About This Recipe
These Peanut Butter Pie Cookies are inspired by Crumbl and are the ultimate treat for peanut butter lovers! Soft, thick cookies packed with rich, real roasted peanut flavor and filled with a silky peanut butter mousse that melts in your mouth. Also inspired by classic peanut butter pie, each cookie combines the comfort of a bakery-style cookie with that extra special creaminess that we love in PB pie. The mousse is light and fluffy, made with real cream, natural peanut butter, and a hint of vanilla for an irresistible, sweet-salty balance. These cookies are an absolute MUST BAKE for summer parties are BBQ’s! I personally enjoy my cookies cold, straight from the fridge, but you do you!
Key Ingredients
Natural peanut butter — The star of these cookies. I recommend using a creamy natural peanut butter for the best texture and flavor in both the cookie and mousse. It brings a deep, roasted peanut taste and keeps the cookies rich, soft and not overly sweet.
Butter — Adds structure, richness, and that classic bakery-style cookie texture. When creamed with the sugars, it helps create a soft, tender crumb.
Brown sugar & granulated sugar — A combination of both sugars gives the cookies the perfect balance of chewiness and structure. Brown sugar adds moisture and caramel notes, while granulated sugar helps with spread and crisp edges.
Vanilla extract — A small but essential ingredient that rounds out the peanut butter flavor and enhances the overall sweetness of the cookie base.
Heavy whipping cream — This does double duty in these peanut butter pie cookies. First, it is whipped to stiff peaks and folded into the peanut butter and cream cheese mixture to create a light, airy peanut butter mousse filling. This is what gives the cookies their creamy, almost no-bake pie texture. It is also used in the chocolate ganache, where it transforms melted chocolate into a smooth, rich, and glossy topping that sets beautifully over the filling.
Cream cheese — Forms the creamy, tangy base of the filling and helps stabilize the texture of the pie cookies. It adds structure while keeping the filling smooth, rich, and slightly cheesecake-like, balancing the sweetness of the peanut butter and sugars.
Salt — A small amount of salt is essential in both the cookie dough and filling. It sharpens the peanut butter flavor, balances the sweetness from the sugars and condensed elements, and enhances the overall depth of flavor in every bite.
FAQ’s
Helpful tips
Here are some important Pro tips by Maude
- When measuring your flour, if you are not using a baking scale, be sure not to scoop your measuring cup into the flour (that is too much flour!) You want to spoon your flour into your measuring cup (spoonful by spoonful) until the cup is full. Then use a knife to scrape off the top, excess flour. This tip will ensure that you are not using too much flour in your recipes.
- Chilling cookie dough is a sure way to improve the flavor of your cookies! The chilling process allows the flour to moisten and the sugars and butter to get acquainted… which gives so much flavor to your cookies! It is heavenly! Try not to skip this step!
- Try to use room temperature ingredients. Bring your butter, cream cheese (for the mousse) and egg to room temp before mixing. This ensures a smooth even dough/mousse and helps everything blend properly.
- Don’t overmix the dough. Overmixing can make your cookies tough. Mix just until the flour disappears—especially after adding dry ingredients.
More Recipes!
Here are some more cookie recipes you might enjoy!
Pistachio Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
Crumbl Copycat Cornbread Cookies
If you try this recipe, I would love your feedback! Please leave a star rating, a comment below or on the reel in Instagram! Also please share what you made and tag @eatmaudes !! Thank you so much for stopping by and making yumminess with me!
Peanut Butter Pie Cookies
Servings
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Equipment
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, well-stirred (125 g)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (57 g)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (100 g)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 g)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (2.5 mL)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda (2 g)
- 1/8 tsp salt (about 1 g)
- 2/3 cup + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour (116 g)
Peanut Butter Mousse Filling
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, cold (180 ml)
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, well-stirred (125 g)
- 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened (56 g)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar (40 g)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (2.5 mL)
- Pinch of salt
- Broken peanut butter cups (for the topping)
Chocolate Ganache
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (60 mL)
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (about 45 g)
- 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (7 g)
Instructions
Enable Step-by-Step Mode- To begin, line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or a silicone baking mat works).
- In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, unsalted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy (1–2 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until fully combined. Add baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix just until the flour disappears—do not overmix.
- Now we want to divide the dough into 12 smaller cookies or 6 large cookies. To achieve uniform cookies, I would recommend weighing your dough. It should weigh approximately 500 - 520g (depending on the types of ingredients and how they were measured). Divide into 12 equal portions (approx 42 g per cookie). For 6 larger cookies (approx 84 g per cookie).
- Roll each portion into a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 4 inches apart. Gently press the center of each dough ball with the back of a tablespoon (or 1/4 cup measuring cup if making bigger cookies) to create craters for the mousse.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C degrees. Bake for 9–11 minutes, or until the edges are just starting to turn golden. If baking larger cookies, bake time will be about 11-14 minutes. The centers will look slightly underbaked—this is good. Once you remove the cookies from the oven, you will need to go back with a tbsp or measuring cup and gently press down the crater in each cookie again (be sure to do this while the cookies are still warm). Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies cool work on the peanut butter mousse! In a medium bowl, whip the cold heavy cream using a hand mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form. Set to the side.
- In a separate bowl, beat the peanut butter, softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt until everything is combined. Note: because we are using natural peanut butter, the mixture will not be very runny, this is ok and expected.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter cream cheese mix. Fold until everything is homogenous. Note: This could take a few minutes so be patient and gentle as you fold. The mixture will eventually blend and become silky smooth. Cover and chill the mousse for at least 1 hour before spooning onto the peanut butter cookies.
- For the chocolate ganache, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to simmer (do not let it boil). Remove the saucepan from heat and pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and butter in a heatproof bowl. Let the mixture sit for 1–2 minutes to soften the chocolate, then stir gently until smooth and glossy. Allow the ganache to cool while you prepare your cookies.
- When ready to assemble your cookies, divide the peanut butter mousse among the cooled cookies. I use a small ice cream scoop to evenly distribute the mousse. A spoon or piping bag works just fine. Drizzle the chocolate ganache and top with the broken peanut butter cups.
How can I print the recipes?
They all look so delicious.
You really need to add a “print recipe” option on here.
Thanks for the feedback! I am working on that feature! Hope to have it soon!
I made these today, and tried to post a pic but it’s too big to post here, they turned out great! Excellent recipe, and I especially love that you include weights for ingredients!
Hi Justin, thank you for your feedback and for trying this recipe! This one is so near and dear to me and my pb loving heart! Im so glad you enjoyed and I’m glad the measurements/weight is helpful! 😀
hi! if i want the peanut butter mousse to be less sweet, could i substitute some of the powdered sugar with flour?
Hi Ale,
Great question! You can absolutely make the mousse less sweet by simply reducing the powdered sugar. I wouldn’t recommend adding flour, as that will change the texture and could make the mousse dense or pasty. I’d start with 2 tablespoons (about 15–16 g) of powdered sugar instead of the 1/3 cup… taste, and add a little more if desired. You can adjust the sweetness to your preference without needing to add anything in its place! I hope this helps! Cheers! maude