Reese's cookie bars

I originally made this recipe to celebrate Halloween because I knew I had to make something with my all time favorite - Reese’s pumpkins! I used mini Reese’s pumpkins for this recipe, but you could easily swap in another type of chocolate candy, or use all chocolate chips instead. It’s the perfect recipe for leftover Halloween candy, but don’t worry you can use this recipe all year round. I'll continue to update the recipe as more holidays come around to make sure you have the best Reese's holiday swaps.

I based the cookie dough off of my Chewy vanilla sugar cookie recipe. It’s one of my favorites because the ingredients are simple, but the flavor and texture is everything you would want in a sugar cookie. It has just the right amount of vanilla flavor, and it’s crisp around the edges and extremely chewy on the inside. In bar form you can expect a very similar texture and it pairs incredibly well with the added peanut butter and chocolate!

For these bars, I used a mixture of milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and chopped mini Reese’s pumpkins. You could easily swap in all chocolate by doubling the amount of chocolate chips called for in the recipe, or doing all Reese’s of course! The peanut butter filling melts a bit into the dough (in the best way). I chose to do a mix of peanut butter cups and chocolate chips because you really do get peanut butter in every bite, but I love getting the bites of milk chocolate too.

If you wanted to swap in a different type of chocolate candy, or even a different type of Reese’s (minis, pieces, full size cups) I provide the weight of chocolate that I used so you can easily swap in a similar amount. I also share the carb info for the dough only so that you can add in the carb info for a different candy or chocolate if you make a change. For the mini Reese’s pumpkins, I put mine in the fridge to firm them up a bit and then I chopped them, but not too small so that you still have some chunks in the dough.

I used a stand mixer for this recipe, but a hand mixer would work as well. I do recommend using a mixer if you have one available to you, but you could certainly do this by hand, especially if your butter is truly at room temperature and soft to the touch.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup, 12 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature 170g

• 1 cup granulated sugar 192g

• 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk

• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour 210g

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 oz (1/3 cup) milk chocolate chips

• 2 oz (1/3 cup) peanut butter chips

• 6 mini Reese’s pumpkins* 3.7 oz, 106 grams

*You can swap in 6 mini Reese's Christmas trees. The instructions and carb info will remain the same!

Total time: 2 hours including chill time

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Bake time: 24-27 minutes

Quantity: 16 bars

Cooking instructions:

I recommend placing your Reese’s into the fridge to firm up. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Place your room temperature butter and granulated sugar into your stand mixer with the paddle attachment secured. Note: if your butter is not at room temperature already, you can either place it first into the microwave for 5-10 seconds, or mix your stand mixer at a low speed for 30-60 seconds until your butter is softened.

Bring your stand mixer slowly from a low to high speed and allow it to combine the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes, pausing halfway through to scrape down the sides of your bowl and paddle attachment to ensure that no pockets of butter and sugar go unmixed.

Next, pour in your egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract to your butter and sugar. Slowly bring your stand mixer back to a high speed and allow it to combine your mixture for 2-3 minutes.

Slowly reduce the speed again, scrape down the sides of your mixture and paddle attachment. Add in your dry ingredients, flour, baking soda and powder, and salt, and start your mixer at a slow speed. Bring it up to a medium speed, mixing until just incorporated. If needed, you can pause, scrape down, and mix again or finish combining with a spatula, but be sure not to over mix at this stage.

Remove your Reese’s from the fridge and chop them up into bite sized pieces. Be sure not to make them too small as they’ll break up a bit when they’re mixed into the dough. You can also reserve some of your Reese’s and chips to top your bars with.

Add your chopped Reese’s pumpkins, peanut butter chips, and milk chocolate chips into your mixer. Turn your mixer on at a low speed for 10-15 seconds at a time. You can also finish this by hand, being sure to scoop down to the bottom of your bowl. This will also help to avoid your chocolate peanut butter chunks from getting too small.

Line a 9x9 square pan (an 8x8 will work too, you just may need to increase the bake time a bit) with parchment paper. Scoop in your sugar cookie dough and spread using a flat tool or your hands to make sure the surface is fairly even.

Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 24-27 minutes. The top should be lightly golden when done.

Remove your bars and allow them to cool before slicing - I typically wait at least an hour, though you can speed this up a bit by placing them in the fridge or freezer. I like to cut my bars into 16 squares, but you can cut yours into any shape you’d like! Enjoy while warm or store in an airtight container in the fridge once fully cooled and they’ll remain fresh for at least 5 days.

You can always pop them into the microwave if you’re looking for the melty chocolate, or you can even store your bars in the freezer and defrost in the fridge or at room temperature to enjoy at another time.

Carb and serving info:

Servings: 16 bars

Carbs per serving: 32

Carbs for full recipe: 506

Carbs for dough only (no chocolate chips or Reese’s): 371

Carbs from chocolate chips: 55

Carbs from peanut butter chips: 42

Carbs from Reese’s: 36

Note: Carb information is calculated based on the specific ingredients I used to cook with to help guide my own insulin to carb ratio when dosing before I eat my home cooked recipes.