Peanut Butter Reese’s Pieces Cookies — These Reese’s Pieces cookies are are LOADED with Reese’s Pieces and oozing, melted chocolate chips. Perfect any time of year!
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.
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Reese's Pieces Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter, do not use homemade or natural peanut butter; use Jif, Skippy, or similar
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 cup Reese’s Pieces
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, optional salt, and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don’t overmix.
- Add the Reese’s Pieces, chocolate chips, and blend until just incorporated.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two-tablespoon mounds (I made 27). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly with your palm, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 10 minutes because cookies will firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Peanut Butter Comfort, my cookbook featuring 100+ Peanut Butter Recipes.
If the dough is too crumbly or it falls apart after baking, try adding another egg into the dough and baking right after making it. It spreads out a little more but its still fluffy :)
I have made these twice now. Seriously my favorite cookie ever. SOOOO GOOD! Thank you!!!
Glad to hear they’re you’re favorite cookie ever!
Oh my goodness. These look divine! I cannot wait to make them. Thanks for all the tips. Super helpful!! I saw a few other peanut butter recipes and I am in love. They look unreal. I will definitely be checking those out too!
Glad the tips were helpful – enjoy the cookies!
I made these for the first time on Thanksgiving and my brothers, my husband and I loved them! We are all big fans of the chocolate/peanut butter combo. I am making these for the third time tonight and would definitely recommend this recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! So great that you’ve made them 3 times!
I don’t know if you look at the comments here any more, but my cookies didn’t flatten AT ALL. I kinda overcooked the first batch because I was waiting for them to spread. The latter batches I cooked only for 8 minutes and ignored the looks – they were basically slightly-solid hunks of cookie dough. My husband loves them anyway (he likes soft cookies) but I just don’t get what happened. I rolled the dough while warm, chilled the balls for about five hours, warmed them for 15 minutes, and baked for 8 on a silpat-and-sheet.
Made these cookies for my brothers birthday. He’s a huge fan of Reese’s pieces. They turned out amazing! Seriously! They were thick and chewy and full of chocolate and Reese’s. Will definitely be making again.
Thank you!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Happy Bday to your bro!
What are the chances you know the calorie count or nutritional facts for these Reese’s Pieces Soft Peanut Butter Cookies recipe? I know it’s a number nobody really wants to look at! But I looove them and need to enter them into myfitnesspal :/ Even on cheat days! haha
No idea.
I have never written a comment after trying a recipe, but after making these I had to leave one. This recipe was so easy to follow and the cookies are delicious. They came out just like the pictures. I can’t wait to make them next week for a cookie bake! I will be sure to win with this cookie! Thank you so much!
Glad this recipe motivated you to comment afterward because of how much you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks! Good luck next week!
I noticed you said in your Soft batch cream cheese choc chip cookie recipe that you like using cornstarch to get a soft cookie. is there a reason that you don’t have cornstarch as an ingredient in your Reese’s pieces soft peanut butter cookies recipe or was it accidentally left out? Thanks!
The recipe for the cookies is correct as written. Sometimes I maybe go a little overboard in ‘discussing’ my baking decisions and choices. These cookies are perfectly soft and so are the cream cheese cookies; they have different ingredients but both are perfectly soft. You can’t go wrong with either!
Hi averie,
I felt the need to comment since I actually made these several times and each and every time they come out wonderful! Love your blog and phenomenal recipes!
Thanks for trying these many times ands o glad they’re always a hit! Thanks for your support and trying my recipes!
This is basically heaven in a cookie! Peanut butter and chocolate ANYTHING is fantastic, especially in a cookie!
Just made these and had to come back and comment, these are my FAVORITE peanut butter cookies I have ever made! I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out amazing! This is the second cookie recipe I’ve gotten from your site, and both have been awesome! I’m sure it takes a lot of time to develop these recipes and I love how detailed your instructions are, they are so easy to follow, Thank you!!
My only problem is deciding what to make next :)
Oh wow, what an amazing comment and compliments, thank you! I am so glad my recipes have been working well for you! I just posted a new PB cookie recipe yesterday and there are links to like 20 other PB cookie recipes within that post :)
https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/11/easy-4-ingredient-perfect-peanut-butter-cookies.html
It does take a lot of time developing recipes and thanks for noticing as well as noticing that I write my instructions as detailed as possible. If you make more stuff, LMK!
Hi Averie! First off, I’d like to say I have never been disappointed when baking a recipe from your site. You are extremely talented and this is my go to resource when I want to impress :) So yummy.
I have some peanut butter addicts visiting this weekend and plan on baking these. Forgive the amatuer question, but when you say use a 2 in scoop and make 2 tbs mounds, am I to do 2 scoops? Ive never used a cookie scoop before and they are a tad confusing. Some are sized by inches and others by tbs. The one I have says it is a 2 inch scoop, but holds 1 TBS of dough. Should I use 2 scoops? Thanks in advance for any help!
Scoops are HIGHLY confusing, that is for sure. I would use your scoop if it’s about 2-inches and overstuff it. You want at LEAST 2 tbsp of dough per cookie because cookies smaller than that just don’t have the right ratio of edges-to-center. They’ll probably look bigger than your typical homemade cookie dough mounds, but bakery cookies are always 4+ tbsp of dough. Hope your enjoy these and thanks for trying other recipes of mine!
I want to try making these as cookie bars! Any suggestions?
Just press into an 9×9 pan and bake. That’s my guess anyway!
Just want to say that when people ask us what our favorite cookie recipe is, we say this one! And it turns out exactly like the photos! We have recommended this to so many people – it is AMAZING! Your blog is always a reliable recipe source and we LOVE IT! :)
What an awesome comment and thanks for the compliments! So glad you love the cookies and recommend them and my site. Saying that I’m a reliable recipe source is such a high compliment, thank you!
Can’t wait to make these. I have a kitchen aid that I don’t take advantage of how awesome it is. I just use it on the slower speeds because I have no idea how to use it another way. So, do you cream the ingredients on 4 or 6?