Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies: quick and easy Fall cookies

These Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies are easy peanut butter cookies loaded up with Reese’s Pieces candy, a touch of cinnamon, and just enough oatmeal to add a little bit of texture.

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Everyone loves Reese’s peanut butter cups (try my Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies for my favorite use of them), but Reese’s Pieces are criminally underrated. The thin candy shell enclosing the creamy peanut butter chip tasting filing is just delightful to eat.

Before the holiday baking rush, it’s nice to have some quick and easy cookie recipes on hand. From game nights to church events or tailgating days, I love having some quick win recipes that I can make up before dinner and pack up for whomever is headed off to an event.

These were a 5 star recipe from all my kids and kids’ friends this weekend! Even better is that you can make them up in about 30 minutes. Save all your Reese’s Pieces from Halloween candy–these cookies are worth it!

Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

Why you’ll love these cookies

1. Reese’s Pieces: Reese’s Pieces are such a fun mix in with big peanut butter taste instead of the regular chocolate chip or M&Ms.
2. Quick oats: I started adding quick oats to my peanut butter cookies after I was out of old-fashioned oats one day. They have a little more subtle texture than their bigger brother. They add a little delicate crunch and less chew.
3. Lightning fast: This is pretty much a mix and go cookie. There’s no fussing around, you mix it, scoop it, and bake.
4. Spice?!: I love adding just a tiny bit of cinnamon or one of my cinnamon spice blends in oatmeal cookies. There’s not enough that you could pick it out, but it boosts the flavor of the whole cookie.

Equipment for making peanut butter cookies

1. Hand mixer or stand mixer: a hand mixer is perfectly fine here. This is pretty much a one-bowl cookie.
2. Sheet trays: 3 is helpful so you don’t have to wait for the trays to cool to bake the last cookies.
3. Parchment
4. Baking spatula: for measuring peanut butter and finishing folding everything together.
5. Cookie scoop: I’m using my Vollrath purple scoop, which holds 3/4 oz. With this size scoop, you’ll get about 24 cookies. You can also eyeball it.

Other mix-in ideas besides Reese’s Pieces

As much as I love Reese’s Pieces, I probably buy them once a year. Feel free to use any of these other mix-ins.

• Candy corn: just like with my peanut butter blondies, candy corn is a surprising winner of a mix-in with peanut butter.
• Snickers: peanuts, chocolate, caramel, yes please.
• Kit Kat: these would add some good crunch.
• Peanut Butter chips
• Butterscotch chips
• Chai Spiced Maple Candied Pecans: any sugared nut would be good. Chopped honey roasted peanuts would add a lot too.
• Butterfinger: more peanut flavor and so much good texture.
• Chick-o-Stick: like Butterfinger minus the chocolate with that flaky peanutty good inside plus some coconut. These would add some interesting texture and boost the peanut flavor.

Tricks for making the perfect Reese’s Pieces peanut butter cookies

1. Use a gram scale: Measuring peanut butter is a messy hateful task but that’s not the case with a gram scale. Save your butter wrapper after you put the butter in the mixer bowl. Place the wrapper on top a gram scale and measure the peanut butter right on the wrapper. From there you can scrape the peanut butter straight into your work bowl with a baking spatula. I tell my students that a gram scale is a lazy baker’s dream and I mean it.
2. Save a couple handfuls of candy: Fold in most of the candy into the dough, but save a couple handfuls. Place those reserved candy pieces on top of the balls of dough. Placed on top, they’ll bake into the tops of the cookies, staying shiny and pretty.
3. Cool on the sheets: These are soft cookies, so they need to cool on the baking sheets so that they’ll be firm enough to not fall apart. That’s especially true since the quick oats make the cookies a little more delicate. When the pans are cool, the cookies will be ready to go.

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