Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like a dream come true for my peanut butter + chocolate-loving heart.
Texture: Thick, chewy, chunky, and soft.
Ease: SO easy! This is a great recipe for beginner bakers and seasoned bakers alike.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This recipe is one of my all-time favorite cookies, and I’m sure any PB lovers out there will feel the same!!
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Obsessed with chocolate + peanut butter? Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies are made for you!
These cookies contain an obscene amount of peanut butter and the best mix-ins you could ask for: chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and Reese’s Pieces.
Their large size, soft and chewy texture, and mouthwatering appearance make these cookies look like they came out of a bakery display case.
They’re slightly crispy at the edges, soft and chewy throughout, with oozing bits of chocolate and PB in each bite. Heaven!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies
What Type of Peanut Butter for Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I typically use a conventional creamy PB here, like Skippy. Natural peanut butter works great here, too, and will actually impart a stronger PB flavor – just be sure to stir it very well before using, so there are no oily pockets or dry bits. If using natural peanut butter, I like Kirkland Organic.
How to Avoid Dry Cookies
Be sure to measure your ingredients correctly, particularly the flour. Too much flour will create cakey, dry, dense, or tough cookies that don’t spread.
Measuring accurately is one of the best ways to improve your baking. Use a digital kitchen scale for best results (and fewer dishes!). If you don’t have one, use the spoon and level method.
What Type of Baking Sheet is Best?
I highly recommend using an aluminum half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper for baking cookies.
Never use dark-colored pans to bake cookies, as they tend to overly brown or even burn the bottoms of the cookies. Check out my experiments with baking pans in my Best (and WORST) Baking Pans post here.
How to Shape Giant Peanut Butter Cookies
To shape Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies, roll the dough into 1/4-cup size balls using a 1/4-cup (aka 4-tablespoon) cookie scoop, then flatten slightly before baking (to encourage spread).
The result is a cookie as big as your hand with the perfect thickness!
Can I Make These Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies Smaller?
Sure! If you’d like to make regular-sized cookies instead, roll the dough into 2-tablespoon-sized balls using a medium-sized cookie scoop and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes.
Do I Need to Chill This Cookie Dough?
No, you don’t have to. Baking straight away will yield delicious cookies.
If you have time, however, I do recommend chilling the Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookie dough overnight, covered well in the fridge. Here’s why:
- Chilling cookie dough is very similar to marinating meat – things just get so much better!
- The texture becomes chewier and thicker, and the flavor intensifies.
- Learn more about Why You Should Chill Your Cookie Dough here.
How to Store Giant Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store cooled cookies at room temperature inside an airtight container for three days. Store with a tortilla to keep the cookies soft longer.
How to Make Reese’s Pieces Cookies Ahead of Time
To freeze this cookie dough, portion and flatten slightly, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze until solid. Transfer the solid cookie dough discs to an airtight container and freeze for up to 6 weeks. Get my tips on how to freeze cookie dough, and how to bake from frozen, here.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes:
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Ingredients
- 3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour*,
measured correctly - 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1/2 cup (135 grams) creamy peanut butter**
- 1 cup (200 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup (170 grams) peanut butter chips
- 1 cup (170 grams) Reese’s Pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until very well combined, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat until combined.
- On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and Reese’s Pieces and beat until just combined. You may need to do this by hand with a spatula if your mixer isn’t strong enough.
- Roll the dough into 1/4-cup balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the dough balls into 1/2-inch thick disks.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges. Place the baking sheets on cooling racks and let cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2013 and has been updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Jess Larson.
Hi! Can I use 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 AP flour in this recipe?
Hi Brittani! We haven’t tried that with this recipe, but that should definitely work just fine! Let us know how it goes 🙂
I made these cookies today and they are delicious!
Thank you Tessa for sharing !!!
Super creamy and yummy cookies! Love making these but they never last long!
I made these to bring to a Halloween get together. My roommate is gluten free, so I subbed one to one gluten free flour, and these came out amazing. They are so soft and chewy with the perfect little crunch on the outside. Delicious peanut butter taste, and festive with the fall colored Reese’s Pieces.
Wonderful! So happy to hear your substitute worked perfectly and that they were such a hit! Thanks for sharing 🙂
We love these cookies in our house! However, I have the same problem as Maureen… my dough turns out super crumbly. I don’t over mix and I follow everything to a T. Thoughts?
Hi Jeannelle! So glad to hear how much you love these cookies 🙂 I’m thinking your crumbly dough could be due to either not using a digital scale to measure the ingredients or possibly the type of peanut butter used. Would you be able to share the brand and type? Some ingredients also don’t like to play “nice” either lol, like the Reese’s Pieces which are a little larger and more slippery than chocolate chips.
Hi Emily! I use Jif creamy peanut butter, but I’m thinking it may be the amount of flour is slightly off. I don’t use a scale, just a measuring cup. Thank you!
Do you have a suggestion for substituting the Reese’s pieces? Sadly you can’t get them where I live 🙁 thanks!:)
Hmmm I’m not sure! If you have any type of peanut butter/chocolate candy pieces, it should work ok! Maybe peanut butter m&m’s? Not quite the same taste, but they’d still be delicious!
HOLY COW!!! Or HOLY PEANUT BUTTER?!?!? So I knew with these ingredients, these cookies had to be good. Good is an understatment. These cookies are phenomenal. Every bit has a chocolate chip, PB chip, AND Reese’s Pieces. They are soft and chewy…and they are SO big that I could almost not finish one. My husband had no trouble finishing three though!!
haha!! I’m so happy these were a hit! They’re full of peanut butter and chocolate for SURE (the best combination, in my opinion) 🙂
I made these cookies twice. First time didn’t have peanut butter chips so I used some mini peanut butter cups they were a hit with my son. The second batch I followed the recipe and they were just as delicious!
Love all your recipes
I was in in the mood for something peanut butter, and I remembered that I had saved this recipe, and I knew this is the one I wanted to make. These are divine!!
Yay! So glad you loved these cookies!
Unreal recipe! Weighed everything so definitely got the best results that way. Mixed and baked perfectly. I think the milk helps keep it from crumbling. Delicious flavor and texture!
So glad you enjoyed these cookies!
These are fabulous! Perfect mix of chocolate and peanut butter – I’ve made them so many times, they’re always a crowd pleaser!
I love your recipes, please share more