A chewy, soft-baked peanut butter oatmeal cookies recipe. These peanut butter oatmeal cookies are exploding with Reese’s peanut butter cups. No mixer required, no dough chilling necessary, so easy!
Today I’m sharing a new oatmeal cookie recipe. And a new peanut butter cookie recipe! Complete with oodles of peanut butter cups chopped up inside. Surely you love peanut butter cups, right?
Today’s cookies are all about the oats. If you love oatmeal cookies, you’re in for a real treat. I pack as many oats as I can inside, making sure there is enough brown sugar and butter in the cookie dough to prevent the oats from over-drying the taste and texture.
These cookies are chewy-central. The epitome of chewiness. The reason for all the chew are the oats and the melted butter. I love to use melted butter in some of my cookie recipes, like my chocolate chip cookies. Not only is it easier than creaming butter, but it provides a ton of chew.
There’s so much peanut butter hiding inside each cookie. 1/2 cup of the good stuff will be mixed in to your cookie dough along with your other wet ingredients. Be sure not to use natural style peanut butter; I do not have luck using it in a majority of my cookie recipes (although it does work in my soft and thick peanut butter cookies). I prefer to use Jif Creamy for all of my recipes calling for peanut butter.
The first time I made these cookies earlier this week, I added way too much leavener and flour. The cookies looked like oatmeal golfballs. I rushed to the store to buy more peanut butter cups and try all over again, my third trip to the grocery store that day. My home away from home. I decreased the flour and leaveners, producing a perfectly rounded cookie in round 2.
I’m going to let you in on a few little secrets of mine when I make these. First, I prefer to use a giant cookie scoop for these oatmeal cookies. In fact, I prefer to use my cookie scoop for all of my oatmeal cookie recipes. It produces a perfectly round scoop for the texturized dough. Here’s the OXO large cookie scoop I use. It holds 3 Tablespoons of dough for each cookie round.
Another trick I use when I make these is to reserve about 6-8 peanut butter cups. You’ll have a bunch chopped up to throw inside the dough, but reserve a few extra for topping the cookies when they come out of the oven. The cookies will spread in the oven, but not all the way. After about 11 minutes, they will look very soft and sort of not fully done. Don’t worry! They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet. Remove the cookies from the oven and slightly press down on each top. This will create a beautiful crackled look. Then, press a couple peanut butter cup pieces into the top of the cookie.
Voila! Gorgeous peanut butter cup cookie-ness.
Look at all that super melty chocolate! Swoon.
I am in love with making these cookies because they are SO easy. There is no dough chilling, no need to lug out your heavy mixer, and tons of room to fill your dough with peanut butter cups or other candies.
More Cookies to Try
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
A chewy, soft-baked peanut butter oatmeal cookie exploding with Reese’s peanut butter cups. No mixer, no dough-chilling, so easy!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (94g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (125g) creamy peanut butter (not natural style)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (170g) quick oats*
- 1 and 1/2 cups chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Toss the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg, then the peanut butter until combined. Finally, whisk in the vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft and slick. Fold in the oats and the 1 and 1/4 cups chopped peanut butter cups, reserving the remaining 1/4 cup for later.
- Roll the dough into balls, about 3 Tablespoons of dough each. I highly suggest using a large cookie scoop to make it easier. Place 8 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and underbaked. They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet. Remove from the oven and lightly press down on each cookie to slightly flatten, since the cookies will not spread all the way in the oven. Press a piece or two of the remaining chopped peanut butter cups into each cookie. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Baked cookies freeze well, up to three months. Cookie dough balls freeze well too, up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for about 11 minutes. No need to thaw them. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Large Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Oats: Do not use old-fashioned style oats (aka whole oats) in this cookie recipe. They are the large-cut oats. You need quick oats, which are more finely ground (and smaller) whole oats.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
If I substitute other add-ins (pecans and chocolate chips) instead of the peanut butter cup, how much of it goes in?
Thanks!
Hi Ana, keep the total amount of add-ins to 1.5 cups. Enjoy!
So delicious! I made them Easter by adding crushed mini eggs and a mini egg on top after baking…ridiculously yummy! I also used regular oats and didn’t seem to affect it.
These cookies were delicious although I left out the chocolate chips and added walnuts and dried cherries.
I have a question…why aren’t my cookies spreading out. I have made 2 batches in the last month, these and and another the Oatmeal Macadamia nut cookies. With both batches the cookies did not spread out when baked. They basically stayed in a ball shape.
Thanks so much!
Man these are just incredible!! As my son would say, they are off the chain!! The bestest I ever had/made in my entire life as far as peanut butter cookies go! And I too am an awesome baker!! I halfed the mini PC and put each half on each cookie right after I took them out of the oven!! We have the same initials SBA! So I call all my baking things “Sissy’s baking addict” keep posting these to die for recipes!
I’d like to add raisins to this recipe. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Hi Katie! 1 cup of raisins would be plenty!
These were delicious! Made them with my 4yo and 2yo who loved chopping up the peanut butter cups and getting their spoons mixing! They couldn’t wait to try one and they didn’t disappoint. We’re moving house next week and I’m going to make a batch of these and some of your strawberry cheesecake muffins to help us and our helpers through it!
Is there anything you can substitute for Reese’s peanut butter cups, rarely you can find this in the store here in Australia only Costco sell this. Please advise and thank you.
Any cookie add-in you like! Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, coconut, etc.
Wow!! I just bit into a warm cookie. I couldn’t wait for them to cool on the pan. These are so good. Hopefully they will make to my bible study tonight:)
Thanks for another great cookie recipe.
Since I found this recipe I have made it a few times. The first time I took them into work and returned home with none left. A couple weeks later my coworkers were still raving about them- including people who don’t like oatmeal cookies and asked for the recipe. Then I sent some home with a friend and was told that the next time I went to her house I was not allowed to come unless these came too. I took them to a Ragnar relay race this past weekend and shared them and a few other kinds of cookies with the team. These were the first ones gone and I was told that some of the guys nearly “gouged out each others eyes” for these ones. This recipe has definitely made it to the top of my cookie list!
Sally (cookie goddess)- you have my eternal love for giving this cookie recipe to the world. I bake a lot of cookies and this one is now my favorite. I can’t wait for my hubby to get home from work to try one. He is a peanut butter fanatic and I know that he will love them.
Your cook books are the absolute best!!
Wow!! Super Yum and super easy!!! Thank you!!
These cookies always come out so chewy and delicious! However, with all of your oatmeal recipes I have an issue. They always come out really thin and fall apart. Any advice?
Is the cookie dough particularly sticky? I recommend chilling the cookie dough (for any of the oatmeal cookies even if the recipe does not call for chilling)– this should help firm up the dough to reduce the likelihood of spread. You can also add an extra Tbsp or two of flour.
I discovered this recipe last week and have made these cookies five times since then… And everyone who has tried them has said they’re the best cookies they’ve ever had. Now today I’m making them for my friend’s wedding tomorrow!! Anyone wondering if you should make these, just do it. They’re incredible.
Wow, WOW, thank you for the best cookie recipe I’ve mad in a long time!! The perfect thing for my peanut butter crazy valentine.
made these today! SO EASY AND SO GOOD! very soft and chewy! thank you!:]
I made 2 batches of these yesterday. My husband took the first batch to work and they were a big hit! He didn’t even get to try one because they were all gone before his lunch. The 2nd batch was for our family. I love the thickness and chewiness of these cookies. This recipe is on my list of favorites. Thank you!
GREAT recipe! Just tried it tonight, and it’s delicious. Love how fluffy and soft these cookies are. I didn’t have Reese’s peanut butter cups on hand, so I used Guittard milk chocolate baking chips, and even though I was a little short on oats (I only had a little over a cup), they were really fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing!
Perfect baking project on a snowy day. Didn’t have enough pb cups, so I threw in some M&Ms.
Fantastic cookies! Made for hubby as he needs something filling when he’s gone on the road all day and these are PERFECT!
I just made these today and the cookies are wonderful– just as described and pictured. I admit I was a little worried when the dough seemed oily and crumbly. But, in the oven, it all came together beautifully. I added a sprinkle of course salt when they came out of the oven and put all but one batch of dough balls in the freezer for my husband’s next peanut butter cookie craving. Thanks for a foolproof recipe.
Pondering thoughts about using Bicoff in place of PB but using PB cups in cookie. Or would the Biscoff be the same issue as natural PB. ? Or half of each to balance consistency of dough? Or a bit less melted butter in place of Biscoff? These just seem like they would be good with Biscoff yet with a PB taste nudge.
Hi Mariss – Biscoff can easily be substituted for the peanut butter here. No problem at all! No need to change any ingredients in the recipe.
One of the best—if not the best cookies I’ve ever tasted in my life! It’s everything I love (peanut butter and oatmeal) in one happy gooey blissful delight. Healthy the the normal cookie too which is even better. No guilty feelings eating that! Definetly making another batch. It all went away the moment it was made. My family loved it!
I made these Friday night. Oh my goodness, so good. My family loves them. Thank you.
I just made these with my mom and they are amazing! Definitely one of the best cookies I’ve ever had! 🙂
Hey there Sally,
I just made these last night and there were OH SO DELICIOUS! You never seem to amaze me when I am craving something sweet. I didn’t have any reese’s peanut butter cups; however, I did use some Reese’s Pieces and they were just as great. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Sally,
Was just wondering if I can use “unbleached white whole wheat flour” in this recipe instead of all purpose flour? I have commented on another recipe before but now as I checked my pantry I see I am out of all purpose flour.
I received a request to bring these bits of heaven to a block party tomorrow & I can’t wait to let my family enjoy them
Thanks so much!
Kara 🙂
Hi Kara – yes, you may use white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. They are interchangeable. Have fun at the block party and enjoy!
YUM! This recipe is fabulous 🙂 love love peanut butter cups!
Made these today, and let me tell you, they were DIVINE!!!! Peanut butter cups apparently haven’t found a home here in Hong Kong yet, so I had to go with chocolate chips but they still tasted heavenly!!! Best part was that they were super chewy! Thank you, Sally!
Just finished enjoying one of these! I like to utilize what’s in my pantry of course so I chopped up tagalongs instead of using reese’s cups. It gave a little crunch to the chew and they were PERFECT. I’m kinda in love with you. or your food. or whatever.