Muffin Pan Peanut Butter Cup Cookies are so fun, but for years I avoided making them because my mini muffin pan was a pain to deal with. Baked goods always stuck, plus it was a dark color and everything seemed to bake too quickly. I recently bought a new silicone mini muffin pan and it's rekindled the joy of mini muffin cup things!
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As for these cookies, they are basically Peanut Butter Blossoms, but baked in muffin tins and topped with Reese's Minis instead of Hershey's Kisses. They're fun to serve, easy to carry and irresistible to peanut butter chocolate fanatics. Plus you get the best of both worlds -- cookies and candy.
Different Recipes
There are different versions of Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies with varying ratios of ingredients. The most common is the recipe with 1 ¾ cup of flour, ½ cup butter, ½ cup both sugars, etc. There's also the Betty Crocker version which doesn't call for brown sugar and the Pioneer Woman recipe that uses refrigerated peanut butter dough. Those are good, but this version has less flour. The cookies come out of the oven softer and need more cooling time, but once they've cooled they're firm, less dry and have more peanut butter flavor.
Muffin Pan Size
You'll need a mini muffin pan with wells/cavities that are about .7 inches deep for the original version, but you can also make slightly flatter versions using a regular size muffin tin. The cookies will look like this. I'll bet they'd look even better with Reese's Thins, but that's a whole 'nother cookie project.
Vegan Mini Muffin Pan Peanut Butter Cookies
The traditional version of Mini Muffin Pan Peanut Butter Cookies calls for an egg, but you can easily make it egg-free by using ¼ cup of chickpea liquid (aquafaba) in place of the egg. Flax egg would probably work as well. To make the cookies vegan, also use vegan margarine in place of butter. Earth Balance works well if you like its flavor.
Refrigerated Cookie Dough Version
If you read this post and decide that you'd rather just use refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough, go for it! Of all the pre-made doughs, I think the peanut butter version is the best and works really well for this type of cookie. In fact, one I have made in the past takes the cookies to a new level. Check out Ronna Farley's old Bake-Off Choco-Peanut Butter Cups. I need to take a new photo because the first time I made Ronna's I overfilled the muffin cups, but they were still tasty. Ronna's don't call for Reese's Minis, but rather a mixture of peanut butter and melted white chips, which she tops with melted chocolate and smashed granola bars. Yikes, now I feel like making hers too.
Recipe
Mini Muffin Pan Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed (100 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ½ cup peanut butter, lightly sweetened type (130 grams)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (170 grams)
- 48 Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a greased mini muffin pan or an ungreased silicone muffin pan.
- Beat the butter and both sugars together. Beat in the peanut butter and egg, then scrape sides of bowl and beat in the salt, baking soda and vanilla. Add flour and stir until blended.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls or scoop with a small cookie scoop. Set the balls into the muffin pans. No need to press. These should spread on their own.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350F, then pull from oven and press a mini peanut butter cup into the center of each. Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes to soften chocolate.
- Allow the cookies to cool in the cups for about 20 minutes, the carefully loosen and let cool on a wire rack.
Sue K says
Oh my! Another cookie I need to try. I love the idea of all the variations you could do too!
Anna says
Hi Mary! Honestly, I'm guessing yours with the bagged cookie dough are just as good if not better than scratch. Now I am really curious to see how the sugar cookie version tastes!
Mary C. says
Hello Anna! I make these fairly often and like to use the packaged (bagged) Betty Crocker cookie mix, mixing up the cookie dough as directed on the package. For parties or the holidays I sometimes roll the scooped dough in granulated sugar before baking, for a bit of extra sparkle -- but stick with plain sugar, not colored sugar (the colors can look odd against the PB dough).
In anticipation of trying a variation on this cookie I bought some Rolo candies and sugar cookie mix, but haven't tried it yet.