Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut butter cup cookies are the perfect treat for peanut butter lovers. This is the traditional recipe for old fashioned peanut butter blossoms using Reese’s peanut butter cups instead of a Hershey’s kiss. While these are a great cookie for the holiday season or cookie exchanges, I’ve also included a variation to make these into cute spiders for Halloween. (This post was originally published on October 5th, 2016)

Ingredients for peanut butter cup cookies 

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 36 mini Reese’s peanut butter cup
• 1/4 cup sugar to roll the cookie dough in.

How to make peanut butter cookies

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup white sugar until blended, light and creamy, about 3 minutes.

• Scrape down sides of the bowl, then add egg, 1/2 cup peanut butter, milk and vanilla, and beat until well blended, 1-2 minutes.
  

• In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add flour mixture to butter and sugar, just until dough comes together. Don’t over mix. For best results chill dough 30 minutes, or over-night.

• Roll each ball of dough into the size of a  walnut, about 1 Tablespoon. Or weigh the dough, and divide the measurement by 36, for uniform cookies. Cookie dough can also be frozen at this stage.

• Roll each ball additional sugar, then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat.
• Bake at 375 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown, but still soft.
• Remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool about 3-5 minutes, then place a Reese’s cup in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.
• Store baked cookies in an airtight container.

Tips for making peanut butter cup cookies

After mixing your ingredients and making the peanut butter cookie dough, follow these tips so the cookies come out perfectly.

Weigh the dough

• While you don’t have to do this, I like to weigh the dough for consistency in cookie size, and I use grams when weighing for a more precise measurement. 
• Another reason I weigh this particular cookie is so there are enough peanut butter cups to cookies.

This kitchen scale is less than $15 and has over 90,000 5-star reviews.

Chill the cookie dough

• With most cookie recipes, I find chilling the dough for half an hour to overnight results in a better cookie. 
• You can either chill the dough before you roll them or after.

Unwrap all the peanut butter cups ahead of time

• Keep the unwrapped peanut butter cups chilled until ready to use if it’s a particularly warm day. 
• Once the cookies come out of the oven, you’ll need to work quickly to press each peanut butter cup into the warm cookies.  
• You could enlist a little helper, provided you don’t lose half of the peanut butter cups in the process!

Under-bake the cookies slightly

• I err on the side of slightly under-baked. You’ll want the cookies to be soft enough for the cup to sink into the warm peanut butter cookies. 

• If they are over-baked, they will crumble when you press the peanut butter cup into the cookie. 
• Wait about 3-5 minutes for the cookies to cool to prevent the peanut butter cups from melting too much though.

Can I freeze peanut butter cup cookies?

Yes! You can freeze the dough after you’ve rolled it into balls, or you can freeze the finished cookies. 

If you’re planning on freezing the dough, skip the final roll in sugar. Freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. When completely frozen, transfer into a zip-lock bag. The dough should be used within three months. 

If you’re planning on freezing the finished cookies, wait until they are completely cool. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet and freeze until the chocolate is hard, then transfer to a zip-lock bag or other freezer safe container.

Peanut butter cup spider cookies

This is an easy cookie recipe to make with children. They are just the right amount of festive for Halloween, with the addition of eyes and legs.

To make the spider cookies, you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips for the legs.
• Candy eyes

While chocolate is still warm, attach candy eyes. I add all the peanut butter cups first, and then go back and press the eyes into the warm chocolate. 

• In a small bowl, melt chocolate morsels in the microwave at 30 second intervals, until chocolate is melted. Pour chocolate into a small ziploc bag. Snip off a tiny corner and drip 8 legs on each spider cookie. The chocolate acts like glue and helps adhere the eyes to the cookies.
• Chill again. You don’t have to chill the cookies again, but I find it easier to add the spider legs after the cookies are completely cooled.

Here are some more of my favorite cookies and holiday treats perfect for holiday parties or cookie exchanges.

Scottish Shortbread

Molasses Cookies

Brown Sugar Shortbread Acorn Cookies

Honey Roasted Nuts

Peppermint Creams

Turtle Candy

Pumpkin Spice Toffee

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Cynthia

Peanut butter cup cookies are decadent twist on the classic peanut blossom cookie.. Turn them into spooky spiders for Halloween.

4.99 from 50 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

chill time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 36 cookies

Calories 133 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 36 miniature peanut butter cups
• 1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar until blended, light and creamy, about 3 minutes.
• Add egg, 1/2 cup peanut butter, milk and vanilla, and beat until well blended, 1-2 minutes.
• In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add flour mixture to butter and sugar, just until dough comes together. Don't over mix. For best results chill dough 30 minutes, or over-night.
• Roll dough into walnut-sized balls, about 1 Tablespoon. Or weigh the dough and divide the measurement by 36 for uniform cookies. Cookie dough can also be frozen at this stage.
• Roll each ball additional sugar, then place on cookie sheets lined with parchment or silpat.
• Bake at 375 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown, but still soft.
• Remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool about 3 minutes then place a peanut butter cup in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly.

Notes

• For spider cookies: While chocolate is still warm, attach candy eyes.
• In a small bowl, melt chocolate morsels in the microwave at 30 second intervals, until chocolate is melted.
• Pour chocolate into a plastic sandwich bag. Snip off a tiny corner and drip 8 legs on each spider cookie. Chill until chocolate sets.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 133kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 127mgPotassium: 59mgFiber: 1gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 92IUVitamin C: 0.02mgCalcium: 13mgIron: 0.5mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

(This post was originally published on October 29th, 2015 and has been updated to contain nutritional information.)