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Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies

These Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies are made with crunchy peanut butter and NutRageous candy bars for a cookie any peanut butter lover will appreciate. The small batch is perfect for satisfying a PB craving!

Plate of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies With NutRageous Pieces

There are many peanut butter cookie recipes in this world, from Classic Peanut Butter Cookies to 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies and No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, but there are two things that set this Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookie recipe apart from the rest.

First, there are chopped NutRageous candy bars added to the dough for extra peanut butter flavor. Peanut butter cookies are good, but peanut butter cookies that are flecked with candy bar pieces are even better.

Stack of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on plate

Next, this recipe makes a small batch because it’s adapted from Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos. The idea of this cookbook is just as you might suspect—baking in smaller batches. Sometimes you don’t want to have to worry about giving cookies to neighbors or freezing the leftovers; a batch of eight cookies is just the right amount.

Of course, once you give these a try, you might find that eight isn’t enough. Don’t worry—you can always double or triple the recipe!

Overhead view of ingredients for Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.

  • All-purpose flour – Learn more: How to Measure Flour
  • Baking soda
  • Light brown sugar – Learn more: Light Brown Sugar vs Dark Brown Sugar: What’s the Difference?
  • Unsalted butter – Let this soften so it’s easy to cream. Learn more: Unsalted or Salted Butter: Which is Better for Baking?
  • Egg
  • Vanilla extract – Store-bought or homemade vanilla extract.
  • Crunchy peanut butter – Crunchy peanut butter adds a nice, nutty texture to these Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies, but you can use creamy PB if you prefer.
  • Old-fashioned rolled oats – Old-fashioned oats also add texture to these cookies. Don’t substitute quick oats or steel-cut oats—they’re not the same.
  • Chocolate and peanut butter candy bar – The original recipe calls for NutRageous bars, but Take 5, Butterfinger, or even Reese’s peanut butter cups will work here.

What kind of peanut butter is good for baking?

Always use regular peanut butter for baking—the kind that’s shelf-stable and doesn’t require refrigeration or stirring before use. Natural peanut butter has different consistencies at different temperatures, and it also tends to be oilier at the top and dry at the bottom, which can affect how your cookies turn out.

Plate of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies

How to Make Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies

These Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies are quite easy to make; they don’t require anything special and you don’t even need to chill the dough!

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.

Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, oats, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Beat the wet ingredients. In a second mixing bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the brown sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla until combined. Once this mixture is smooth, beat in the peanut butter.

Finish the cookie dough. Add the flour mixture to the bowl with the wet ingredients, and mix just until combined; it’s okay if a few streaks of flour remain. Fold in the chopped candy bar.

Form the cookies. Drop the dough in 3-tablespoonful portions onto the prepared pan. Use a flat-bottomed glass dipped in sugar to flatten each cookie a bit.

Overhead view of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on baking sheet

Bake. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned.

Overhead view of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on cooling rack

Cool. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. (Learn more: Why Every Baker Needs Wire Cooling Racks)

Tips for Success

Read over my baking tips for beginners before you start, then use these simple pointers for perfect Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies:

  • Start with softened butter. Take it out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you plan on baking, or even longer if your kitchen is chilly. When the butter is soft, it’s easier to incorporate it into the rest of the ingredients. Just be careful not to let it come all the way to room temperature, or it won’t cream properly.
  • Beat the egg well. Because you’re not using a whole egg, you want to make sure you get a proportionate amount of egg yolk and white in the cookies. 
  • Give them room. These are big cookies, so place them a few inches apart on the baking sheets.
Stack of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on cooling rack

Variations to Try

Want to try something different with these Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies? Here are some ideas:

  • Add more candy bar. You can make these cookies even more decadent by using extra candy bar pieces. I recommend gently pushing them into the tops of the cookies when they’re fresh out of the oven; the heat will melt the candy bar a bit so they stick.
  • Or skip the candy bars. Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or the baking-size Reese’s peanut butter cups work. too.
  • Make them smaller. You can divvy up the batter into 1- or 2-tablespoon portions if you’d like to make a larger number of smaller cookies. Keep in mind that they’ll need less time in the oven.
Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on tabletop with spoonful of peanut butter

How to Store

Store Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.

Can This Recipe Be Frozen?

You can freeze baked Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies for up to 3 months in an airtight container, or freeze the unbaked dough for up to 2 months. The baked cookies can be thawed at room temperature or warmed up in the microwave, while the dough should be thawed in the refrigerator overnight.

Overhead view of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on plate

More Recipes for Peanut Butter Lovers

Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield 8 cookies
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

These peanut butter cookies are made with chopped NutRageous candy bars to take them to the next level!

Overhead view of Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies on cooling rack

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (60g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 teaspoons (20ml) well-beaten egg (less than 1 egg)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup (170g) crunchy peanut butter
  • 3 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 chocolate and peanut butter candy bar (about 2 ounces or 56g), chopped (such as Nutrageous, Reese's, Butterfinger, Take 5, etc.)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
  2. Whisk together the flour, oats, and baking soda. Set aside.
  3. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the brown sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla until combined. Mix in the peanut butter.
  4. Add the flour mixture, and mix just until combined or a few streaks of flour remain.
  5. Stir in the chopped candy bar.
  6. Drop the dough by 3-tablespoonful portions onto the prepared pan. Using a flat-bottomed glass dipped in sugar, flatten each cookie slightly.
  7. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
  8. Cool the cookies for about 5 minutes on the pan. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Recipe slightly adapted from Small Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos.

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    10 Comments on “Outrageous Peanut Butter Cookies”

  1. Sounds great! I love peanut butter cookies, I’ll have to give these a try.

  2. I agree, PB cookies are delightful!

  3. The cookies look wonderful! I love PB too! I should make a batch now 🙂

  4. More peanut butter and chocolate goodness! You’re making my drooling problem worse 😛

  5. Ok, nutrageous is my husband’s favorite candy bar, peanut butter is his favorite type of cookie, I think that maybe THIS is the cookie recipe I have been looking for! My husband is currently deployed and it takes about 2 weeks to ship anything to him. I’m looking for a cookie that can withstand being vacuum sealed without getting completely squished. What do you think?

  6. Nicole, I think these cookies would ship well. They’re more crunchy than chewy, so they shouldn’t crush easily. I hope he likes them!

  7. I have Small Batch Baking and absolutely love that recipe.

  8. Mmmm, love Nutrageous Bars. Will definitely make these this weekend. Maybe I should dig out my copy of Small Batch Baking? 😉

  9. Pingback: Mamie’s Peanut Butter Cookies | Cooking by the Seat of my Pants

  10. Jennifer, there are two size bars. 1.8 and 3.4. I’m guessing you mean the 1.8 size but you might want to clarify that in the recipe since sizes might change and people might only find the king size one as I did. In case you are curious I found them in a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Thanks!

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