Reese’s Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars

by Erin

These Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars start with a chewy peanut butter cookie base which is topped with heart-shaped Reese’s peanut butter cups and festive sprinkles.

Overhead shot of Reese's Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars.

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What’s better than a peanut butter cookie in bar form? A peanut butter cup cookie bar topped with a peanut butter cup! Just load up on the peanut butter, that’s what I say.

INGREDIENTS FOR PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIE BARS

  • all-purpose flour
  • baking soda
  • unsalted butter
  • light brown sugar
  • creamy peanut butter
  • egg
  • vanilla extract
  • peanut butter cups
  • Festive sprinkles
Close-up of Reese's Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars.

I chose to use heart-shaped pink Reese’s peanut butter cups because I made these around Valentine’s Day, but you can use any shape or flavor peanut butter cup you prefer. Just change up the color/style of sprinkles to fit the occasion as well.

In the end, these turned out to be a peanut butter lover’s dream. Does it get much better than a chewy peanut butter cookie topped with a peanut butter cup on top? The only thing that might make them better (IMO) would be to combine with cheesecake to make cheesecake peanut butter cup cookie bars, but I digress.

Over-head shot of Reese's Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars with a Bite out of one.

Is it good to chill cookie dough before baking?

Normally my answer to this question is yes, but that’s because I most often make drop cookies where chilling helps prevent the dough from spreading too much, in addition to slight changes in flavor and texture.

With these peanut butter cup cookie bars, chilling the dough is less important since it’s already spread into one layer – and we prefer it to stay that way. No chilling necessary!

Close-up of bite taken out of Reese's Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars.

Overhead shot of Reese's Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars.

REESE'S HEART PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIE BARS

Print
Yield: 15 Servings Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 15 unwrapped heart-shaped peanut butter cups*
  • Festive sprinkles

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan. Grease the sides.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Mix in peanut butter, egg and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture until combined. Dough will be thick and sticky.
  4. Spread the cookie dough out evenly into the pan. Top with evenly spaced out peanut butter cups and sprinkles. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.
  5. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes before using the parchment paper overhang to lift bars out of the pan.
  6. Set on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, cut into 15 bars.

Notes

*Can also use standard peanut butter cups

Did You Make This Recipe?
I want to see! Tag me on Instagram at @TheSpiffyCookie and hashtag it #TheSpiffyCookie.

Source: Adapted from my Buckeye Peanut Butter Cookie Bars and White Chocolate Reese’s Pumpkin Blondies.

Did you make this recipe? I want to see! Tag @THESPIFFYCOOKIE on Instagram and hashtag it #THESPIFFYCOOKIE

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6 comments

Best of 2023 December 31, 2023 - 6:00 am

[…] Reese’s Heart Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Bars (2/8/23) – Make life easy with a sheet of cookie bars topped with a festive peanut butter […]

Reply
Heart-Shaped Reese’s Stuffed Cookie for Two February 13, 2023 - 8:05 pm

[…] synonymous in my brain as I’ve already shared two other festive recipes this year including reese’s cookie bars and peanut butter cup brownies. But is there such a thing as too many peanut butter […]

Reply
Dad February 9, 2023 - 10:03 am

These cookies look more like a work of art than something to eat.

Reply
Erin February 9, 2023 - 10:07 am

Haha thank you. They are pretty but easy to make, too!

Reply
White Chocolate Reese's Pumpkin Blondies February 8, 2023 - 6:05 pm

[…] Heck make this any time of year, such as Valentine’s Day with Reese’s heart peanut butter cup cookie bars. […]

Reply
Buckeye Peanut Butter Cookie Bars February 8, 2023 - 6:03 pm

[…] my bars, I used peanut butter cookie bars as the base and topped them with a chocolate peanut butter ganache. Is it a cookie cake cut into […]

Reply

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