13 Classic Peanut Butter Desserts, Ranked Worst To Best

Peanut butter — it's delicious on its own, blended into smoothies, dolloped onto a bowl of oatmeal, and, most importantly of all, incorporated into desserts. There are quite a few classic peanut butter desserts out there, some of them refreshingly simple, like peanut butter fudge, and others a bit more complex, like peanut butter cheesecake or pie. Another perk of peanut butter desserts, aside from being delicious all on their own, is that the flavor profile works well with other dessert favorites like chocolate, caramel, or even fruity flavors like strawberry.

Much like any specifically-flavored dessert, not all peanut butter desserts are created equal. Some desserts are undeniably delicious, perfectly encapsulating the rich, nutty flavor of peanut butter in a dish that transcends other desserts, not just peanut butter ones. Other PB desserts fall short — they're classics, perhaps beloved regionally or because they're easy to make, but they aren't actually all that inspiring or delicious.

Controversial as it may be, I've ranked some of the most popular and classic peanut butter desserts out there from worst to best. My ranking relies heavily on personal experience with the desserts, so flavor is an important factor, but I also consider which desserts particularly wow, impress, or utilize peanut butter particularly well. Lower-ranked desserts fall short on the grounds of being a little too plain, a little too boring, or for simply paling in comparison to other options.

Peanut butter haystacks — simple cookies that typically utilize chow mein noodles to get that "haystack" appearance — really love a lot to be desired in the world of peanut butter desserts. Let's start with the few positives that haystacks offer; the cookies are crunchy, peanut buttery, and, if you're lucky, coated in chocolate for a little extra goodness. But otherwise, these cookies are incredibly lackluster, because of all the bases that you could use for cookies, who decided that noodles were necessary or a good idea?

I'm sure there are plenty of peanut butter haystack enthusiasts and defenders out there, but I'm not one of them. For the record, I like all of the ingredients that typically go into the cookies, even the noodles and optional addition of butterscotch chips, but everything about the cookie as a whole feels forced and not all that tasty. I can appreciate a cookie that offers up some textural goodness, but the crunchy noodles almost take away from the fact that these cookies are supposed to taste like peanut butter in the first place. In any good peanut butter dessert, the PB should be what really shines, and I just don't think that haystacks accomplish such a feat.

While peanut butter desserts may conjure up images of homemade goodies, there are a few store-bought confections that have paved the way for PB desserts, for better or for worse. One of the "for worse" options is none other than Nutter Butter cookies, those peanut butter sandwich cookies found near the Chips Ahoy! and Oreos, aptly shaped like peanuts in case the peanut butter nature of the dessert wasn't clear. These cookies may appeal to kids who have no clue what an actually delicious peanut butter dessert tastes like, but to the rest of the world, these cookies just aren't worth the time of day.

The biggest issue with Nutter Butters is that peanut butter filling, which tastes like peanut butter but has an extremely strange texture that just doesn't work. Another major flaw of these cookies is that they're a bit too one-dimensional; obviously, we all want a peanut butter dessert to taste like peanut butter, but ideally there's something else to contrast a little bit. They may be convenient, but there is simply no reason I'd choose a Nutter Butter cookie if another peanut butter dessert was readily available.

Many people associate fudge exclusively with chocolate, and chocolate is a very common ingredient in the dessert, but the only truly required ingredients are butter, milk, and sugar. So, fudge recipes can feature staple flavors other than chocolate, and one such popular flavor is none other than peanut butter. Some recipes might include both chocolate and peanut butter, like this old-fashioned peanut butter fudge recipe that throws white chocolate into the mix. The result is a chewy little dessert bar that isn't bad by any means, but it's mostly forgettable in the grander scheme of peanut butter desserts.

My biggest issue with peanut butter fudge is that it's just not exciting enough to rank higher in the world of peanut butter desserts, but I have to acknowledge that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the treat. It's a good option for those looking for simple recipes, but at the end of the day, who's getting excited when they show up to a gathering and peanut butter fudge is the dessert of choice? I certainly wouldn't be excited, and if anything, I'd be pretty disappointed that, of all the PB dessert possibilities, we're stuck with fudge.

Perhaps the most well-known or quintessential peanut butter dessert out there, peanut butter cookies — those ones that are super crispy with a cross-hatch design embedded on top — are just okay. I understand that this is a controversial take, but peanut butter cookies have never stuck out as anything to write home about or even bother making as a dessert, unless someone specifically requests them. These plain cookies would benefit from some sort of ingredient addition to make things more exciting, like peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, or a peanut butter drizzle on top, but the classic and most well-known variation of the cookie is pretty bare-bones, often just consisting of PB and baking basics like flour, sugar, and eggs.

While you can make peanut butter cookies chewier depending on preference, the ones that I'm most familiar with are super crispy, almost bordering crunchy, which really makes them stand apart from other cookie types like chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, or sugar. That crunchy texture just isn't enough to make them a particularly desirable cookie, in my opinion, and if I were to approach a cookie platter with a wide assortment of options, a peanut butter cookie is just about the last one I'd reach for.

As someone who has always been partial to Rice Krispie treats, I can't help but hold a certain love and appreciation for scotcharoos. Very similar to Rice Krispie treats, scotcharoos feature a comparable cereal bar base, but with peanut butter in the mix, and often with a nice layer of chocolate on top for added goodness. The result is essentially an elevated Rice Krispie treat, one that has that super sticky, crunchy texture, but with peanut butter for a little added flavor complexity.

Now, I will assent that scotcharoos aren't nearly as delicious as they could be without that chocolate layer on top, which is a big reason why they don't rank higher on this list. A truly delicious peanut butter dessert should stand on its own in terms of peanut butter flavor, and scotcharoos do to an extent, but the contrasting chocolate coating really takes them to the next level. I appreciate that these little treats are easy to make and have a lot of textural complexity going on, but ultimately, an elevated Rice Krispie treat can only rank so high when compared to other peanut butter desserts.

Puppy chow — muddy munch, muddy buddies, reindeer chow, whatever you call it — has always struck me as the dessert that shouldn't work yet does. The base of the dessert is Chex mix or some comparably lackluster cereal, and the additions are pretty simple, often just peanut butter, chocolate, and a coating of powdered sugar on the outside. Despite seeming uninspiring on the surface, and perhaps not looking like the best dessert based on appearance alone, puppy chow is actually pretty tasty for what it's worth.

Something particularly alluring about puppy chow is the way the flavors are layered. There's the crunchy and neutral Chex cereal, which gets coated in a melted mixture of peanut butter and chocolate, then tossed with powdered sugar for a super-sweet final coating. Each bite provides notes of nutty goodness and chocolate, and the powdered sugar on the outside really elevates the whole thing, adding an irresistible sweetness along with a soft, velvety texture. I would argue that puppy chow breaks a certain point in this list where we're getting into objectively delicious desserts; naturally, it can only rank so high because it is, after all, just cereal coated in peanut butter and chocolate. But it is tasty, it's simple, and it's pleasing to both kids and adults alike.

Though cheesecake might not be the quickest dessert to whip up, and it does require a certain amount of finesse to avoid any cracks, it is ultimately a very simple, classic dessert. Plain cheesecake relies entirely on the rich, luscious flavor of cream cheese to make it such a standout dessert, and despite its simplicity, it has become one of the most beloved desserts out there. Now, things get really interesting when you add flavors to the mix, and with cheesecake, the options become practically endless: chocolate, raspberry, Oreo, eggnog, strawberry, cherry, and of course, peanut butter.

I can't say that I've had an exceptionally large amount of peanut butter cheesecake in my life, as it's not exactly the most popular flavor variation out there, but the slices I have enjoyed left a lingering impression. The rich, nutty flavor of peanut butter contrasts so well with the naturally sweet and subtly tart flavor of cheesecake, and any toppings of choice. My only issue with peanut butter cheesecake is that it doesn't necessarily have an incredibly strong PB flavor. Of course those nutty undertones are there, but you never forget that, first and foremost, you're eating a cream cheese-flavored dessert with notes of peanut butter, not the other way around.

How can such a deceptively simple little cookie end up packing so much flavor and goodness? That's what I ask myself every time I enjoy a peanut butter blossom, the little peanut butter cookies that feature a Hershey's kiss pressed right into the middle. These cookies shouldn't be as good as they are, there's no real reason that they're as good as they are, and yet, they're simply delicious and really pack in a peanut buttery bite.

Unlike classic peanut butter cookies, blossoms have a thicker cookie base, meaning that the cookie itself is melt-in-your-mouth soft. The Hershey's kiss almost just seems like a mindless garnish, something to elevate a plain cookie, but it really pulls its weight in adding just the right chocolatey contrast. Ultimately, peanut butter blossoms pack loads of PB flavor, they're soft on the inside with a subtle sugar crunch on the outside, and it's all too easy to come across a platter of these cookies and say you'll just have one... only to find yourself five blossoms deep merely a few minutes later.

You know those days of waiting in the checkout lane at the grocery store and, every once in a blue moon, your parent would let you pick out a candy bar? Well, if you weren't choosing a Reese's peanut butter cup, what were you thinking? Sure, there are other tasty candy bars out there, but Reese's manage to transcend any and all logical goodness that a mere processed candy bar should encompass. These little treats are truly something else, and in the world of peanut butter desserts — even considering those that are homemade, intricate, and super involved — the humble peanut butter cup ranks pretty high.

A shining beacon of the Reese's PB cup is that the texture of the peanut butter filling is just right. It's not just straight up peanut butter in there, but rather a thicker blend that's somewhat grainy (something us crunchy peanut butter lovers are a fan of, we'll take texture where we can it) encompassed by that iconic chocolate shell. Many variations of Reese's have come along over the years — Thins, Big Cups, caramel-stuffed — but a classic Reese's cup is an excellent dessert, and one that's both easy to find and cheap to buy.

Though they may seem like an unsuspecting dessert, peanut butter bars pack an almost impossible amount of goodness into one single square, and that reason alone is enough to value the dessert highly. The dense, rich dessert bars feature loads of peanut butter at the base, naturally, and often come topped off with a chocolate crust. The result is a bar that tastes as good as it looks, and one that melts in your mouth with the perfect balance of peanut butter-chocolate richness.

An added perk to peanut butter bars is that the base encompasses more than just mere peanut butter (though that is the star flavor profile of course). In our salted peanut butter bars recipe, crushed graham crackers add a layer of slightly crispy dimension to the otherwise chewy base, helping these little treats actually take bar form instead of loose liquid form. Chewy, melt-in-your-mouth, rich, decadent, balanced, delicious — there are so many praising words that you could tack onto peanut butter bars, and they're all correct.

Are they cookies, are they candy, or something else entirely? Maybe buckeyes are a treat all their own, and maybe we're just fine with that distinction. The chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, a Midwestern and more specifically Ohioan classic, are not to be discounted or discredited despite their simple appearance. These big ol' balls of peanut butter mean business, and any lover of chocolate and peanut butter together has simply met their match with buckeyes.

In a way, buckeyes are sort of like Reese's peanut butter cups, but a little more rustic and homemade and therefore a little tastier. The peanut butter base can vary, but it typically just features peanut butter, plain butter, and powdered sugar, a winning trio of impossibly rich and sweet ingredients that make for a decadent bite each and every time. The chocolate shell on the outside is somehow the less-rich factor of the cookie, adding that wonderfully chocolatey contrast that we all know and love. Simple as they may be, buckeyes are an absolute staple in the peanut butter dessert world. Best of all? Buckeyes don't require any baking.

Never did I think classic brownies could get more delicious than they already are by nature, but one bite of a peanut butter brownie had me a convert for life. Now, I recognize that ranking peanut butter brownies so high is a bit controversial; it's a chocolate-based dessert through and through, with peanut butter being a clear addition as opposed to a main flavor. But there's just something about peanut butter brownies that works so well, and I'm sure anyone who has had the pleasure of trying one would agree.

The best part of eating a PB brownie is getting a bite that has a giant glob of peanut butter. Combined with the dense chocolatey bite of the brownie itself, it's like peanut butter and chocolate combined to have the most beautiful, rich, luxurious dessert baby known to the pastry world. There are a few different ways one could go about incorporating peanut butter into brownies, but the best way is to prepare brownies as you would normally, then swirl some peanut butter into the mix right before baking — the result will have you never going back to plain chocolate brownies ever again.

There are quite a few peanut butter desserts out there — some good, some bad, some amazing — but the most amazing of all is none other than peanut butter pie. The untrained eye might see peanut butter pie and wonder how it's all that different from peanut butter cheesecake, especially since both recipes typically involve cream cheese. There are some differences for sure, the biggest one being that most peanut butter pie recipes call for far less cream cheese than cheesecake recipes. The cream cheese helps the pie keep its shape, but it's not the star flavor profile — the peanut butter is, as it should be.

Since peanut butter is the main flavor profile in peanut butter pie, each bite is packed with rich, nutty goodness, with just enough creaminess to back it up without being overbearing. Many peanut butter pie recipes add a certain chocolatey flair, like adding a chocolate drizzle or shavings on top, which add just the right contrast. Peanut butter pie is everything one could want in a peanut butter dessert, often requiring little to no baking (other than baking just the crust), and you can so easily jazz it up with other flavors, like chocolate, or let the peanut butter shine bright as the sole flavor.

When it came to ranking the peanut butter desserts on this list, I had a few factors to go off of. Flavor was a big one, naturally, but since all of the desserts center around peanut butter, I had to consider other things. A big factor was how well the peanut butter shined in the dessert and how well it played with other flavors, most often chocolate. Some desserts really managed to let PB shine while also featuring a nice chocolatey contrast, like buckeyes or peanut butter brownies, whereas others like peanut butter fudge just didn't leave quite a lasting impression.

Texture was also an important factor here, as something like a rich, luscious peanut butter pie is pretty hard to beat; but something like Nutter Butter cookies just don't offer up the same appeal. I also simply considered which desserts are a little more jazzed up than others — for example, a decked-out peanut butter pie is hard to beat in terms of opulence, while plain peanut butter cookies are a little too lackluster to climb higher in the ranks.