Ingredients
Dough
- 115 g unsalted butter, softened
- 120 g creamy peanut butter
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 110 g packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 155 g all-purpose flour
- 0.5 teaspoon baking soda
- 0.25 teaspoon salt
- 130 g mini chocolate chips
Filling
- 24 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, unwrapped
These components mirror other mini peanut butter cup cookie recipes that cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla, then add flour, baking soda, and salt before baking and pressing in candy.
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Make the peanut butter cookie dough
- Preheat oven to 175°C (about 350°F).
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter, creamy peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy; this usually takes 2–3 minutes with an electric mixer.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until fully incorporated and smooth.
Creaming butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy is standard for soft peanut butter cookies and peanut butter cup cookie cups.
Step 2: Combine dry ingredients and fold in chips
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing on low just until combined to avoid overworking the dough.
- Gently fold in the mini chocolate chips so they’re evenly distributed.
This method matches other peanut butter cup cookie recipes where dry ingredients are added last and mixed briefly for a tender crumb.
Step 3: Shape into bites and bake
- Lightly grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan (or use a nonstick pan and still grease lightly).
- Roll the dough into balls about 2.5 cm in diameter (around 1 tablespoon of dough each).
- Place one ball into each mini muffin cup. There’s no need to press them down; they will puff and form cup shapes as they bake, similar to other muffin-tin peanut butter cup cookies.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown and the edges look set.
Most mini muffin peanut butter cup cookies bake around 10–12 minutes at 350°F / 175°C until lightly golden.
Step 4: Press in the Reese’s cups
- Immediately after removing the pan from the oven, press a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie while they’re still warm and soft.
- The cookie will puff up around the candy, creating a neat, filled cookie bite.
- Let the bites cool in the pan for about 10 minutes so they firm up and the chocolate has time to soften and then begin to set.
- Carefully transfer the cookie bites to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pressing the candy into hot cookies right out of the oven is the classic method for peanut butter cup cookie cups and helps the candy nestle into the center.