Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
I had never baked Reese’s Pieces into cookies until now. Thank goodness I’ve made up for lost time. I’m not sure how I managed to write my cookbook Peanut Butter Comfort, filled with over 100 recipes using peanut butter, and have 75+ peanut butter recipes on my site, but have never baked those smooth little discs into cookies. I’ve used Reese’s cups, mini Reese’s cups, M&M’s, peanut butter M&M’s, and finally now Reese’s Pieces. The Reese’s Pieces add a wonderful crackly texture to the soft, moist, tender cookies. I prefer my cookies on the underbaked side and these are soft, squishy perfection.
There’s a very slight bit of chewiness to the edges, but these are for soft-batch cookie fans. No crispy or crunchy cookies for me. Ever. They’re loaded with Reese’s Pieces and there’s an abundance of oozing, melted chocolate chips in every bite. I almost skipped the chocolate chips and opted to solely use Reese’s Pieces, but I’m glad I tossed in the chocolate chips, too. Cookies just aren’t the same without chocolate. The peanut butter flavor is distinct and full-on. There’s a hefty amount in the dough and there’s all those Reese’s Pieces.
These cookies are made for those of us who really like the peanut butter in peanut butter cookies. With some recipes you have to wonder if it’s really there or not. Not an issue here. Very peanut buttery. They’re a snap to make and the dough comes together quickly and easily. Calling all peanut butter (and chocolate) lovers! These are for you.
What’s in Reese’s Pieces Cookies?
To make this Reese’s cookie recipe, you’ll need:
Egg Light brown sugar Creamy peanut butter Unsalted butter Vanilla extract All-purpose flour Baking soda Salt Reese’s Pieces Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Reese’s Pieces Cookies
Add the egg, peanut butter, softened butter, sugar, and vanilla to a bowl. Cream until smooth. Add in the dry ingredients, then fold in the Reese’s Pieces and chocolate chips last. Scoop the dough into balls, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Once chilled, bake the cookie dough until the edges have set and tops are just beginning to set.
Do I Have to Chill the Dough?
Yes! Chill the dough so your cookies bake up nice and thick. Warm dough equates to thinner, flatter cookies and I prefer thicker and puffier. I use my cookie scoop to scoop out the dough, put the mounds on a plate, and refrigerate. When I’m ready to bake, I grab a half dozen and save the rest for later.
Can I Add Extra Mix-Ins?
You’re welcome to mix and match the mix-ins as you see fit, but I wouldn’t add more than 2 cups total otherwise you won’t have enough dough to balance them out.
What Type of Peanut Butter Should I Use?
Use regular, storebought peanut butter. Old-fashioned Jif or Peter Pan Honey Roasted Peanut Butter are my favorites for baking. Homemade Peanut Butter or ‘natural’ varieties are playing with fire in cookie-baking. Cookies made with them tend to spread, and I don’t have time to worry about a potential cookie flop or wasted ingredients, so I bake with what I know will give me success, every time. Every recipe in my cookbook was tested with Jif because it’s universal and I know it works.
Can I Use Crunchy Peanut Butter?
Technically yes, but I much prefer using creamy peanut butter.
How to Store Reese’s Pieces Cookies
These Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Tips for Making Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies
I used semi-sweet chocolate chips to make these Reese’s peanut butter cookies, but you’re welcome to use milk or dark chocolate chips if preferred. You can also chop up a chocolate bar instead. Likewise, you could switch out the chocolate chips for butterscotch chips or something similar. Note that the cookies shown in the photos were baked with dough that had been chilled overnight, allowed to come to room temperature for 15 minutes, and were baked for 8 minutes, with trays rotated at the 4-minute mark. They have slightly chewy edges with soft, pillowy centers.
More Peanut Butter Cookie Recipes:
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Chip Cookies – Super soft, perfectly chewy, BROWNED BUTTER cookies that are LOADED with two kinds of chips!! An EASY one-bowl, no-mixer recipe for irresistibly DELISH cookies!! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies — My favorite peanut butter cookies on my blog. There’s NO Flour, NO Butter, and NO White sugar used! Soft, chewy, and oozing with dark chocolate. Crazy good!
Easy 4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies — These 4-ingredient peanut butter cookies are made with a secret ingredient…and lots of peanut butter, of course! These are so easy and fast to make!
Soft and Puffy Peanut Butter Coconut Oil Cookies — No butter used in these soft, tender cookies with dough so good you won’t even want to bake them.
Big Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies — These soft peanut butter cookies are the peanut butter version of a molasses crinkle. They’re soft, supremely chewy, and have an old-fashioned peanut butter cookie flavor!
Peanut Butter Blossoms — These peanut butter blossoms feature soft and chewy peanut butter cookies topped with a Hershey’s chocolate kiss. A classic Christmas cookie recipe!
Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies — 3 favorite cookies combined into 1 so you don’t have to choose!! Easy, no-mixer recipe, and always a hit!
Peanut Butter Comfort, my cookbook featuring 100+ Peanut Butter Recipes.
