Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

4.8
(4,529)

These super cute peanut butter cookies are baked in mini muffin pans and have a chocolate peanut butter cup center.

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Prep Time:
25 mins
Cook Time:
10 mins
Total Time:
35 mins
Servings:
40
Yield:
40 cookies

This top-rated peanut butter cookie recipe is decadence incarnate. Mini peanut butter cups are pressed into freshly baked homemade peanut butter cookies, resulting in an indulgent dessert that nobody will be able to resist.

How to Make Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies | Photo by Allrecipes.

You'll be shocked how easy it is to make these peanut butter cookies. The full, step-by-step recipe is below — but here's a quick overview of what you can expect:

Prepare the cookie dough by sifting together the dry ingredients, mixing the wet ingredients, and combining all the ingredients in a large bowl. Roll the dough into balls and place each ball into individual wells in a mini muffin tin. Bake the cookies. Immediately upon taking the cookies out of the oven, press a mini peanut butter cup into each cookie. Allow to cool and carefully remove from the tin to serve.

Nicole's Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Tips

"Forget the fancy, gussied up desserts," says culinary producer Nicole McLaughlin (a.k.a. NicoleMcMom). "Sometimes the good ol' classics are the best. Here are Nicole's tips for making the best peanut butter cup cookies ever:

· Don't forget to sift the dry ingredients together to avoid clumping. It seems easier to just stir them together, but this step is well worth the extra effort.
· Unwrap your candies while the cookies are still in the oven. You need to work fast, pressing the chocolate into the cookies while they're still warm. Don't waste time unwrapping!

How to Store Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Store these peanut butter cup cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days (if they last that long!).

Can You Freeze Peanut Butter Cookie Dough?

Yes! You can absolutely freeze peanut butter cookie dough.

Simply follow the recipe instructions until it's time to bake. Instead of baking, cover the muffin tin and place in the freezer for at least three hours or up to overnight. Transfer the now-frozen cookie dough to a zip-top freezer bag or freezer-safe storage container. Freeze for up to three months.

You can thaw the dough in the fridge overnight or bake from frozen — just add a few minutes to the bake time (press the peanut butter cup into the cookie immediately after baking).

Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise

"We LOVED these," says mrsparker. "They are simply delectable! A couple tips: Freeze the mini peanut butter cups before using them so they don't fall apart. Also, let these cool long enough before taking them out of the pan. If you're in a hurry, put them in the garage or freezer to cool faster."

"Excellent cookies," raves one Allrecipes community member. "I substituted shortening in place of the butter and because I do not have a mini muffin tin, I used a regular baking sheet. This worked very well and the cookies turned out soft and delicious."

"Didn't change anything in this recipe, except to make a thumbprint in the center of each ball before baking so the cookie didn't crack so much when I pushed the peanut butter cup into it," according to lgt240. "These were awesome! I can't wait to try them with the brownie mix that I read about in one of the reviews."

Editorial contributions by Corey Williams

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Ingredients

Original recipe (1X) yields 40 servings

  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ cup butter, softened

  • ½ cup white sugar

  • ½ cup peanut butter

  • ½ cup packed brown sugar

  • 1 large egg, beaten

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 2 tablespoons milk

  • 40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl; set aside.

  2. Cream butter, sugar, peanut butter, and brown sugar together in a separate bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk.

    Overhead of butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar beaten together in a mixing bowl.

    Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

  3. Add flour mixture; mix well.

    a top down view of flour mixed into creamed butter and sugar mixture in a large mixing bowl.

    Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

  4. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

    Overhead of peanut butter cookie dough rolled into balls and placed into a muffin pan.

    Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes.

  6. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Let cookies cool before carefully removing them from the pan.

    Overhead of mini peanut butter cups pressed into cookie dough in a muffin pan.

    Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

  7. Enjoy!

    mid angle looking into a bunch of peanut butter cup cookies resting on a cooling rack with one bit into

    DOTDASH MEREDITH FOOD STUDIOS 

7,035 home cooks made it!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

122 Calories
7g Fat
14g Carbs
2g Protein
Nutrition Facts
Servings Per Recipe 40
Calories 122
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 7g 8%
Saturated Fat 3g 14%
Cholesterol 11mg 4%
Sodium 119mg 5%
Total Carbohydrate 14g 5%
Dietary Fiber 1g 2%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 2g 5%
Calcium 13mg 1%
Iron 1mg 3%
Potassium 61mg 1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.

(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.