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These Cake Mix Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies are everything you want in an easy homemade treat—soft, chewy Reese’s stuffed cookies with a full-size Reese’s peanut butter cup baked right inside.
Starting with a cake mix keeps them simple and foolproof, while the gooey chocolate peanut butter center makes them feel extra special. Perfect for parties, holidays, or anytime a peanut butter and chocolate craving hits.
Table of Contents
- Why This Recipe Works
- Ingredients Needed
- Variations
- How to make a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies
- Why It Is Important to Let Your Cookies Cool on the Cookie Sheet
- Pro Tips
- Storage and Freezing
- Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies FAQs
- Do you love chocolate & peanut butter? Try these…
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies Recipe
Why This Recipe Works
Honestly… the better question might be, why wouldn’t this recipe work?
It starts with a simple cake mix cookies base, which means you’re already getting a head start on flavor, texture, and consistency. It’s the shortcut that helps these cookies turn out bakery-worthy without the extra steps.
Then we take that box mix and make it even better with butter, shortening, a little flour, and cornstarch. That combination creates a thick, sturdy dough that bakes up soft and chewy while keeping the cookies tall enough to hide the surprise inside.
And that surprise? A full-size Reese’s peanut butter cup baked right in the center, making these cookies the ultimate peanut butter cup stuffed cookies. Warm chocolate and peanut butter tucked inside a soft cookie is the kind of combination people never forget.
To finish, each cookie gets a drizzle of melted chocolate and peanut butter for that over-the-top bakery style look.
The result is a giant, soft cookie packed with rich peanut butter cup flavor, gooey centers, and the kind of wow factor that makes everyone ask for the recipe.
Ingredients Needed
- White or Vanilla Cake Mix: You can use vanilla cake mix in any of my white cake mix recipes and vice versa! I love that you can substitute white and vanilla cake mix for one another, and how they deliver perfect results every time.
- Butter: Softened butter will make the cookies a bit crispy on the edges.
- Shortening: Helps keep the cookies thick and bakery-style instead of spreading flat. I love butter-flavored shortening here.
- Cornstarch: This is another key ingredient that helps keep those cookies from spreading too much.
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: Go for the full-sized cups in these Reese’s stuffed cookies!
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
Want to switch things up? Try one of these fun twists:
- Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: Use my easy 4-ingredient peanut butter cookie dough for extra peanut butter flavor.
- Chocolate Cookie Dough: Rich chocolate dough makes these taste like bakery-style peanut butter cup brownies.
- Brownie Dough: Soft, fudgy, and extra decadent. Even better, these brownie cookies start with brownie mix.
- Sugar Cookie Dough: A sweeter option with buttery flavor.
- Mini Stuffed Cookies: Use mini peanut butter cups for smaller party-size cookies.
- Double Reese’s: Add chopped Reese’s pieces to the dough, like I did in these Reese’s Pieces Cookies.
How to make a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies
Step 1: Combine the cake mix, cornstarch and flour in a large bowl. Whisk the ingredients together to combine. Add the softened butter, shortening, eggs and salt to the dry mixture and cream together using a handheld {or stand} mixer. Using a medium cookie scoop, place a mound of dough on your prepared baking sheet. Add a peanut butter cup to the middle and press down.
Step 2: Scoop another mound of dough and place on top of the peanut butter cup. Press the two cookie dough mounds together around the peanut butter cup, being sure to seal edges.
Step 3: Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges are set and the middle of the cookie is just beginning to set.
Step 4: Once cookies have cooled completely, melt peanut butter and chocolate in separate bowls. Using a spoon or fork, drizzle the peanut butter and chocolate over the cookies. Allow the chocolate to set up before serving.
Why It Is Important to Let Your Cookies Cool on the Cookie Sheet
I am a stickler when it comes to letting cookies cool on the cookie sheet {just ask one of my former culinary students}. When you are a lover of thick and soft cookies{especially cake mix cookies} it is necessary.
To get the soft inside of a cookie set up but not over done, you want to almost under bake your cookies by a minute or so. Then in order to not have a huge mound of uncooked dough in the middle of your baked cookie, we let them cool on the cookie sheet.
This works because the cookie sheet is still warm when you remove it from the oven, so the heat will continue to cook the cookie slightly and allow it to set up without over baking it. It is like magic really and it totally changed my cookie baking game when I adopted this rule.
Pro Tips
- Seal the dough edges really well. Any gaps will let the peanut butter cup bleed through while baking. Pinch and smooth the seams until you can’t see where the two dough portions meet.
- Use a cookie scoop for consistency. Since you’re using two scoops of dough per cookie, keeping them the same size ensures every cookie has the right dough-to-filling ratio and bakes evenly.
- If your drizzle is too thick to flow nicely off a spoon, microwave it in 10-second bursts until it thins out. It should run off the spoon in a smooth, steady stream for the best-looking finish.
- Drizzle the chocolate and peanut butter while the cookies are on a wire rack set over parchment paper. This makes cleanup much easier and gives you room to go heavy on the drizzle without making a huge mess.
Storage and Freezing
You can store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months!
Be aware that the peanut butter drizzle may not set up completely – that means if you stack them, they’re going to get a little messy! You can either store them in a single layer or wait and put on the final touches when you’re ready to serve them.
Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies FAQs
Yes! Yellow, vanilla, white, or chocolate all work great.
You could, but I think it would throw off the ratio a bit. Using a full-sized means that the Reese’s goes all the way to the edges of the cookie instead of just in a tiny spot in the middle.
Yes, this dough is thicker than a typical cookie dough, but it can get a little tacky depending on your kitchen temperature. If it’s hard to work with, refrigerate it for 20–30 minutes before stuffing your cookies.
Do you love chocolate & peanut butter? Try these…
Did you try this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review below and tag @practicallyhomemade on Pinterest!
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 box white cake mix, {13.25 ounces}
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ½ cup butter, {softened}
- ½ cup butter flavored shortening
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, full-sized
Toppings
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Combine the white cake mix, cornstarch and all purpose flour in a large bowl. Whisk the ingredients together to combine. Add the softened butter, shortening, eggs and salt to the dry mixture and cream together using a hand held {or stand} mixer. The dough will be a nice thick consistency.
- Using a medium cookie scoop {or about 2 tablespoons of dough} get a mound of dough. Add a peanut butter cup to the middle and press down into the dough. Scoop another mound of dough and place on top of the peanut butter cup. Using your hands, bring the two cookie dough mounds together around the peanut butter cup, being sure to seal edges.
- Place on a baking sheet, lined with a silicone mat {or parchment paper} and continue making cookies until all of the dough is gone {should have 12 VERY large cookies}. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the edges are set and the middle of the cookie is just beginning to set and barely brown. They may look slightly under-baked but let them cool completely on a cookie sheet and they will firm up as they cool.
- Once cookies have cooled completely, melt peanut butter and chocolate in separate bowls in the microwave. I like to start with 30 seconds, stir and add more time if needed. Both should be smooth and thin. Using a spoon or fork drizzle both peanut butter and chocolate over the cookies. Allow the chocolate to set up.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
In order to drizzle chocolate and peanut butter over top and still be able to stack them I use melted semi sweet choc cips and for the PB I use melted peanut butter cooking chips. When they are cooled and toppings are set just use parchment paper between layers when stacking.
I think your recipes are really good and have used some.
Made these for my husband and he liked them very much.
I’m a Reese’s fanatic and these cookies were perfection!