Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies are lightly crispy around the edges, thick and chewy in the centers and mega loaded with creamy peanut butter and Reese’s pieces. A peanut butter lover’s dream!!
This recipe is for the true peanut butter lover!! What more could you want other than a thick chewy, dense, peanut butter cookie? A peanut butter cookie that’s loaded with Reese’s pieces! Not only are these cookies SO easy to make, but they will also disappear in no time, so you might want to double the batch if you’re taking them to a gathering.
I was recently down with Covid for about three weeks, and for once, I didn’t want anything sweet. I also lost my taste and smell. However, one week into Covid I was suddenly craving peanut butter fudge. Weird, I know! My sister Nancy was so kind. She brought me the only two things that I could actually taste, homemade Tomato Florentine Soup and Peanut Butter Fantasy Fudge. I’m guessing she brought me at least three pounds of fudge, and over a three-day period, I ate all of it. There’s definitely something in peanut butter that you can taste when you can’t taste other food. She later dropped me off homemade Spring Onion Soup, another good soup when you’re sick. If you ever get Covid, I hope you’ll be as lucky as I was and have a great family member or friends to bring you homemade soup and goodies!
Anyway, while I was down with Covid, I was browsing through some recipes that I had made but never posted and I came across these Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies. I made these cookies over two years ago, and I have absolutely no idea why I never posted the recipe. These peanut butter cookies were a huge hit! I shared them with my friends and regretted that I didn’t double the recipe.
SHOPPING LIST FOR THESE COOKIES
- 1 bag Reese’s pieces, about 1 1/2 cups
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, not natural
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- baking soda & salt
- vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Tips for this recipe
- Don’t use natural peanut butter! Natural peanut butter has a lot of peanut oil in it. It will result in greasy cookies that are also too dense.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 4 hours. These cookies contain both butter and peanut butter. If you bake the dough while it’s warm, the cookies will spread a lot and will result in thin cookies.
- Don’t grease the cookie sheets. There’s no need to grease the cookie sheets for these cookies. In fact, greasing the cookie sheets will promote spreading. These cookies will not stick. There’s too much butter and peanut butter in the recipe for these cookies to stick. Trust me!
- Don’t over mix the cookie dough. Over mixing only promotes toughness. We want soft and chewy. Once you add the flour, mix just until it’s almost incorporated, then fold in the Reese’s pieces and stop mixing.
- Don’t try and scoop cold cookie dough if you don’t have to. Mix the dough, scoop it onto cookie sheets, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Then once you preheat your oven, you can transfer them straight from the refrigerator to the oven. If you don’t scoop the dough ahead of time, you need to remove the dough from the refrigerator while you’re preheating the oven, to allow it to become scoopable.
- Don’t overbake the cookies. These cookies are done when the edges and bottoms are lightly browned. Once you remove them from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheets for a couple of minutes. They will continue to bake on the hot cookie sheets. Don’t worry, they will not stick to the cookie sheets.
- You can freeze this cookie dough ahead of time. I highly recommend scooping it into balls first, then freezing it. I place layers of wax paper between the layers. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, thaw them for about 15 minutes at room temperature before baking.
- Double the recipe! Trust me on this one too, especially if you are taking these cookies to a party or gathering!
If you love peanut butter, you might also like these recipes…
Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
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PrintReese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 to 12 minutes
- Total Time: 18 minute
- Yield: 25 cookies 1x
- Category: cookies
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies are lightly crispy around the edges, thick and chewy in the centers and mega loaded with creamy peanut butter and Reese’s pieces. A peanut butter lover’s dream!!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, (1/2 cup) softened
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, (do not use all-natural peanut butter)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 bag Reese’s Pieces, about 1 1/2 cups
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Add the butter to a large bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until it’s light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the egg, brown sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix, just until the flour is almost incorporated. Add the Reese pieces and mix in.
- Drop the cookie dough on ungreased cookie sheets with a cookie scoop. Cover the cookie sheets with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 to 4 hours until the dough is firm. This step is crucial because all of the peanut butter and butter in this recipe will cause warm cookie dough to spread. That’s okay if you want flat cookies. Alternately, leave the dough in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you preheat the oven, go ahead and set the dough out, so it will become scoopable by the time the oven preheats.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop cookie scoopfuls of cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing cookies about 2-inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges and bottoms are slightly browned. The tops will still be pretty light. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheets for about 2 minutes and transfer them to a cooling rack to completely cool.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
- This cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. I suggest freezing it in scoops of dough, layered with wax paper or plastic wrap. Freeze in an airtight container. Allow cookie dough to that for 15 minutes before baking.
Can you use extra crunchy peanut butter?
Hi Annette, Sure. You can use either, but I don’t suggest using natural peanut butter.
My cookie didn’t spread at all. They are just little balls. Do you by chance know what went wrong? Followed the recipe to a T.
Hi Katie, That is strange. Normally, this cookie dough needs to be refrigerated or it spreads too much. If you followed the recipe to a T as stated, I don’t know what could’ve happened unless your oven was turned too low. All ovens vary. If yours didn’t spread at all, try not refrigerating the dough. I hope this is helpful.
They turned out perfect and delicious! I love this recipe
Hi Amy, I’m so glad you liked them! 🙂
What size cookie scoop did you use?
Hi Heidi, You can use any size, but I think I used a medium size, cookie scoop, (1 1/2 tablespoons).