These Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies are the ultimate peanut butter cookies: soft, chewy, pudgy, extra thick and loaded with peanut butter, Reese’s Pieces and chocolate chips. This recipe yields big, bakery-style cookies.
This post was updated January 12, 2024 with new photos and a slightly updated recipe for larger, bakery-style cookies.
If you love peanut butter straight from the jar and prefer your cookies extra soft, these Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies are for you. They’re tender and chewy with a fudgy interior, and studded with both Reese’s Pieces and chocolate chips for a double dose of chocolate-peanut butter flavor. Unlike some peanut butter cookies that turn out dry or lacking in peanut flavor, this version uses extra peanut butter to deliver a rich, bakery-style result.
Making Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
The recipe is straightforward, but a few key tips will help you get consistently thick, soft cookies like the ones pictured.
- Begin by beating together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter until smooth. This recipe uses more peanut butter than butter to create a pronounced peanut flavor. Use a stable, commercial creamy peanut butter (not natural peanut butter where the oil separates) to avoid inconsistent texture.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. For best results, use a room-temperature egg — warm it in a bowl of warm (not boiling) water for about 10 minutes if needed.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and beat starting on low speed, increasing to medium until just combined. This recipe uses 1 1/2 cups of flour to produce thick, pudgy cookies. Measure flour carefully — fluff, spoon into measuring cups and level off, or weigh 1 1/2 cups as 188 grams (6.6 ounces) — so the cookies don’t turn out dry.
- Turn off the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips and Reese’s Pieces. This recipe uses a generous amount of mix-ins, so the dough needs to be sturdy enough to hold them.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours. Chilling firms the dough and helps the cookies spread less, producing extra-thick bakery-style cookies. You can skip chilling for smaller cookies, but chilling is recommended when making very large cookies.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Lining the trays prevents them from browning too much on the bottoms and keeps the pans cleaner.
- Form dough into balls. For large bakery-style cookies, use 1/4 cup of dough per cookie and space them at least 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) apart. For smaller cookies, use roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons and space about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. If you prefer a slightly flatter cookie, press the tops down gently before baking.
- Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack. Extra-large cookies need about 14–16 minutes; smaller cookies need 9–11 minutes. Remove when the tops look just set. For a bakery appearance, press a few extra chocolate chips and Reese’s Pieces onto the tops as soon as they come out of the oven. Allow cookies to cool on the sheet for at least 10 minutes — they will continue to set as they cool — then transfer to a wire rack.
This recipe yields about 12–13 very large cookies or about 30 smaller ones. You can double the recipe for a larger batch, but using a stand mixer makes handling the larger amount much easier than a hand mixer.
Thick, chewy and deeply peanut-buttered, these cookies are a dream for peanut butter lovers. The extra peanut butter in the dough plus the Reese’s Pieces and chocolate chips deliver rich flavor and an appealing bakery-style texture.
Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (112 grams)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (157 grams)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 3/4 cup peanut butter (use classic creamy, not natural)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (188 grams)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips (135 grams), plus more for topping
- 3/4 cup Reese’s Pieces (about 130–150 grams), plus more for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter until smooth and no butter lumps remain.
- Mix in the egg and vanilla until combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt. Beat starting on low speed and increase to medium until combined.
- Turn off the mixer and stir in the chocolate chips and Reese’s Pieces.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or up to 48 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Form the dough into balls: 1/4 cup each for large cookies or 1 1/2 tablespoons for smaller cookies. Place large cookies 2 1/2 inches apart and smaller ones about 2 inches apart.
- Bake one sheet at a time in the middle of the oven: 14–16 minutes for large cookies or 9–11 minutes for smaller ones, until the tops look just set.
- Remove from oven and, if desired, press a few extra chocolate chips and Reese’s Pieces onto each cookie. Cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- Peanut Butter: Use standard commercial creamy peanut butter (e.g., Jif, Skippy, Kraft). Avoid natural or homemade peanut butter that separates.
- Storage: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Baked cookies freeze up to 2 months; thaw in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
- Make Ahead: Cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes to the bake time.
- Nutrition: Nutrition estimates are per cookie, assuming 12 very large cookies.