Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chunk Cookies

By Rachel Conners @bakeritablog

These Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chunk Cookies are big, chewy, and full of peanut butter, peanut butter cups, and rich melted chocolate! If you love chocolate and peanut butter, these cookies will become a quick favorite.

Hi, my name’s Rachel and I’m addicted to peanut butter. If you’ve been around my site before and have seen any of my many peanut butter recipes, you know that I can’t get enough of peanut butter. I especially love it when it’s paired with chocolate – white, dark, or milk. I don’t discriminate.

It’s not just peanut butter I love – it’s all nut butters. I love making them myself in my Vitamix (though it’s a long and loud process…) and I make new flavors all the time. Coconut butter is one of my favorites. Half coconut butter, half almond butter, with a bunch of spices and salt?? It’s so good. That almond coconut butter slathered on some thinly sliced apples is one of my favorite snacks.

But even with how much I love almond butter and cashew butter and coconut butter, my first nut butter love was peanut butter, and I’ll never get enough of it. Peanut butter cups have always been one of my favorite candies and I’ve always wanted to bake with those teeny milk chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s.

Well, I finally did it. Fun size Reese’s are a little too big to just be tossed into cookies whole, but the ones from Trader Joe’s are only a teensy bit bigger than chocolate chips so they’re perfect to add in to cookies. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, I think Reese’s now also makes Reese’s Minis, which are a similar size. You could also just chop up some bigger Reese’s and toss ’em in – as long as you get some peanut butter cups in there.

The cookies themselves are adapted from one of my favorite cookie recipes on the site, these Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. That recipe makes such soft and gooey peanut butter cookies, and that’s what I wanted to replicate with these…but full of chocolatey, peanut butter cup goodness. I adapted the recipe to get rid of the oats, cinnamon, and raisins, and added big chunks of dark chocolate and mini peanut butter cups.

The resulting cookies are soft and moist and full of peanut butter flavor, with the peanut butter cups and chocolate chunks making the cookies extra rich and decadent.

I did over-bake half the batch. I turned off the timer thinking, “I’ll just leave them in a sec longer” and wandered out of the kitchen, distracted on the phone. A few minutes later, smelling peanut butter, I dashed into the kitchen and managed to save the cookies before they were too dark – but they were definitely golden.

However, even the darker cookies were delicious if you like a crispier cookie. These cookies are pretty forgiving, so if you like crisper edges leave them in the oven for a minute longer – just be sure to set the timer. Don’t be like me.

This only makes a dozen cookies, but they’re BIG cookies. Thankfully, the recipe doubles easily or you can stretch the dough farther by making smaller cookies. Just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly! Enjoy :)

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Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chunk Cookies   Save Print Prep time 10 mins Cook time 12 mins Total time 22 mins   Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 12 cookies Ingredients
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips
  • ½ cup mini peanut butter cups
Directions
  1. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in peanut butter and vanilla extract. Beat in the egg until well blended.
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add into the peanut butter mixture and beat until just combined.
  3. Fold in chocolate chunks and peanut butter cups. Chill cookie dough, covered, at least 2 hours and up to 1 week.
  4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide the dough into 12 balls and arrange about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
  5. Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven for 12 minutes, or until just pale golden. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely.
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  • Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches
  • Loaded Dark Chocolate Cookies
  • Chocolate Almond Butter Thumbprint Cookies (Paleo + Vegan)
  • Soft Peanut Butter M&M Cookies