White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Recipe Overview 

Remember these double chocolate peanut butter cookies with a little delicious pb cup pressed on top? Well now we have the white chocolate version! I found a bag of reeses pink hearts and felt inspired to create a cookie around them. Though, notably these can be made with any kind of white peanut butter cup (you can even go dark or milk chocolate). It’s pressed in post-bake so really, whatever cup is your favorite will work. 

These white chocolate cookies are a bit different texture-wise, they spread a bit more, are more chewy and the peanut butter flavor is much more forward. 

Recipe Ingredient Notes

Peanut Butter: Choose a smooth conventional brand, not natural which separates when left in the jar (I used Skippy Creamy). 

White Chocolate: Importantly, don’t use candy melts! Your white chocolate chips should be made with cocoa butter (check the label). I use Guittard. 

Sugar: Fine, granulated white. While brown sugar is usually my go to for chewy cookies, the peanut butter and egg yolk do enough work here to ensure we get that texture. 

Egg & yolk: Large. Use the white to make some double chocolate chip cookies! 

All Purpose Flour: I use KAB all purpose flour which has a protein content of about 11%, if you use another brand like Gold Medal which has a lower protein content the cookies might spread a bit more so add another two tablespoons of flour overall. 

Peanut butter cups: Use any kind of white chocolate peanut butter cup, or milk or even dark that you like. I like white here because it complements the base cookie. 

Tricks to getting these just right 

Use the right peanut butter

For cookie recipes, conventional brands like Jiff, Skippy, etc. are best because the oil hasn’t separated so you can rely on the right balance of moisture in the batter. 

While crunchy might be tempting for a little added texture, I’d say chop up some peanuts to add to the cookie instead. Those little bits of nuts in chunky peanut butter will take up 

Use the right white chocolate 

It’s rare I am a bit insistent about what brand to use but I think these will work most reliably with Guittard. Other brands of white chocolate don’t have cocoa butter in them and won’t taste well or won’t melt well. 

And in this specific case, don’t use a white chocolate bar either – it will make the cookies spread too much! It has to be chips which are designed to melt just so. 

Measure your flour carefully

It’s always best to use a scale to measure flour, packed into a cup you’ll have too much and this will change the texture of the cookies. If you don’t have a scale, fluff the flour first with a fork then spoon it into the cup, shaking it, so that it lightly fills the cup. Scrape off the top when it’s full. Never dip a cup into the flour bag/bucket to measure – this can give you up to 30 more grams of flour than necessary for a recipe. 

Chill sufficiently

Because of the white chocolate, these cookies will spread nicely if chilled just right. If under-chilled, or chilled while covered (done to evaporate some of the liquid in the batter) they will spread too much and be quite thin. 

Bake just enough

These cookies will turn a bit crunchy if they get browned enough in the oven so aim to underbake them just slightly. Look for the edges to just be turning golden. Bearing in mind that when left on the cookie sheet post-bake they’ll keep cooking for a few more minutes. 

Possible reasons why the cookies spread too much ….

The flour’s protein content was very low (bordering on cake flour), there was too much butter, the white chocolate used melted quickly.

Possible reasons why cookies didn’t spread enough…

The flour was over measured, some of the butter escaped when it was melted, the batter was over chilled or too much of the liquid evaporated or the right chocolate /peanut butter wasn’t used.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies | Buttermilk by Sam

Chewy white chocolate and peanut butter cookies stuffed with a peanut butter cup.

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 12 minutes mins

Chill Time: 30 minutes mins

Yields: 14 cookies

5 from 3 votes

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Ingredients

• 113g or ½ cup butter unsalted, cold is fine
• 100g white chocolate chips preferably Guittard (about ¾ cup)
• 150g or ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 70g or ¼ cup creamy peanut butter generic brand that does not separate in the jar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 260g or 2 cups all purpose flour if not using a scale to measure shake the flour over the cup and level to measure it
• white chocolate covered peanut butter cups

Method

• Set the butter in a heatproof bowl, then in the microwave and warm it for about 1 minute, until the butter is almost but not fully melted.
• Add the chocolate chips, stir slightly then return it to the microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir the mix until the chocolate is all melted and it’s smooth.
• Add the sugar and whisk very well, for a full minute. Add the sea salt, baking soda, vanilla and peanut butter then whisk very well for another minute.
• Crack in the egg and yolk, whisk well. Add the flour (if it’s lumpy shake it through a fine mesh sieve) and stir with a rubber spatula until dough is well combined.
• Set in the fridge, uncovered for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two greased cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough so you have 1.5-2 tablespoons of dough per cookie.
• Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges just begin to turn golden.
• Right when the cookies come out of the oven, press a peanut butter cup into the center - gently so as not to break the cookie, but enough to ensure it will adhere to the cookie.

Notes

Makes 12-18 cookies, depending on how big you scoop them (3 tablespoons of dough each will give you 12). 

 

In the photos you might note the cookies look different: one batch was made with a regular white chocolate peanut butter cup (Justin's), one was scooped smaller with the pink heart (these have the red bits of berry on them), and then there are the larger ones with the pink hearts. 

My personal favorite of the batches was the smaller ones scooped with a 1.5 tablespoon, you get a bit of pb cup in every bite and the cookies aren't too thick in the center. 

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