If you love peanut butter as much as I do, you have to make these cookies. If you have a peanut butter lover in your life, you have to make these cookies. If you have any taste buds at all, you have to make these cookies.
Video Tutorial
Drop what you’re doing right now and get your peanut butter ready. I like to use store-bought, thick-style peanut butter in this cookie recipe. I either use Jif Creamy or Skippy Natural (which is not oily). Basically any no-stir, non oily peanut butter will do.
So you have your peanut butter ready? Great. Mix it up with some softened butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add some flour, baking soda, and salt. Chill this soft cookie dough for at least 1 hour. Chilling is mandatory—otherwise the cookie dough will spread all over your baking pan and drip all over the oven.
Another plus to chilling the cookie dough? It intensifies the peanut butter flavor. Sort of like how banana bread’s flavor gets more intense over time. Same thing with the peanut butter in this cookie dough as it chills. That’s a good thing!
Roll the cookie dough into balls—about 1 Tablespoon of dough per ball. Unwrap your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I use the miniature peanut butter cups. Press a peanut butter cup inside of a cookie dough ball – sort of like a little nest or cradle. Top the peanut butter cup with another cookie dough ball and seal down the sides so that the peanut butter cup is securely stuffed inside. Roll it with your hands so the sides are smooth.
Since that was all probably confusing, here is a visual.
The peanut butter cookies don’t take very long at all to bake. About 10 minutes. They will be super soft when you remove them from the oven—that’s ok! You want that. Some cookies may be taller than others, depending how the peanut butter cup was positioned inside. That’s ok, too. Just press the cookies down a bit to flatten them out.
Don’t they just look like regular peanut butter cookies? Little do innocent taste testers know… there’s a little peanut butter cup surprise inside!
The Reese’s stuffed peanut butter cookies would be pretty darn good at this point, but they’re not quite ready for the party. They’re missing a little accessory.
A peanut butter-chocolate drizzle accessory.
To make the drizzle, simply combine some semi-sweet chocolate chips (or milk chocolate) with a bit of peanut butter. Melt it all together and drizzle.
I use an empty condiment bottle for all of my drizzled baked goods. I bought it for $1 at Walmart. I’ve also seen these bottles at craft stores—or just use a condiment bottle you’ve emptied and washed out quite well.
Now… drizzle away.
Perfect!
The chocolate/peanut butter drizzle will “set” after a few hours, making these cookies perfect for traveling.
There really are no more words. Please. Go make these dreamy cookies now.
Print
Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 20 large cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Super soft peanut butter cookies stuffed with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and drizzled with peanut butter and chocolate. A peanut butter lover’s dream!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 and 1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature*
- 3/4 cup (185g) creamy peanut butter*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 20 Miniature Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped
Drizzle
- 1 cup (180g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Make the cookies: Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together on medium speed until combined. On low speed, beat in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Turn the mixer to high and beat until light in color and smooth. Turn the mixer to low and slowly pour in the dry ingredients. Mix until combined and a dough is formed.
- Cover tightly and chill the cookie dough for at least 1-2 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Take 1 Tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Take another 1 Tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Stick a peanut butter cup into one ball, kind of like a “cradle” as shown above. Top the peanut butter cup with other cookie dough ball and seal down the sides so that the peanut butter cup is securely stuffed inside. Roll the large cookie dough ball in your hands to ensure it’s smooth. Repeat with the rest of the dough and peanut butter cups.
- Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes or until very lightly browned on the sides. Some cookies may be taller than others, depending how the peanut butter cup was positioned inside. Just press the cookies down a bit to flatten them out. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the drizzle: melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together in the microwave, stirring often to prevent seizing. Add 1 teaspoon of shortening if the mixture isn’t smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.
- Cookies stay fresh stored covered at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Cookies freeze well, up to 3 months. Stuffed cookie dough balls freeze well, up to 2 months. Bake for 2 extra minutes, do not thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Squeeze Bottle (optional for chocolate drizzle)
- Egg: Room temperature egg is best for the cookies. General rule of thumb I use for my cookie recipes: when using warm or room temperature butter, I always use room temperature egg as well. To bring egg to room temperature quickly, simply place in a cup of warm water for 5 minutes.
- Peanut Butter: Thick, commercial brand peanut butter is preferred. If using natural style, make sure the peanut butter is thick and not oily in the slightest—which will make your cookie dough thin, slippery, and spread all over the baking sheet even after chilling the cookie dough. You need thick, non-oily peanut butter like Jif or Skippy.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
A favorite recipe. And that’s all there’s to say. Perfect every time and always enjoyed by all. Chef’s kiss!
Can I double the reciepe?
Absolutely!
My coworkers want me to make batches and batches for them…even willing to buy them…OMG!
Would you happen to have the caloric value etc of these cookies? I used instead of Reeses Cups (they don´t sell them in Panama) I used Hershey´s mini bars and cut them in half. It worked wonderfully!!!!
Hi Sandra, we’re so glad these cookies were a hit! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Sally,
I have made the dough a week ago. Can I still use it? Please say yes….. I got too busy and now that l can make them l am worried.
Thanks!
Hi Joanna, Where did you store it? This cookie dough is really good in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you froze it then it would be good for up to three months!
Just made these, they are incredible!!! My family absolutely loves them. One of the best cookies I’ve baked so far!!
Sally, I’m looking to make PB & J Stuffed Cookies. Do you think these would hold up to stuffing with jelly?
They probably would although it would be very messy trying to fill them with jelly. I think you would really enjoy my Peanut Butter and Jam Thumbprint cookies!
Do you think the dough balls would freeze well after stuffing them with the PB cup? I would love to bake up some of these cookies but didn’t want to bake them all at once. Do you think it would be okay to freeze the dough and bake it from the freezer? Or should I bake and freeze the baked cookies?
Thanks Sally!
Hi Amy! You can do it either way– freeze the stuffed cookie dough balls or the baked (and cooled) cookies. I like having cookie dough balls in the freezer so you can have fresh-baked cookies in a snap. If you’re interested, I wrote an entire blog post on how to freeze cookie dough.
I have to admit, after making the dough, I was very worried that the cookies wouldn’t turn out, as the dough was incredibly soft. However, the cookies turned out beautifully! Everyone is raving about them! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Sally,
Made your cookies, and they are delicious! If I were to make them smaller would I cut the miniature Reese’s pieces in half?
Donna
Hi Donna! Yes, that’s what I would do.
These are YUMMMMM!!!
I don’t bake much, but these cookies turned out fantastic for me!
Simple and perfect!
Hi! I’ve been using your recipes since are started baking a few years ago. Your website is my goto!! I made these with chocolate chips instead of the drizzle because I couldn’t find any condiment bottles and they were amazing!! Thanks for a great recipe!! Off to try the strawberries and cream cake roll next!
For those of you that are a bit more ingredient conscious like I am, I used organic natural peanut butter and they turned out just fine. No oily mess and the cookies didn’t spread out all over the pan 🙂
my family loves these cookies. and they look really nice with the chocolate drizzle. but they crumble very easily and make a mess. nobody seems to mind and they enjoy eating the crumbs… but it’s difficult to take them anywhere because they end up falling apart. i’m wondering if adding an extra egg yolk might hold the baked cookie together a little better?
These are rich and peanut buttery. The dough was nice and smooth. I baked them for 13 minutes
So good. I made the balls really small and ended up making 45 cookies, each with a mini reese’s inside. I increased the cooking time by two minutes just because I like them to be a bit more brown on the bottom. I now have more cookies than I know what to do with which is always a great thing. I left off the drizzle because I didn’t feel like washing my mixing bowl twice, and i left out the quarter cup of white sugar and they taste plenty sweet. thanks so much for the recipe!
I was so excited about this recipe but it didn’t quite turn out for me. I made the dough, even measured the ingredient weights instead of doing it by volume. The dough looked right when I put it in the fridge to chill. But when I took it out and tried to work it, it just crumbled apart. It was extremely greasy, just coated my hands in oil when I tried to work it. I’ve never had oily dough like that. I’m sure I measured the ingredients correctly and I used creamy JIF for the peanut butter. Any ideas? Also, the drizzle doesn’t harden. Is it supposed to? It makes them a big harder to store an travel with when it stays gooey. Would adjusting the chocolate chip to PB ratio change that? I’m only a mediocre baker so I don’t know how to solve these problems myself! Any help you can give me would be great because I think these could be my favorite cookies because I’m a chocolate peanut butter addict! Thanks.
Julianne, the drizzle hardens. In your case, I would increase the chocolate chips and decrease the peanut butter in the drizzle to help. Did you skip any ingredients in the cookie dough? Or change anything at all like a different kind of flour or use margarine instead of butter? Anything like that? Because the peanut butter cookie dough recipe as written is the basic soft-baked peanut butter cookie recipe all over my blog and I haven’t heard of this issue before. I’m trying to understand– it was greasy and crumbly at the same time?
I swear everything I used was standard and I triple checked it all. I’ve never had dough like that before either. I must have done SOMETHING wrong but I can’t figure out what! Yes the dough was greasy…when I worked it into balls my hands were COVERED with oil. Like I had to stop and wash my hands after every few balls. It seemed like the oil was what kept the dough from sticking together. If I sort of worked it gently, I could make balls but I couldn’t just roll it normally because they would just crumble and it was nearly impossible to do like the directions said and basically stick two balls together. I ended up just sort of working the dough around the pb cup gently. Hard to explain! But then they baked fine and they don’t have a weird texture when baked. They’re totally edible, which I didn’t expect. I just can’t figure it out. I guess I’ll just have to try it again and see what happens because it was just too weird.
OMGosh, these cookies are delicious! Sally, these are our family & friends favorite. Thank you for your step by step directions and spectacular photos. You are an inspiration.
These are delicious, Sally, especially eaten while the peanut butter cup is still melty!
A lot of your recipes are finding their way onto my Christmas baking list this year…:-)
I did want to mention though that I didn’t see your note about not using all natural, oily peanut butter until after mine were already mixed using Smucker’s All Natural peanut butter. I thought, “Oh, well!” and baked them anyway, and had no trouble with them spreading or being too thin, although that might be because I did use less dough per peanut butter cup than you recommend.
Thanks for another great recipe!!
I just made these and they are barely making it out of the oven before getting eaten up! So good! 🙂
Made these the day after Halloween, and they were an absolute hit! My MIL even requested the recipe, stating that it should be a holiday regular.
Have you ever made these with the full size ones? My girls got quite a few trick or treating and I’m wondering if I could steal some for this recipe. Would the wider, flatter “filling” change the bake time? Would they end up monster cookies to accommodate the bigger candy? Is trying the big candy a fool’s errand? Lol!
Hey Natalie! I feel like that could work – the bake time will be a little longer because yes, your cookies will have to be rolled larger. Or you could cut them up and just fold them into the dough directly? Let me know what you try!
Ok, I did it!
First off, DELICIOUS! Good golly Miss Molly, they’re delicious!
Secondly, they’re huge. haha. To accommodate the full-sized Reese’s cup, I used two scoops of the OXO medium scoop (1.5 TBSP of batter) – one for the base and one for the lid. I sealed the edges like you said and it worked well. I did increase bake time- I started with 10 minutes and checked on them. I ended up leaving them in about 13 and a half minutes.
Thirdly, the yield of jumbo cookies was 11 cookies plus about 2 tsp of batter left over. The outside part that spread past the Reese’s cup is about the width of a thumb nail and is a delightful plain peanut butter cookie. That middle part with the cup in it is a wonderful surprise.
Thanks for the idea and the recipe, and I hope my trial with the ginormous ones is helpful for other people. 🙂
Made these and brought them to work last week omg they are delicious. People were stopping by my office asking for the recipe. My kids loved them and could not believe i was taking them to work they wanted to keep the double batch for home. Making a batch this week for the hubby to bring to work for a fundraiser bake sale.
Just made these for my friend for her birthday and they are delicious! Perfect for a peanut butter lover.
Hi! I am making these for a school baking competition. I made them once before and they were delish!!! I am so excited! Thank you sooo much 🙂
Be prepared to have your mind blown! These are absolutely the best PB cookies I’ve ever had! I made them for a Super Bowl party and they were gone within 45 minutes of arriving. I’ll be making a double batch for my daughters bday in a few weeks. WOW!!!
Hi Sally, my husband made these as a Super Bowl treat and I absolutely love them! I am a huge peanut butter cookie fan and these definitely win over my old Betty Crocker recipe. Thanks for sharing! I’m going to go grab another one!
These cookies are AMAZING! I’ve made them twice in the past month and not one was left. Question… does the drizzle last? I have a good amount left over but I can’t bring myself to throw it away. 🙁
Happy you like these cookies. It’s hard not to! For the leftover drizzle – you can just put it in the fridge (covered) for a few days and then melt it to use again. Dip strawberries in it – it’s good!
Thank you, thank you and thank you. This is the absolute best cookie I have ever made…..an awesome peanut butter – butter cookie – surrounding the most wonderful peanut butter chocolate stuffing topped by chocolate peanut butter swirls. Cookie genius~! How kind of you to share this with all of us.
These cookies are amazing! I love them even without the drizzle. They are so dangerous…I can’t eat just one. Good thing the kids help me out. I can’t wait until your cookbook comes out. I will be purchasing one.