Flourless peanut butter and jam sandwich cookies! A sweet take on a classic flavor combination. Use your favorite jam, jelly or marmalade to make them your own.
Twist on a Classic
Peanut butter and jelly. Is there a more classic combination? These all American sandwich ingredients take a sweet turn as the filling in these easy, flourless peanut butter and jam sandwich cookies.
Peanut butter cookies are one of the few recipes you can make gluten free and really not miss the flour. Meaning, when you eat one you don’t feel like you are eating a “healthy” treat, you’re just eating a really good cookie! Honestly, you aren’t going to believe how amazing these cookies taste when you see how few ingredients there are. Basically peanut butter, sugar and eggs! How does adding high heat to those ingredients make delicious cookies? I have no idea, but I like it. Baking is such an amazing chemistry experiment.
These peanut butter cookies are tender and delicious enough to eat on their own, but take my advice and make yourself a few PB&J sandwich cookies with them. And, if you’re a fan of peanut butter and jelly, you probably already have everything you need in your cupboard. So let’s start baking!
Mix and Scoop
One bowl cookie recipes are always quick and easy, but this recipe takes quick and easy to a whole new level. As a matter of fact, these are the easiest cookies I’ve ever made! There are only six ingredients, and honestly, you can make them with just four in a pinch.
You’ll start by gathering your very short list of ingredients, peanut butter, granulated sugar, an egg, kosher salt, baking soda and the jam or jelly of your choice. If you don’t have the salt or baking soda, you can still make the cookies! The salt brings out the peanut butteriness in the cookies, and the baking soda keeps them tender, but they will still taste good if you omit these two ingredients.
Next you’ll measure the ingredients into your bowl, then mix the dough together thoroughly. I like to refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or so to make this sticky dough easier to work with. After your dough is chilled, you’ll grab a cookie scoop (affiliate link) or a tablespoon and portion the cookies out onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silpat baking mats.
There is an optional step here that’s kind of fun. If you roll the cookie dough in decorating/sparkling sugar (affiliate link) before you put them on the baking sheets, they’ll be extra pretty and crunchy when they’re done. And who doesn’t like extra pretty and crunchy? For mine, I rolled half of the cookies in the sparkling sugar, and left the other half as is (for those who aren’t into extra pretty cookies).
Hashtag Bake
The next step is, I think, essential for peanut butter cookies – the fork press. It not only flattens the dough out so they bake well, but also gives the signature cross hatch look on the finished cookies. Press your fork gently one way on the cookie dough balls, then again by turning your fork to make a hashtag pattern. #theoriginalhashtag
Bake for 9-12 minutes, until set, but not overly browned. Because there isn’t any flour in the cookies, they are very fragile when they’re hot (no gluten to hold them together!). So you’ll want to let them cool on the baking sheets for 10-15 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. But don’t worry, once they’re cool, they’ll be firm enough to be the “bread” in your flourless peanut butter and jam sandwich cookies!
Sweet Assembly Line
After your cookies are completely cool, you can start the fun part: your peanut and jam assembly line! Flip two cookies over, then you’ll “butter” one of them with peanut butter, and the other with the jam or jelly of your choice.
Now comes the hard part (psych! there is no hard part), carefully smash (how do you carefully smash?!? you know what I mean) those two cookies together and you’ve got your first, perfect sandwich cookie! I dare you not to take a bite. Now keep that assembly line moving! This recipe makes 16 cookies, so you’ve got the materials to make 8 PB&J sandwich cookies. And if I’m doing the math correctly, 8 flourless peanut butter and jam sandwich cookies = 8 very happy people.
Now, don’t go thinking PB&J sandwich cookies are just for kids! Grown ups are going to line up at your assembly line too. Who wouldn’t line up for crunchy, yet tender, super peanut buttery cookies held together with the classic American combo of peanut butter and jam/jelly? Nobody wouldn’t, that’s who.
Disclaimer: any links to products in this post may be affiliate links. This means I would get a small commission if the product was purchased. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. I only link to products I like and use myself, or are similar to what I use if the exact item isn’t available. Thank you!
Here are a Few Things I like for Making Flourless Peanut Butter and Jam Cookies (affiliate links)
- Cookie scoop: A must have for your utensil drawer. I use mine for cookies AND for meatballs. (Not at the same time!)
- Decorating sugar: also known as sparkling sugar because it’s so pretty. (I don’t know if that’s the real reason, but it’s true.)
- Baking sheets: it’s hard to bake cookies without baking sheets.
- Cooling racks: it’s important to get air all around your baked goods as they cool.
Feel like making more cookies?
- Snickerdoodles! The funniest name for a crowd favorite cookie.
- Browned Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies! So rich and delicious. You bake them in a muffin tray so they stay thick like brownies.
- Amazing Matcha Energy Balls with Cashew Butter! You can argue about whether or not these are cookies, but I know I eat ‘um for dessert.
Flourless Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 cookie sandwiches 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Flourless peanut butter and jam sandwich cookies! A sweet take on a classic flavor combination. Use your favorite jam, jelly or marmalade to make them your own.
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 cup of peanut butter, smooth or chunky
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon of table salt)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 large egg
- decorating sugar (optional)
Filling:
- peanut butter
- jam or jelly of your choice, I used raspberry jam
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes if possible. This will make the dough easier to work with.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, measure out 16 cookies, 8 on each cookie sheet.
- Roll in decorating sugar (optional – but pretty!)
- Take a fork and press gently on each cookie, using enough pressure to see the indent from the fork. Turn the fork and press down again, making a hashtag on each one.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until just lightly golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make a sandwich! Butter the back on one cookie with peanut butter, and the back of another cookie with jam or jelly. Put the two cookies together and take a bite. yum.
Notes
- Shelf stable is peanut butter is best. If you are using natural peanut butter, make sure the oil is completely combined before measuring.
- You can add 1/2 cup of a mix-in: chopped roasted peanuts, mini chocolate chips, Heath Bar chips, or Butterfinger chips.
- You can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
Keywords: peanut butter cookie recipe, flourless peanut butter cookies, sandwich cookies, peanut butter and jelly sandwich cookies, cookie recipes
