Name: Reese's Peanut Butter Trees
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: ½ cup butter (salted, melted); 2 cups peanut butter (creamy ); ¼ cup granulated sugar; 1 Tbsp vanilla extract; 4 cups powdered sugar; 3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips ( or a combination of semi and milk chocolate chips); 2 Tbsp shortening

By: Jill Mills Posted: Nov 4, 2022 Updated: Nov 8, 2023

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These Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees are a fun Christmas dessert made with creamy peanut butter and dipped in melted milk chocolate. Similar to the Reese’s Trees you can buy in the stores, but even better!

Reese's Peanut Butter Trees on a white table.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Trees

Trees are a given when Christmas time hits, but ill let you in on a secret to the best kind of tree for the Holidays. It’s these chocolate peanut butter ones! They are just the cutest and most delicious kind of treat to share with the people you know. The nutty, sweet, and chocolate flavor just can’t be beaten!

Key Ingredients You’ll Need

Peanut Butter: I like to use creamy peanut butter, but you can use crunchy to give the trees more texture.

Chocolate: You can use semi-sweet or a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips.

Shortening: This will make the chocolate super smooth and easy for dipping.

How To Make Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees

Step 1. Use parchment paper to line a 10×15-inch jelly roll or half-sheet pan. Add the melted butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract into a bowl and combine using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Put in the powdered sugar and beat to combine. Put the mixture onto the pan and press down until it is about 1/2 an inch thick. Set in the freezer for about 10 minutes to chill or until firm.

Step 2. Remove the peanut butter from the pan by grabbing the parchment paper and lining the pan with a new piece of parchment paper. Use a Christmas cookie cutter to make 1/2-inch trees by pressing into the chilled layer of peanut butter. Arrange the cutouts onto the pan lined with parchment. Place in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes. Repress any remaining peanut butter into another 1/2-inch thick layer and cut out more trees. Once the cutouts have chilled, begin to make your chocolate coating.

Step 3. In a glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips and 2 Tbsp of shortening. Heat and mix in 30-second intervals until melted. One at a time, coat the trees using a fork until fully coated. Remove the excess chocolate by tapping it off and arranging them back onto the parchment-lined tray. Let the coating harden, serve, and enjoy!

Variations For Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees:

There is an array of options to make these trees even more delicious. Look below for some additional ideas!

Add crushed nuts or rice Krispies to the melted chocolate for a crunchy texture.
Dip the trees in dark or white chocolate instead.
Use crunch peanut butter for more texture or just add nuts!

Tips & Tricks

If you want to decorate these treats, you can color some white chocolate with red, green, yellow or other Holiday colors and decorate them to look like Christmas trees. I like to use green to coat the top and use red to make the ornaments and top them off with a yellow or golden chocolate star!

I find that using two forks to dip the chocolate will coat the trees the best and make it easier to remove excess chocolate.

These can be stored at room temperature or in the fridge in an airtight container.

One of the Reese's Peanut Butter Trees cut in half.

More Reese’s Recipes:

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Trees

Another fun way to make these is to dip them in white chocolate and decorate like the Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes. So festive and fun. Just follow the recipe in the recipe box replacing the dark chocolate with the white chocolate. Decorate with red icing and green sprinkles.

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