Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

Where are my chocolate and peanut butter lovers?

Reese’s Pieces Cookies have been on our website for a long time, but as per usual, I recently got the itch to mess with them. Let me be clear: This was not because the original recipe isn’t good. In fact, they’re so good it was objectively dumb to mess with them.

But unfortunately I am driven by curiosity (and perhaps insanity) to mess with recipes. I can’t help but wonder if they could be a tad bit better, manage to break through some imaginary glass ceiling into a new realm of deliciousness I’m not even sure exists.

So I messed with them. And, reader, we broke the ceiling.

I swapped out the original cookie batter for my gold standard chewy peanut butter cookie base, which has double the peanut butter and far less flour. Then I loaded them up with semi sweet chocolate, peanut butter chips, and Reese’s pieces and waited for the final verdict.

I made the original recipe as well, so we could have a true side by side taste-testing.

While we both agreed each cookie was delicious in its own right, the new version won both of our hearts. It’s a bit more grown up, with an intensely rich and peanut buttery flavor—the perfect combination of warm and soft, chewy and melty, salty and sweet.

But we both decided the original recipe deserved to live, as it still holds the heart of Will’s inner child. It’s a little sweeter and a little more candy-forward, so it might be a more general crowd pleaser, especially for the littles.

So you’ve got your pick! Our new and improved recipe is included here below, or you can try the original here.

Either way, you’ll get a fantastic chocolate and peanut butter cookie with a groovy fall-inspired color palette. They’re the perfect thing to bring to football watching parties and Halloween gatherings.

Plus, both recipes are easy to make and don’t require any refrigeration! You can have these in and out of the oven in about 40 minutes, which is clutch when we’re talking about a cookie craving.

If you give either of them a try, please share how you liked them in the comments!

A quick note about cookie scoops: I chewed through about 5 cookie scoops before finally landing on this set from King Arthur Flour. They are pricey but absolutely the best cookie scoops I have found. If you have issues with your scoops not holding up to thick dough or failing to scrape all the cookie dough from the scoop, check these out!

Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 stick )

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter*

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 Tablespoon milk

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 3/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

• 3/4 cup peanut butter chips

• 1 cup Reese’s pieces

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

3. In another bowl beat together 1 stick butter and 1 cup creamy peanut butter until light and creamy, about 4 minutes. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar and beat until well combined.

4. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed. Add 1 Tablespoon milk and 1 Tablespoon vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Pour in 3/4 cup chocolate chips, 3/4 cup peanut butter chips, and 1 cup Reese’s pieces and beat on slow speed until just combined.

5. Drop cookies by the rounded Tablespoonful onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving an inch between them. Press the cookies down to about a 1/4 in thick. If you’ve got extra chips that fell to the bottom of the bowl, push those into the tops of the cookies.

6. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until set on the outsides. These cookies don’t really brown. Take them out when they’re just set around the edges but still look a bit puffed in the center. Allow them to set up on the hot baking sheet for 2-3 minutes after you take them out, then transfer to a cooling rack. The cookies will be a bit crumbly while they’re still warm, but once cooled completely they’ll be nice and sturdy! These keep well for several days in an airtight container.

*Sweet friends, please use the commercially processed creamy peanut butter, like Skippy and Jif. I make no promises about the state of any cookies made with natural peanut butter.

How to freeze cookie dough:

We LOVE to keep frozen cookie dough in the freezer at all times, so we’re never more than 15 minutes away from fresh baked cookies. To freeze these, line the dough discs (after smashing down) on a baking sheet without touching and flash freeze for 1 hour. Place the discs in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 months. The discs can be baked from frozen—just add a few minutes to the baking time!

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