Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake - Handle the Heat
Filed Under: Cheesecake | Chocolate | Dessert

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

  |  
February 28th, 2014
4.84 from 6 votes
4.84 from 6 votes

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake is the ultimate form of chocolate peanut butter indulgence and tastes as impressive as it looks!

Yield: 16 to 20 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook: 1 hour

Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: Like a gigantic tangy amazing peanut butter cup. Just incredible.
Texture: The crust is buttery yet crunchy while the filling is lusciously smooth with bites of mini Reese’s cups. The chocolate ganache and pile of mini Reese’s on top just takes this cheesecake to a ridiculously awesome level.
Ease: There’s three elements to this cheesecake, each of which will dirty a few dishes. SO worth it, promise! I didn’t even both with a water bath for this recipe because it doesn’t matter if it cracks, you’re just going to dump a bunch of chocolate on top.
Appearance: This was seriously so fun to photograph, it’s gorgeous!
Pros: My new favorite cheesecake ever.
Cons: Not diet friendly, unfortunately.
Would I make this again? Absolutely yes for special occasions!

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Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

I am ridiculously excited to share today’s outrageously over the top recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake with you guys. It’s seriously incredible. Just look at it!! It’s like a piece of art, a very delicious crave-worthy piece of art. You are going to flip when you take your first bite of this, and your friends will die when you show up to the next party with this in your hands. There’s nothing I love more in the world than the combination of chocolate and peanut butter so this cheesecake is pure bliss for me.

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

What food is pure bliss for you?

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

4.84 from 6 votes

How to make
Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

Yield: 16 to 20 servings
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake is the ultimate form of chocolate peanut butter indulgence and tastes as impressive as it looks!

Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 30 (1-15.35 ounce package) Oreo cookies
  • 6 tablespoons butter, melted

For the cheesecake filling:

  • 32 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups lightly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 8 ounces Reese’s minis

For the topping:

  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 8 ounces Reese’s minis

Directions

For the crust:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. In the bowl of a food processor, process the cookies until they are finely ground crumbs. Add the butter and pulse until moistened. Press into the bottom and halfway up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

For the filling:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Add in the sugar, peanut butter, cream, and vanilla and beat until combined. Be careful not to overbeat. Stir in the Reese’s.
  2. Pour the batter into the cooled crust. Bake for about 1 hour, or until set and the top looks slightly dry. If the middle is slightly wobbly, that’s fine. Cool the cheesecake completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 4 hours. Release the cheesecake from the pan onto a cake stand or serving plate.

For the topping:

  1. Place the chocolate chips in a medium heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan heat the cream just until simmering. Pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 3 minutes before stirring until the mixture is melted and smooth. Pour over the cheesecake, allowing to drip down the sides. Sprinkle the Reese’s over the cheesecake. Serve or cover and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from The Foodie & The Family and Taste & Tell
Course : Dessert
Cuisine : American
Tessa Arias
Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Tessa Arias

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

Find Tessa on  

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Recipe Rating




  1. #
    Dawn — April 22, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    I knew by the picture that this was the recipe I wanted to use and fingers crossed it was going to turn out as pictured and sure enough the instructions were written well, the amounts of every ingredient was spot on.
    Served it to a party of eight, everyone loved it, and sent dessert home with guests and still had leftovers for the freezer for us. I changed the heavy cream to sour cream, and chose not to bake the crust, and for the reeses cups on top, I had only 4-ounces of miniature dark chocolate Reese’s that I cut them in half and it was just enough for me. This is a very rich cheesecake, and a keeper!

  2. #
    Ed — October 7, 2022 at 9:16 am

    what if you used M&M’s peanut butter instead of Reeses would it be ok?

    • #
      Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — October 7, 2022 at 11:09 am

      Hi Ed! The M&Ms might be best just on top for decoration, as the slow, long bake of a cheesecake might cause any M&Ms inside to leak their color and discolor the cheesecake strangely around each M&M. If you don’t mind that splotchy discoloration in your cheesecake slices, and just prefer the flavor of M&Ms over Reese’s, then go for it! Let us know what you think once you’ve given this a try! Happy baking 🙂

  3. #
    Brooklyn — June 13, 2020 at 4:39 pm

    Bake for an hour at what temp?

  4. #
    Clyde — February 1, 2020 at 3:54 pm

    I make a lot of cheesecakes that use Oreo cookies for the crust. I learned early on that baking the crust only and then baking the cheesecake makes the crust so hard it’s difficult to cut with a fork. I always bake my graham cracker crusts for 8-10 minutes at 350, but for my Oreo cookie crusts, I freeze them for 25-30 minutes. I add the batter to the frozen crust right out of the freezer, and immediately into the oven. Just a suggestion that has worked for me.

  5. #
    Jen — December 24, 2019 at 4:51 am

    I made this recipe last month and followed the directions. However, the cheesecake consistency was off. It was almost like pudding. Should i bake for a longer time next time i make it? Not sure what I’m doing wrong. On another note the flavors were delicious!

  6. #
    Tina — December 17, 2019 at 8:49 am

    For the filling, do you leave the Reese’s cups whole or cut in half?

  7. #
    Adam — December 15, 2019 at 1:32 pm

    Hi Tessa, I have cooked this recipe multiple times — it is now officially award-winning! Last week, I baked it and my daughter decorated it. My wife then brought it to her office and entered it in a very competitive holiday cooking competition at her workplace. And it won! Thank you for this fantastic cake!

    The version I make is really a combination of this and your ultimate cheesecake — I cook it in a water bath, with sour cream instead of heavy cream, and for the crust chocolate graham crackers instead of Oreos.

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