This Gideon’s Bakehouse Copycat Recipe for Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies is a dense, fudge-like, overindulgent treat! Peanut butter cookies made from scratch with ground espresso are rolled in crushed Reese’s Pieces, chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups, and ground espresso!
And I promise, I won’t judge you for enjoying one for breakfast; it does have caffeine in it, after all. 😜
Gideon’s Bakehouse Cookies At Home!
This copycat recipe for Gideon’s Bakehouse Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies is everything you didn’t know you needed! Unless, of course, you’ve visited their Disney Springs location or their original home at East End Market, and then you KNOW this copycat recipe is absolutely needed.
These Peanut Butter Espresso Cookies were originally born in Gideon’s Bakehouse as the cookie form of their Peanut Butter Nitro Cold Brew Coffee. But then they claim to have gotten out of control in creating the cookie, which resulted in an indulgent peanut butter candy-coated cookie!
Sadly, these cookies were a new limited edition treat that was only available in August. And let’s be honest, that means this cookie was off-limits to most of us, but thanks to my easy-to-make copycat recipe, you can re-create this social media-worthy treat in your own kitchen anytime you want! And without the long lines!
Better than Gideon’s! I’ve been wanting to try to make these ever since they first came out at Gideon’s. My favorite cookie! Now I’m in trouble, as I no longer have to wait all year for their release! I did make a few very slight tweaks to the recipe but nothing major. I also halfed the recipe and made 6 Gideon’s sized cookies. They came out perfect!
An Instant Favorite!
This cookie recipe quickly became one of my favorites! The sweet peanut butter, the butter coffee, and the flaky salt *chef’s kiss 💋 – it’s truly an amazing combination! The best part is they are way easier to make than they look! However, if you really don’t like coffee, I would recommend making my regular Bakery Style Peanut Butter Cookie recipe instead.
Ingredients For Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies
- Salted Butter
- Peanut Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar
- Ground Espresso (this is the coffee I use)
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Large Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cornstarch
- Reese’s Pieces
- Reese’s Miniatures Peanut Butter Cups
- Ground Espresso
- Flaky Sea Salt
Though these are bakery copycat cookies, the majority of the ingredients are likely ones you already have on hand. Making it easy to whip up this treat when your sweet tooth needs to be pleased without planning a trip to Florida for Walt Disney World.
When making the peanut butter cookie dough, it’s important to use creamy peanut butter such as JIF. Since all-natural peanut butter has a runnier consistency, it would alter the structure and final result of these cookies.
Another ingredient to pay close attention to is ground espresso! This is because it can get easily confused among espresso powder and even espresso baking powder.
What’s The Difference Between Ground Espresso And Espresso Powder?
A stand-out ingredient that pushes these cookies over the top is ground espresso! Now, there IS a difference between ground espresso and espresso powder, so it’s important to use the correct ingredient in this recipe as their flavors are not the same.
Ground espresso is slightly coarser than espresso powder, which has a very fine powder-like consistency. Flavor-wise, ground espresso has a deeper, full-bodied flavor that’s slightly smoky, whereas espresso powder is weaker.
You can usually get your coffee ground for espresso at Starbucks or other coffee shops!
Peanut Butter Espresso Cookies Substitutions & Variations
- Salted Butter – Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted butter. To do so, an additional 1/2 teaspoon of salt will need to be added to the cookie dough recipe.
- Salt – If you’re using salt or kosher salt, then increase the amount to 1 teaspoon.
- Ground Espresso – Ground coffee can be used instead of ground espresso if you’re in a pinch.
- Crushed/Chopped Candy – Crushing the Reese’s Pieces and chopping the peanut butter cups by hand will give these cookies their signature Gideon’s look. However, you can leave the Reese’s Pieces whole and pop the peanut butter cups in the processor if you prefer. If you choose to leave the Reese’s Pieces whole, you will need to ensure that you press them into the dough well so that they stick firmly to the cookie dough!
- Cookie Sizes – Decide between large cookies or smaller cookies! For large cookies, use 4 ounces of cookie dough per cookie, and for smaller cookies, aim for 2.4 ounces of dough. If you opt for smaller cookies, keep a close eye on them as they bake since they bake up more quickly than the larger cookies that the recipe instructions are written for.
How To Make Gideon’s Bakehouse Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies
Step 1: Cream the salted butter, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, peanut butter, ground espresso, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl or stand mixer that’s fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream until the mixture becomes light in color and smooth in appearance, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Step 2: Beat in one egg at a time, mixing after each addition. Then, pour in the vanilla extract and mix, again scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Step 3: Add in the cornstarch and then the all-purpose flour a little to a time, mixing after each addition just until the flour is mostly incorporated into the dough.
Step 4: Pulse the Reese’s Pieces in a food processor to crush the candy pieces. This will give the cookies their signature look!
Step 5: Chop up the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
Step 6: Combine the chopped Reese’s Pieces, peanut butter cups, and ground espresso in a bowl and mix this cookie-coating mixture together.
Step 7: Portion out the cookie dough and roll each ball of dough in the coating mixture. If desired, you can leave an uncoated, small space on the bottom of the cookie for easier baking.
Step 8: Transfer the coated cookie dough balls to baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 4 inches apart. Sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt.
Step 9: Bake one pan of cookies at a time. Afterward, allow them to cool on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Tips For Making The Best Copycat Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies
- Ground Espresso – It’s important to use ground espresso, not instant espresso or espresso baking powder, since the three are all very different. Though regular ground coffee can be substituted in a pinch, I highly recommend using ground espresso, as the recipe calls for. This will achieve the best Gideon’s Bakehouse copycat cookies!
- Measure By Grams – This recipe can be made by measuring cups or by weighing out ingredients using a kitchen scale. While both methods work, measuring ingredients by gram will yield the most accurate cookie. If you choose to use measuring cups, I recommend learning the 2-minute kitchen hack on correctly measuring flour. This way, the cookies don’t turn out dry and crumbly from accidentally adding too much flour.
- Mixing The Dough – It’s possible that some flour will settle to the bottom of the bowl when mixing. Therefore, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and work the flour in with your hands or a rubber spatula. This will prevent the dough from becoming over-mixed, which could result in the cookies falling flat during the baking process.
- Signature Candy Look – To achieve the signature look of a Gideon’s Bakehouse Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookie, be sure to pulse the Reese’s Pieces and chop the Reese’s peanut butter cups by hand!
- Baking Time – Since these cookies have a candy coating, it’s important to keep a watchful eye when baking them. The cookies should be removed from the oven when the center of the cookies still feels a bit soft when gently pressed.
How To Store Gideon’s Bakehouse Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies
Store cookies in an airtight container, using parchment paper to separate the layers if necessary. Keep the container of homemade cookies at room temperature to enjoy within 3 to 4 days.
You can also freeze this cookie dough for later! This will allow you to enjoy one or two freshly baked cookies at a time without creating a mess in the kitchen first!
To do so, place the candy-coated dough onto a baking pan and flash freeze it. This will freeze the cookies individually to prevent the dough from becoming one big frozen ball in a bag.
After the cookie dough balls are frozen, transfer them into a Ziploc bag with the excess air squeezed out of it. Store the frozen cookie dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies FAQs
Gideon’s Bakehouse cookies are oversized iconic treats that are made from scratch, with each cookie usually weighing in at almost half a pound! Their over-the-top appearance, indulgent flavors, and texture make them a splurge-worthy dessert.
Gideon’s cookies are known for being BIG, usually around 8 ounces! However, we went with a slightly smaller version by portioning out the dough to 4-ounce cookies and then weighing out to about 6 ounces once the topping was added. However, you can also make these in a smaller 2-ounce size for everyday enjoyment!
If you don’t have a food processor, they can be crushed in a blender instead. You can also toss them in a Ziploc bag with the excess air squeezed out of it and crushing them with a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat tenderizer.
More Bakery Style Cookies
- Peppermint Mocha Cookies
- Molten Lava Cookies (Crumbl Copycat)
- Kitchen Sink Cookies
- Compost Cookies (Milk Bar Copycat)
Let’s Connect!
If you’ve tried this recipe, please let me know how you liked it in the comments below and leave a review. I love hearing from you!
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Peanut Butter Cold Brew Cookies (Gideon’s Bakehouse Copycat Recipe)
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup salted butter 226g, very soft
- 1⅓ cup peanut butter 340g
- 1 cup granulated sugar 198g
- 1 cup light brown sugar 215g, packed
- ½ cup ground espresso 35g, spooned and leveled, see notes
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt see notes
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3⅓ cups all-purpose flour 422g, spooned and leveled
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch 10g
Coating
- 1 (9.9oz) bag Reese's pieces 280g
- 50 Reese's Miniatures peanut butter cups 434g, chopped
- 1½ teaspoons ground espresso
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitter with a paddle attachment, cream together 1 cup salted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1⅓ cup peanut butter, ½ cup ground espresso, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt until smooth and light in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in 2 large eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition, then mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add 1 tablespoon cornstarch to the dough, then add the 3⅓ cups all-purpose flour a little at a time, mixing after each addition just until the flour is mostly incorporated into the dough. Mix the final part of flour in until completely incorporated. If flour is settling at the bottom of the bowl, DO NOT keep mixing in the mixer. Remove the bowl and work the flour in with your hands or a rubber spatula so you don't overmix the dough. Set aside.
- Add 1 (9.9oz) bag Reese's piecesto a food processor and pulse for about 15 to 20 seconds; this helps crush the pieces a bit to give them the signature look of these cookies. You can leave them whole, but they can have a hard time sticking to the outside of the dough, so press them in well.
- Chop up the 50 Reese's Miniatures peanut butter cups. I think that doing it by hand gives them a look closer to the Gideon's cookies, but you can also pop them in the food processor (after you've already done the Reese's Pieces) and give them a quick chop that way.
- Add the chopped Reese's Pieces and peanut butter cups to a medium bowl with 1½ teaspoons ground espresso and mix together with your hands or a rubber spatula. This will help give the coating that signature Gideon's look where the peanut butter cup pieces are like little rounded globs/balls.
- Use a #10 cookie scoop or 4 ounces of dough, and roll the dough in the coating mixture; I usually leave a small space uncoated to use as the bottom. You'll need to use your hands to help press the mixture into the dough and reshape as needed. The coating should take these cookies from about 4 ounces to 5.5-6 ounces. You can also make these as 2-ounce cookies, which are perfect for everyday enjoyment, or you can go true Gideon's Bakehouse style and make 6-ounce balls of dough then roll them (their cookies are about a ½ pound each).
- Place the cookies about 4 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Bake for 14 to 16 minutes. It can be hard to see the cookie itself because of all the toppings to check for doneness, but the cookie should still feel a bit soft when gently pressed in the center.
- Allow 4-ounce cookies to cool on the pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Allow 2-ounce cookies to cool for 5 to 7 minutes before transferring. If making 6-ounce cookies, you'll need 18 to 20 minutes.
Video
Notes
- If using sea or kosher salt, use 1 teaspoon.
- Ground espresso in this recipe is really ground espresso beans, NOT instant espresso or espresso baking powder. These are all different and provide very different levels of flavor. You are looking for a finely ground espresso roast (regular coffee could be used in a pinch). I use a Burr Coffee Grinder and usually ground between 6 and 7. You can also usually get your coffee ground for espresso at Starbucks or other coffee shops.
- These cookies are dense and fudge-like as opposed to soft and chewy.
- Nutritional information is an estimate per cookie, each cookie is two servings.
- Can I Use All-Natural Peanut Butter In This Recipe? Since all-natural peanut butter has a runnier consistency, it would alter the structure of these cookies. For this recipe, a creamy peanut butter such as JIF works best.
- Instead Of Baking Big Cookies, Can I Make Smaller Cookies? Of course! Instead of using 4 ounces of dough per cookie, you can decrease it to 2 or 2.5 ounces for smaller cookies. Just be sure to keep a close eye while baking since they’ll bake quicker than big cookies!
- Storage Instructions: Place the cookies into an airtight container and store them at room temperature to enjoy for 3 to 4 days.
- How To Freeze The Cookie Dough For Later: Portion it onto the pan and then flash-freeze it on the baking sheet. This allows the dough balls to freeze individually, preventing the dough from becoming one big frozen ball in a bag. Once frozen, place the dough balls into a Ziploc bag and squeeze out the excess air. Then, transfer the bag of frozen dough balls into the freezer and store them for up to 3 months. Now, you can enjoy one or two freshly baked cookies at a time without causing a mess in the kitchen first!
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Jen says
Better than Gideon’s! I’ve been wanting to try to make these ever since they first came out at Gideon’s. My favorite cookie! Now I’m in trouble, as I no longer have to wait all year for their release! I did make a few very slight tweaks to the recipe but nothing major. I also halfed the recipe and made 6 Gideon’s sized cookies. They came out perfect!
Alicia says
We felt like this was a plop of baked peanut butter no chew… Not a fan
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Alicia, sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe. These cookies are dense fudge-like cookies in texture and are not intended to be chewy.
Krista says
Delicious! Not as overly rich as original Gideon cookies.
Julianna Hanscom says
This is an impressive looking cookie! Tasted really good (and rich!). But did tend to break apart very easily even when baking (spilt) – happened less when I made the second batch of cookies smaller.