Chocolate Peanut Butter Skillet Cookie

This is no basic cast iron skillet cookie! It's a toasted pecan chocolate chip peanut butter cookie in a skillet that has been baked to perfection so that it's warm and gooey in the center, and golden toasty on the edges.

A skillet cookie is one of my favorite ways to switch up my cookie baking routine. A giant cookie baked in a cast iron pan is a must during the fall and winter months- a tradition that lasts all winter long in our house.

Why the skillet? Cast iron has a way of transforming everything that it touches, and in fact, it's a crime to cook Country Sausage Gravy any other way. For very serious reasons.

When it comes to cookies though, it's magic. It toasts the bottom and edges of the cookie, caramelizing the sugars and butter, making the most amazing, toasty bottom. Top that beauty with a scoop of vanilla ice cream while it's still warm--it's pure joy.  

What you'll need

• Use pecan halves, or chopped pecans that are raw, and unsalted.
• I prefer smooth peanut butter, but for extra crunch you can also use chunky style peanut butter.
• Light or dark brown sugar are both fine.
• Semi sweet chocolate is the perfect sweetness to balance the peanut butter and pecans, but you can choose milk chocolate or dark chocolate if you prefer.
• Choose salted butter, and make sure the butter is completely softened before using it.
• This recipe is written for a 8 inch cast iron skillet. For other sizes, the recipe is the same, but the cooking time will be adjusted as noted in the recipe card.

How to make this recipe

Preheat the oven first, so that it it heats while you make the cookie batter.

Put the pecans in a dry skillet (rough chop if you like, or leave in halves) and toast on medium high heat until they become fragrant (photo 1). Keep an eye on them and flip them around because they will go from toasted to burned very quickly if you're not careful.

Remove the toasted pecans from the heat and place on a plate while you make the dough.

Mix together the "wet" ingredients, including peanut butter, as shown below (photo 2). It's ok if there are a few lumps of butter at this point.

Stir in the dry ingredients until smooth (photo 3) and sprinkle in the chunks of chocolate and toasted pecans (photo 4), giving a final stir to combine.

Grease the skillet on the bottom with butter (photo 5), and press the dough into the skillet until flat (photo 6). Place a few chocolate pieces and pecans over the top of the dough before baking to showcase the ingredients.

Baking the cookie

For an 8 inch skillet, cooking time is about 20 minutes.

For larger skillets, the cookie will be thinner, and therefore you'll need to reduce the cooking time by about 3 minutes per inch increase in diameter of the skillet. For example, a 9 inch skillet is one inch wider than an 8 inch skillet; so reduce the time to 17 minutes.

Conversely, if your skillet is smaller than 8 inches, the cookie dough will be thicker and you'll likely need to increase the cooking time by about 3-4 minutes per inch. So, a 7 inch skillet will need to bake for about 23-24 minutes.

The cookie is done when the edges are golden brown and slightly crisped and the center is still slightly gooey. It will continue to set as it cools.

Let it cool for a few minutes before digging in. It really is the most delicious thing even when served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

You can store it right in the skillet, at room temperature, covered with foil for next time.

Reheating the cookie

The skillet cookie can be warmed up in the oven in the skillet, uncovered at 250 degrees for 5-10 minutes.

You can also just cut the individual portion out and warm it up on a plate or bowl on high for 30-60 seconds, or until warmed through.

However you warm it back up, just don't forget that scoop of ice cream!

Enjoy.

If you made this recipe, leave a rating in the recipe card using the stars (1-5) or leave a comment below!