These peanut butter cup chocolate chip cookies are loaded with two of my favorite things, chocolate and peanut butter. This is an easy recipe for a chewy chocolate chip cookie stuffed with Reese’s in every bite. It is a melty, gooey, cookie with the perfect mix of chocolate and peanut butter.
About Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies
I love chocolate chip cookies, and I also love Reese’s. Whether it’s Reese’s cups, Reese’s pieces, or any of the other Reese’s candy bars, it’s safe to say that all of these peanut butter candies are my favorite. And apparently my daughter has taken after me because on Halloween she always comes home with a bag that’s about three quarters Reese’s peanut butter cups. So, coming up with a recipe for Reese’s peanut butter cup cookies was almost a necessity so that I could use up all of the extra candy bars.
What I love about this recipe is that it takes the classic chocolate chip cookies recipe and adds just a touch of peanut butter to the chocolate chip cookie base. The rest of the peanut butter flavor comes from what you mix into the base along with the chocolate chips. This mix gives the cookies the perfect balance of chocolate chip cookie vs peanut butter. It really is the best of both worlds.
Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cups
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Large bowl
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup Reese's Pieces candies
- 12 6oz Reese's Peanut Butter cups chopped
Instructions
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and peanut butter together until creamy.
- Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl a couple of times.
- Beat in vanilla and eggs one at a time. Again, scraping down bowl.
- Gradually add in dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips, Reese's Pieces candies, and chopped peanut butter cups.
- Cover and chill dough for 2 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Use a cookie scoop to make tablespoon size cookie dough balls.
- Drop cookie dough, 2 inches apart, on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake about 10 minutes, until edges are just beginning to turn light golden brown.
- Cool cookies on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
Tips for Making Recipe
This recipe is easy to make, and it follows the standard steps for making chocolate chip cookies. Use room temperature butter so that the softened butter will cream more easily with the sugars. I like to use the paddle attachment on my stand mixer for this recipe, but a hand mixer works well too. Be sure not to overmix the dough after adding the dry ingredients. Folding in the chips and candy also prevents overmixing.
The cookie dough needs to be chilled. Simply place some plastic wrap over the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can also transfer the dough to an airtight container to chill. A third option is to scoop cookie dough balls prior to chilling. I like this method because the dough is soft and scoops really easily before it’s chilled. By scoping the dough before chilling, I find that the chunks of peanut butter cups stay more intact. Place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet, cover, and chill.
When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place cookie dough balls two inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes. The baking time may vary, so keep an eye on the cookies so that they don’t overbake. Pull from the oven and let cool for 3-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Variations for Recipe
The combination of the Reese’s peanut butter cup and Reese’s pieces candy gives these peanut butter cookies a mix of peanut butter flavors and textures. The peanut butter cup chunks make the cookies soft and gooey, while the Reese’s pieces add a contrasting crunch to the cookies. The chocolate morsels are the perfect balance between the two.
I really enjoyed the mix of textures, but my son was not a fan of the Reese’s Pieces. He liked the creamy and melty texture of the chocolate and peanut butter and didn’t want the candy coating of the peanut butter candy messing that up. So for him, I substitute peanut butter chips for the Reese’s Pieces. This way he gets the peanut butter flavor without the crunch.
For peanut butter lovers who think more peanut butter cups is better, top the cookies with some extra pieces when they come out of the oven. Talk about an ooey, gooey, chocolate delight. You can also play around with the type of peanut butter cups that you use. I used a mix of regular size cups and the mini peanut butter cups. You could also use the thin version or the big cups. They all give a slightly different mix and ratio of peanut butter to chocolate, so play around to find which ones you like best.
Another variation is to use different types of chocolate chips. I personally think that milk chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate chips work best for this recipe, but dark chocolate chips are an option too. And if you don’t want to use chips, chop up chocolate bars instead. They melt more easily than chocolate morsels, so make sure you don’t chop them too small.
These peanut butter cup chocolate chip cookies were love at first bite for me. And even better, they lasted a long time. I’m very picky about my cookies and usually only like them the day they are baked. But these cookies stored well and stayed creamy, soft and delicious for days.
I stored the peanut butter cup chocolate chip cookies in a single layer with parchment paper separating layers. The whole batch made a ton of cookies, so it is an easy cookie recipe to make for a family party. For anyone who likes to make peanut butter blossoms, I highly recommend giving this peanut butter cookie recipe a try. I have a feeling it will become your new favorite.
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