
Hi Carole – if I understand your comment correctly, the chocolate icing worked the second time you made it? Hope that’s the case and so glad you liked the cookies. I’m such a chocolate peanut butter nut – so these are a favorite of mine! Thanks for trying the cookies.
Carole Glock
No the icing got hard right away both times- had to make 2nd batch of icing to finish cookies. The icing was never thin on either batch.
Tricia Buice
Thanks Carole for the response. The icing will get hard the longer it sets. You can leave it over the hot water bath to keep it liquid. Did you use chopped chocolate or chocolate chips? Chips will not work the same as good quality chopped chocolate. I used a very small amount to ice each cookies. I went back and double checked my notes and all seems to be correct. Sorry it gave you trouble but glad you liked them. Thanks for the feedback and for trying the recipe.
Trecia Fraley
Hi Tricia, I can’t wait to try these for my annual cookie bake off! Quick question: could these bad boys refrigerate longer than 1 hour or is that an absolute must time they have to be out of the fridge? I want to make the cookie dough prior (due to the chill time) and then bake them at my friend’s house. Thanks so much!
-Trecia
Tricia Buice
Hey Trecia! You are fine to refrigerate longer – up to overnight. The cookie dough may be a little hard to scoop and roll at first but it will warm up. Great question! Enjoy 🙂
Janne
Hi I’m just wondering can this recipe be doubled . I’m doing a cookie party exchange?
Tricia Buice
Hi Janne – yes I think it would be fine to double the recipe. I would divide the dough in half when putting in the refrigerator. Work with one half of the dough at a time, keeping the second half in the refrigerator so it won’t get too warm. Enjoy! If you love chocolate and peanut butter, I think you’ll love this recipe. Thanks for giving it a try!
Kathleen Krug
I can’t find the recipe to print, I want to make for the holidays.
Tricia Buice
Hi Kathleen. The printable recipe is just above the box where you left this message. It’s shaded in beige. Let me know if I can help in any way.
Kathleen Krug
Thanks Tricia, your a life saver. I didn’t scroll far enough, there are two more recipes under the Peanut Butter and the recipe was under those. I hope they are good sure look like it! Happy Holidays!
Div
Hi, could you please give me metric measurements for these. They looks absolutely delicious!
Tricia Buice
Sorry Div – I don’t have that kind of program for my recipe club-in 🙁
Vicki
May I ask if Sunbutter can be used.
Tricia Buice
Hi Vicki – I think Sunbutter would be a great substitute. According to their website – their product is great in baked goods and perfect for anybody with peanut allergies. Good luck and thanks for the great question!
Liz
I’m a little scared about how many of these I could eat in one sitting! But these look too delicious not to make!
Tricia Buice
Thank you Liz – they are easy to make and eat!
John / Kitchen Riffs
Peanut butter and chocolate combine so well together! Love that flavor pairing. These look super — light but really, really tasty. Perfect. Thanks!
Tricia Buice
Thank you John – they are a treat for sure 🙂
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers
Oh my! I could eat my weight in these 🙂 Peanut butter and chocolate were meant to be together 🙂
Tricia Buice
Yes they are Jennifer – thanks!
Monica
These look amazing, Tricia. I have never seen peanut butter-chocolate meltaways and, of course, they’re right up my alley. I love making cookies all year round but it’s such a great fall/winter activity. We’re still on summer vacation mode but can’t wait to rev up the baking. These delicious little morsels would sure go down a treat in this house!
Tricia Buice
Thanks Monica – I don’t think I’ve ever seen them either – a new creation of mine 😉 I hope your son is ready for school again – I bet it starts soon! Thanks for stopping by!
Susan
Oh my gosh, back to school already? Our schools don’t start until the day after Labor Day but I’m sure yours likely get out much earlier in the spring. These cookies will make back to school much more fun 🙂
Tricia Buice
Thanks Susan! My grandson starts back to school after Labor Day too. He lives in the next county but I hear they are moving up their school schedule next year. Have a terrific week 🙂
monique
They’re beautiful and I know they must be delicious Tricia.
Tricia Buice
Thanks Monique 🙂
Pam
Great cookies, Tricia! I have all the ingredients on hand, even the Jif, but I’m the PB and chocolate lover and I know who would eat them all. Mercy, kids hardly get a summer any more. Our grandson lives in Scottsdale, AZ and started school last week, it’s still 105 degrees there! School starts here in our Chicago suburb in 2 weeks. Thanks for the recipe!
Tricia Buice
Thank you Pam! My grandson starts after Labor Day too. Maybe you’d enjoy a good cookie today – hope you get the chance to make them 😉
sue | the view from great island
All I can say is ‘chomp chomp’…I need to get right in the kitchen to bake up a batch!
Tricia Buice
Haha – thanks Sue!
angiesrecipes
These cookies look like mini cakes :-)) That chocolate peanut butter icing is definitely a keeper.
Tricia Buice
Thanks Angie!