The Ultimate PBJ Cookie
A peanut butter cookie that is loaded with peanut butter chips, honey roasted peanuts, filled with creamy peanut butter and strawberry jam, then rolled in turbinado sugar and baked to golden perfection.
It’s that time of year again, back to school. Hopefully, for most parents, the return of in-person learning will help us achieve a little normalcy this school year. My son is currently in pre-k, and I can’t wait for him to go to the ‘big kid’ school next year. The truth is, I love shopping school supplies. Stocking up on the brightest most colorful pens, highlighters, and notebooks is something I do regularly throughout the year to keep the student in me alive. A little dorky? Maybe, but I really loved school growing up and well into my college years. I still aspire of finishing my MBA, an endeavor that was put on hold with the arrival of my sweet babies and me switching into ‘mom-mode’, but I know I will get back to it soon. Until then I have the joy of getting my kids excited about learning new things and experiencing a little slice of the world outside of home.
Regardless of if you are a parent or not, I think most of us can agree we have had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at some point in our lives. They are nostalgic, delicious, efficient, cheap, and can save the day when you don’t have dinner planned or need a budget friendly meal. I wanted to create an ultimate PBJ experience in cookie form. I do this by focusing on balancing and layering flavors and textures to make the most delicious PBJ cookie you will ever make.
Why I Love This Recipe
Flavor-you can find layers upon layers of peanut butter flavor in this cookie. The dough has creamy peanut butter, powdered peanut butter, peanut butter chips, and honey roasted peanuts added to it. Then a layer of creamy peanut butter is added to the middle as a filling with strawberry jam. If you are a peanut butter fan, this is a cookie for you!
Stay Fresh-the soft and chewy peanut butter dough stays fresh for days. The added oils in the creamy peanut butter keep the cookie tasting fresh.
Fun Twist- This makes a great teacher’s gift or first day gift for staff. So much more fun than a sandwich and extra kick of sugar to deal with kiddos all day. I slice my cookies up into quarters to share with younger one’s lunch boxes so they get a small taste of a treat instead of the whole cookie.
Texture- These have the perfect crisp, chewy, gooey ratios! The bottoms and tops of these cookies are baked to golden perfection and have a nice crisp to them from the turbinado sugar. The granules are much larger than granulated sugar and have a beautiful golden amber color. There is also a nice chewiness form the honey roasted peanuts then very soft and gooey textures from the peanut butter chips, strawberry jam, and peanut butter filling.
Ingredients You Need
-Butter- softened at room temperature for easier mixing into dough.
-Eggs-room temperature as well, this will help them mix into the dough easier and not chill your butter.
-Dark Brown and Granulated sugar-I opt for using dark brown sugar in this recipe because it has more molasses added into it resulting in a much richer flavor. I think this pairs nicely with the flavor of the peanut butter. You can use light brown sugar instead and still achieve yummy results.
-Creamy Peanut Butter-if you are a crunchy peanut butter kind of person, go for it! It will give a lot more texture to this cookie.
-Flour
-Vanilla Extract
-Baking Powder and Baking Soda
-Peanut Butter Chips-I love using the Reese’s brand of peanut butter chips. I have used other brands in the past (I’m not saying which ones, I ain’t no snitch) and this is the one I always go back to. The texture of these when baked are very melty and gooey and when cooled they firm up a bit. The nice thing is that they stay relatively soft and creamy and don’t have a waxy feeling to them. Also, they pack a lot of peanut butter flavor.
-Texas Strawberry Jam- am using the strawberry jam recipe I had made earlier this spring. I love making a lot more jam than I think I need when strawberries are in season for this very reason, I get to use homemade jam throughout the year. Please use whichever flavor jam or jelly you prefer, you can’t go wrong because peanut butter pairs well with almost all jams/jellies.
-Honey Roasted Peanuts-I love a subtle honey flavor in peanut butter cookies, they are a great paring for a reason. The chopped peanuts add texture and a delicious flavor to the cookies.
Turbinado Sugar-I always have this sugar stocked in my pantry. It is wonderful in coffee and adds great flavor and texture to certain baked goods. It is an unrefined sugar and has a slight caramel flavor and an amber color. It also is a larger granule of sugar than granulated sugar so when it is used to roll cookies in, like this peanut butter cookie, it has the appearance of glistening glitter. So fun. Rolling the cookie dough in sugar also helps to seal our dough and firm up the outside when baking. It’s a sort of last step you can take to seal in cookie fillings, so they don’t leak out when baking. If you don’t have turbinado sugar, you can roll these cookies in granulated sugar for that yummy crunch.
Powdered Peanut Butter-I used PB2 powdered peanut butter to add an extra layer of peanut butter flavor to this cookie dough.
Let’s Make Cookies!
In a stand mixer add softened butter and sugars and mix until creamy. I add the peanut butter next and continue to mix until it is all blended together.
I crack the eggs in a separate bowl and add to the mix, making sure they are mixed in well after each addition. I add in the vanilla extract after the eggs are mixed in then continue to mix on medium high until mixed in. I scrape the bowl down several times during these first steps to make sure everything is mixing evenly.
I sift all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl making sure there are no lumps in the dry mixture. I add to the mixer on low and mix until it just comes together. Then I add the peanut butter chips and chopped honey roasted pretzels for a few turns with the mixer on low. I turn the mixer off, remove bowl from stand and mix by hand making sure the bottom is mixed well and the mix-ins are distributed evenly in the dough.
After the dough is mixed, I get my baking sheet, parchment, cookie scoop, jam, turbinado sugar, and peanut butter ready to fill the cookie dough. It is easier to fill cookies if you have all the ingredients and pan set up ready to go. Filling peanut butter and jelly cookies is quite messy and sticky so having everything prepared and a few damp paper towels is key!
**Please refer to videos on my Instagram , Facebook , and Pinterest for visuals on the technique used to fill these cookies**
Using a 4-ounce cookie scoop I take an almost filled scoop of dough. I press a well into the center, then fill with jam first. I want to use the jam first so that the second layer, the creamy peanut butter, seals in the jam to prevent leaking during baking. I use a little less than a teaspoon of jam, I want to make sure not to fill the well completely so there is room for the peanut butter.
Next, I take a half teaspoonful of peanut butter and gently spoon it on top of the jam. Using a pinching motion, I seal the cookie dough shut on top of the fillings, release onto baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.
After all the dough is filled, I roll each one in turbinado sugar. I make sure to coat all the surface evenly with sugar. The cookie dough will look amazing with the sugar on top, like sparkling glitter bombs.
I let the dough chill in the fridge for at least an hour and up to overnight. The longer the better, I prefer to let my dough rest overnight.
I bake 4-6 cookies at a time at 375*F for 14-16 minutes. I want the cookies to have a nice golden color and slightly crackled tops.
I transfer them to a wire rack to cool, but honestly, I don’t blame anyone for digging into these cookies warm. Especially if you have an ice-cold glass of milk to go with it? Pure Bliss.
These cookies are wonderful at room temperature and will stay fresh for up to a week in a tightly sealed container. Enjoy!
If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram and Facebook. New posts every Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!
Ultimate PBJ Cookie
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter unsalted, room temp
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temp
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter this is for the cookie dough
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 1 tspn salt
- 2 tbsp powdered peanut butter
- 1 cup peanut butter chips I use Reese's brand
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tspn baking soda
- 1 tspn baking powder
- ½ cup honey roasted peanuts
- 4-6 oz strawberry jam you can use whatever flavor jam or jelly that you like.
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter for the filling.
- ½ cup turbinado sugar for rolling the dough in.
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugars for 3-5 minutes until pale in color and creamy.
- Add the peanut butter to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
- Add eggs one at a time and continue mixing well after each addition. Mix on medium high for a minute or two after the last addition, making sure to scrape down the bowl.
- Add vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, powdered peanut butter, and salt. Add to the butter mixture on low until a dough forms.
- Add chopped honey roasted peanuts and peanut butter chips and mix on low just until mixed in.
- Using a 4 ounce scoop, scoop out an almost full scoop of dough. Make a well in the center and fill with a teaspoon of jam, followed by a half teaspoon of peanut butter. Then pinch the dough shut and release carefully onto the baking tray.
- You will need two hands for the scooping, filling, and rolling so it helps to have these ingredients ready before starting. Make sure to always start with the jam first as the peanut butter layer will seal in the jam during baking. Repeat with the remaining dough. You should have 12 stuffed cookie dough portions when done.
- When all of the dough is filled, roll in the turbinado sugar making sure to cover the entire surface of the cookie. Repeat for all cookie dough.
- Chill dough in fridge for one hour and up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375*F and bake for 14-16 minutes or when the cookies are golden brown on top. I bake 4-6 cookies per baking sheet. Be sure not to crowd the pan as these will spread slightly during baking.
- Transfer to wire rack to cool and enjoy!
