Can I Use Chunky Peanut Butter In The Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Our answer

Nigella's Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) are easy to make as just a few ingredients are beaten together then scooped into mounds and baked. The cookies are crisp if eaten on the day they are made, but become softer and slightly chewy if stored overnight. The recipe uses smooth (creamy) peanut butter.

For this recipe, and for most peanut butter cookies, if the recipe states smooth peanut butter then you should stick to this ingredient. Chunky peanut butter contains small pieces of chopped peanuts, which can affect the texture of the cookie as you will get small nubs of nut in what should be a soft cookie dough. Crunchy peanut butter also contains slightly more peanuts than smooth regular peanut butter and slightly less fat and sugar and this might also marginally affect the cookie. For the same reason, you should not try to switch regular peanut butter for "natural" peanut butter in baking recipes.