Peanut Butter Cup Cookies are the perfect Christmas cookie recipe! These soft, chewy peanut butter cookies are topped with mini peanut butter cups for a great twist on peanut butter blossoms.
As soon as the weather cools off in the fall, I’m dreaming of Christmas cookies. These Peanut Butter Cup Cookies are some of my favorite! They’re a perfect addition for a dessert charcuterie board…or you know, just snacking on during movie nights.
I feel like the give a new spin to classic peanut butter blossoms but with a more intense pop of peanut butter. Oh! And this recipe doesn’t have you rolling the dough in sugar, which I always think is a pain to do.
Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients
This is a basic shopping list for these peanut butter cup cookies. The full list of ingredients is in the recipe card below so be sure to keep scrolling down to check it out!
- Flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Butter
- Sugar – Granulated and brown sugars
- Peanut butter
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Milk
- Miniature peanut butter cups
How to Make Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Here are the steps for how to make this Christmas cookie recipe. The full instruction list is in the recipe card below so be sure to check it out!
STEP 1: First, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
STEP 2: Then, in your stand mixer bowl, cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter together until super fluffy. Next, beat in a lightly beaten egg, vanilla, and milk followed by the flour mixture on low.
STEP 3: I like to use a small cookie scoop to make perfectly precise cookie balls, but you can also roll the dough into balls by hand. Each ball should be about 1 tablespoon of dough. Place each dough balls into your ungreased mini muffin pan.
STEP 4: Finally, bake until the cookies are just set. As soon as you pull them out of the oven, gently press a mini peanut butter cup into the soft peanut butter cookies. Let the cookies cool about 20 minutes before removing them from the muffin pan.
I love to snack on these when they’re still warm! These peanut butter cookies with peanut butter cups last up to 2 weeks in an airtight container on the kitchen counter. That is, IF they last that long.
Can You Use Natural Peanut Butter in Cookies?
For many of my peanut butter recipes, I use natural peanut butter. However, for these cookies, I’ve found that natural peanut butter makes the dough too loose and wet.
For this recipe, use regular peanut butter, not natural peanut butter.
Why Are My Peanut Butter Cookies Dry?
If you follow this modern peanut butter blossoms recipe, you’ll have perfectly moist and soft cookies every time!
One of the main culprits for a dry peanut butter cup cookie is too much flour. You want a slightly sticky dough for these cookies. If you add too much flour, they’ll crumble when the peanut butter cup is pressed into the cookies and when you bite into them.
Cookies can also be very crumbly if you use margarine or other butter substitutes for your dough. You want real unsalted butter for the most moist peanut butter cookies.
And lastly, don’t overbake them. Overbooked cookies will be difficult to remove from the mini muffin pan and will be dry and crumbly when you eat them.
Other Amazing Cookie Recipes
Baking Christmas cookies is my favorite holiday tradition, especially now that Riley is old enough to really enjoy helping.
These peanut butter cup cookies are some of my favorites but that’s not to say I don’t have other favorites, too! Each December I hunker down in the kitchen to make cookie trays as DIY gifts for teachers, neighbors, and as hostess gifts.
These Linzer Cookies are an impressive Christmas cookie with a beautiful raspberry jam center. And they’ve consistently been the most popular Christmas cookie recipe on the site for over 10 years!
For a savory twist on cookies, you’ll absolutely love these Rosemary Butter Cookies! With sugared edges and a pop of herby rosemary, you’ll flip for this twist on traditional butter cookies. They’re also part of my mom’s must-make Christmas cookie list every year, too!
Christmas M&Ms are just better than regular M&Ms. These Chocolate Chip Christmas M&M Cookies are the thick, chewy cookies of your holiday dreams.
I love soft, frosted sugar cookies, and this Lofthouse sugar cookie recipe is just like the ones at the store but way BETTER because they’re homemade!
If you love peanut butter cookies as much as I do, you know there are so many varieties out there. I love a classic salted peanut butter cookie with salty high-top domes, distinctive ridges, and fluffy, chewy centers.
Or try these Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies for a sweeter and chunkier version of the original!
What to Serve with Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Lattes are my favorite coffee drink because they’re so creamy and versatile! You don’t need any special tools to make lattes at home — just coffee, milk, and a whisk!
When it comes to Christmas lattes, I love a classic eggnog latte. It’s the cozy, warm Christmas drink that smells and tastes like the holidays in a glass.
If you’re a cookie-for-breakfast fan, try this Gingerbread Latte! Grab a blanket and crank up your favorite Christmas music while you enjoy this one at home.
And of course, no holiday season would be complete without a steamy mug of hot chocolate. Swirl in some salted caramel sauce or add a dollop of whipped cream to give your cocoa a happy boost!
More Chocolate Peanut Butter Recipes
- Fudgy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake
- Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
- No Churn Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
- Peanut Butter Pie with Oreo Crust
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (263 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup (113 g or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (105 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (110 g) packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup (134 g) creamy peanut butter - classic Skippy or Jif, not natural peanut butter
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp milk
- 4 dozen miniature peanut butter cups, unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Ready 2 ungreased mini muffin pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking soda together; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment of a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture and mix well on low speed.
- Using a small (1 tablespoon or size 60) cookie scoop, scoop out leveled portions of dough into all of the wells of the two mini muffin pans.
- Bake for 10 to 11 minutes until the cookies are just set and are lightly golden brown on top. Remove the pan from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball cookie. Cool for 20 minutes and carefully remove the cookies from pan. Allow to cool completely before storing.
Notes
adapted from All Recipes
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