Our favorite soft peanut butter cookie dough gets special treatment with the addition of one of our favorite candies in these oversized Reese’s Pieces Cookies! Perfect for everything from birthdays to bake sales!
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If you have been debating which cookies to make for your movie night with the fam this Friday, look no further. These jumbo, soft peanut butter cookies with Reese’s Pieces are straight-up incredible. Easily one of my favorite cookies on the blog.
You can think of them as a Crumbl copycat if you want, although they are so much better that the Crumbl version is hardly in the same league. You can’t beat this simple peanut butter cookie dough recipe that is a great base recipe for all kinds of other cookie flavors and mix-ins.
Be prepared with a tall glass of cold milk to enjoy with your cookies while they are still warm and the peanut butter chips and Reese’s Pieces centers are still soft and slightly molten. It’s total bliss!
Obsessed with peanut butter desserts? Us too. Be sure to also try our Peanut Butter Blondies, Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars, Amazing Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, and No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Creamy Peanut Butter – I have only tested this recipe with regular creamy peanut butter (Skippy, if you want to be exact). If you want to use chunky peanut butter you can. I don’t usually recommend baking with natural peanut butter (i.e., the kind you need to stir to combine the oils before using).
- Reese’s Pieces – You can use regular-sized Reese’s Pieces (pictured and what I used when testing this recipe) or mini Reese’s Pieces, if you can find them.
- Peanut Butter Chips – These give creamy little bursts of peanut butter in every bite and I don’t recommend skipping them. But you could swap them for chocolate chips or white chocolate chips if you prefer.
- All-purpose flour – I always use unbleached flour for baking, which results in the most tender baked goods.
- Sugar – You’ll need both white granulated sugar and light brown sugar for this recipe.
- Salted butter – I use salted butter almost exclusively for all my baking.
- Eggs – These add richness and flavor.
- Baking soda – Just enough to help the cookies spread slightly while they bake.
- Cornstarch – A not-so-secret ingredient in a lot of my cookie recipes, this helps keep the cookies extra soft!
- Salt – Keeps your baked goods from tasting bland by helping all the other flavors pop!
How to Make Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies
- Cream. Add the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat for 2-3 minutes until creamy and light. Add the peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla extract, then scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat again to combine.
- Add dry ingredients. Once the peanut butter mixture is nice and creamy, add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix again just until combined, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again.
PRO TIP: When making cookie dough, you don’t want to overmix after adding the flour because it can result in cookies that aren’t as tender and are more crumbly and dry. Try to mix just until combined with the wet ingredients and even leave a few streaks of flour if you will also be stirring in mix-ins like peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, or Reese’s Pieces.
- Stir in mix-ins. Add the Reese’s Pieces and peanut butter chips to the bowl of peanut butter cookie dough and stir in by hand or on low speed with your stand mixer just until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Scoop. I like to use a large cookie scoop to make big cookies like many of the gourmet cookie shops (e.g. Crumbl, Levain Bakery, etc.) but you can use a medium or small cookie scoop for more reasonably sized cookies if you prefer. Space them a couple inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper so they have room to spread slightly while they bake or you can freeze balls of cookie dough if you don’t anticipate wanting to bake them all right away.
- Bake. Bake the cookies until just set and starting to turn slightly golden brown around the edges. Don’t overbake. The cookies will appear underbaked if you tear into them right away, but they will continue to set up as they cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes and even more as they cool completely.
Baking times: For larger 1/4-cup size cookies, bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F. For smaller cookies using a small 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and bake for 8-10 minutes instead.
Recipe FAQ’s
Yes! This Reese’s Pieces cookie dough freezes great for up to 3 months. Rather than freeze the entire batch, we recommend scooping the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freezing for 2-3 hours until firm. Then you can transfer the frozen balls of cookie dough to an airtight freezer-safe container for longer storage.
Bake the frozen cookie dough balls straight from the freezer and simply add an extra 2-3 minutes to your baking time. This way you can enjoy freshly baked Reese’s Pieces cookies any time you want one and only bake as many as you would like!
I haven’t tested a gluten-free version of these particular cookies but have had great success with 1-to-1 gluten-free flours in similar baked goods in the past. I think you would be fine to make these gluten-free.
More Peanut Butter Cookie Mix-Ins
Reese’s Pieces are one of our favorite mix-ins because they boost that creamy peanut butter flavor with the candy crunch of their shells. But here are some more great ideas that you can use in addition to or in place of the mix-ins in this recipe.
- M&M’s – This is a pretty straightforward swap if you want to add some milk chocolate to your peanut butter cookies.
- Pretzels – Even more salty crunch with the peanut butter? Count us in.
- Chopped up candy bars – I’m thinking Snickers or Heath Bars as a jumping off point.
- Other cookies – Chop up some Nutter Butters or Oreos and throw them in the batter for good measure.
Storage & Freezing Instructions
Once the cookies have cooled completely, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days.
These cookies also freeze well and you can also freeze the cookies for 2-3 months. Let thaw on the counter for a few hours before enjoying. You can even pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds to enjoy them warm and they are almost as good as if they just came out of the oven.
More Cookie Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Butterfinger Cookies
- Boston Cream Pie Cookies
- Ranger Cookies
- Frosted Swig Sugar Cookies
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Reese’s Pieces Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter (227g)
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed (200g)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (150g)
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups Reese's Pieces candies
- 1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips
Instructions
- Add the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl and beat for 2-3 minutes until creamy and light. Add the peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla extract, then scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat again to combine.1 cup salted butter, 1 cup light brown sugar, ¾ cup granulated sugar, 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Once the peanut butter mixture is nice and creamy, add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix again just until combined, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again. When making cookie dough, you don't want to overmix after adding the flour because it can result in cookies that aren't as tender and are more crumbly and dry. Try to mix just until combined with the wet ingredients and even leave a few streaks of flour if you will also be stirring in mix-ins like peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, or Reese's Pieces.3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the Reese's Pieces and peanut butter chips to the bowl of peanut butter cookie dough and stir in by hand or on low speed with your stand mixer just until evenly distributed throughout the dough.2 cups Reese's Pieces candies, 1 ½ cups peanut butter chips
- I like to use a large 1/4-cup cookie scoop to make big cookies like many of the gourmet cookie shops (e.g. Crumbl, Levain Bakery, etc.) but you can use a medium or small cookie scoop for more reasonably sized cookies if you prefer. Space them a couple inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper so they have room to spread slightly while they bake or you can freeze balls of cookie dough if you don't anticipate wanting to bake them all right away.
- Bake the cookies until just set and starting to turn slightly golden brown around the edges. Don't overbake. The cookies will appear underbaked if you tear into them right away, but they will continue to set up as they cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes and even more as they cool completely.
- For larger 1/4-cup size cookies, bake for 10-12 minutes at 350°F. For smaller cookies using a small 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, we recommend baking for 8-10 minutes instead.
Notes
- This Reese’s Pieces cookie dough freezes great for up to 3 months. Rather than freeze the entire batch, we recommend scooping the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freezing for 2-3 hours until firm. Then you can transfer the frozen balls of cookie dough to an airtight freezer-safe container for longer storage.
- Bake the frozen cookie dough balls straight from the freezer and simply add an extra 2-3 minutes to your baking time. This way you can enjoy freshly baked Reese’s Pieces cookies any time you want one and only bake as many as you would like!
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days.
- These cookies also freeze well and you can also freeze the cookies for 2-3 months. Let thaw on the counter for a few hours before enjoying. You can even pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds to enjoy them warm and they are almost as good as if they just came out of the oven.
