April 2nd is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, and these sandwich cookies are here for your celebration! I think I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich almost every day of my childhood, but I’m an adult now. As an adult, I can decide to put my peanut butter and jelly inside a cookie because, do we really need bread?
Peanut butter and jelly represent independence for me. A PB&J was the first “meal” I could make for myself. As a 7 year old, my friend, Syrena, and I would discuss the merits of a thick layer of peanut butter vs. a whole lot of jelly as we built sandwiches for ourselves. I felt so grown up when I could make something for my younger brothers to eat, and I was “helping out.”
Unfortunately, my independent spirit and love of peanut butter and jelly also led to my biggest kitchen fail of all time! We didn’t have much money growing up, and my mom would stock up on discounted bread from the local bakery outlet. That bread would be stored in the freezer until needed. One day, I decided to make myself a sandwich and all the bread was in the freezer. Nobody wants a frozen PB&J, so I decided to use the toaster oven to thaw the bread.
Please keep in mind, I was young and independent. I’m also a thoughtful person who wanted to save other family members from frozen bread. So, I decided to put the entire loaf of bread into the toaster over to save everyone some time! In went the loaf of bread, plastic bag and all. I promise you, I’m not simple minded; I was just young. My mom came to the kitchen to find a smoking mess of melted plastic covered bread, and a ruined toaster oven. Sorry mom!
How this recipe came about:
Flash forward a few years, and I can use a full sized oven. I also have access to all the peanut butter and jelly I could want. I decided to use these resources to create this cute sandwich cookie. We have peanut butter cookie, peanut butter frosting, and jelly.
For this recipe, I stuck to the classic grape jelly. My husband’s parents have a row of grapes, and when my son was young he decided that he really liked the Concord grapes at grandma’s house. For years now, my mother-in-law has been making jelly for him that she labels, “Connor’s Concord” and I decided it would be perfect in this cookie. Find your favorite jelly, and add it to this recipe!
Some notes on the process:
The following pictures break down a bit of the “how to” for this recipe. I hope this will help guide you with some baking and assembly.
Pro Tips:
Yes, we are adults and can make giant cookies if we want, but these are sandwich cookies which means twice the amount of cookie as a normal cookie. Each of these peanut butter cookie dough balls is about 1 Tablespoon in size.
While I opted for classic grape jelly, you can mix and match these to meet your preferences. Homemade or commercial jams or jellies work for this cookie, and you can even do multiple flavors for each batch.
For peanut butter frosting, old school Jif or Skippy works best. You can use a natural peanut butter, but the texture won’t be the same. Elementary school me didn’t even know what “natural” peanut butter was…
I’m a huge fan of crunchy peanut butter, and I have made peanut butter cookies with crunchy peanut butter. The frosting works much better with creamy frosting, however, so if you have to choose just one, stick with creamy.
To pipe the peanut butter frosting you can use a plastic bag with a corner snipped off if you don’t have a piping bag.
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich Cookies
A cute peanut butter sandwich cookie filled with peanut butter frosting and your favorite jelly!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 sandwich cookies 1x
- Category: cookies
- Cuisine: dessert
Ingredients
For the Cookie:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar (plus more for rolling)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
*jam or jelly of your choice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment
For the Cookie: Mix the 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and blend until incorporated. Blend in the 1 cup peanut butter. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix to combine. Scoop 1 Tablespoon size portions of dough and roll dough balls in a bowl of sugar. Place on baking sheet and press dough with the back of a fork to create a cross hatch design. Bake cookies for 10 minutes until set and lightly golden at the edges.
For the Filling: Mix 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 cup peanut butter to create a frosting.
To assemble: Pipe a circle of frosting around the outside of half of the cooled peanut butter cookies. Spoon jelly into the center of these cookies and then top with remaining (unfrosted) cookies to form a sandwich.
Notes
I use about 1/2 cup of additional sugar in a bowl for rolling dough balls.
Keywords: peanut butter, jelly, sandwich cookie
I hope you enjoy these Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cookies. You may also enjoy my Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies or my Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies
Leave a Reply