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Warning: these peanut butter cookies have magical powers that compel you to force them into your mouth uncontrollably.
There, just had to get that part out. I got this pb cookie recipe from my friend Tiffanie and sandwiched them together with a creamy pb filling to make them extra naughty. Because around here, we love a good naughty cookie. Give these away to friends and they’ll have no choice but to love you forever.
This is a great basic peanut butter cookie dough. The shortening keeps them amazingly soft.
Since we’re making sandwich cookies, it’s important to have uniform sized cookies, so a scoop works really well for that.
And not only are these cookies doubly sweet because they’re sandwiched, but the dough spreads, so make your balls small. I use a regular size 40 cookie scoop and I separate each scoop of dough in half to form 2 cookies, and they’re still pretty good sized. A mini scoop is perfect.
Don’t tell, but whenever I roll dough in sugar, I eat the first one. I love the crunchy sugar and the soft dough, and the fact that it tastes like cookie. Because it is a cookie. Naturally.
Give those cookies a little criss-cross…
And pop them into the oven. You want them to say super soft, so don’t let them get brown. In my oven, and for the size of cookies I do, 6 minutes exactly is perfect.
After they’re baked and cooled, we fill. You want the filling to be on the thick side, it should just have enough milk in it to make it easily spreadable. If you add too much milk (like a normal frosting consistency) it might squish out of the cookies when you take a bite.
I actually think these are even better the 2nd day. The flavors mellow together and you get a cool sweet n’ salty thing going on. Plus, after they sit with the filling in them, the cookies get really soft. Mmmm…
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Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
- Yield: 4 1x
Scale
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 C butter flavored Crisco
- 1 C creamy peanut butter
- 1 C sugar
- 1 C packed brown sugar
- 1 t vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 3 C flour
- 2 t baking soda
- 1/2 t salt
- Additional white sugar for rolling
For the filling
- 1 C creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 C real butter, softened
- 4 C powdered sugar
- 2 t vanilla
- 3–4 Tbs milk
Instructions
For the cookies
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars together until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add in vanilla, and eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt and add to dough. Mix to combine. The dough will be very soft- that’s normal!
- Roll dough into 1/2 inch (or a little larger) balls, roll in sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet and do the little forky criss-cross thing.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until puffed and set, but not browned. Remove from oven, let cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.
For the filling
- Beat peanut butter, butter, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth, if needed, add milk until desired consistency is reached. When cookies are completely cooled, spread a layer of frosting on one side and sandwich together.
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Sara- these look yummy. I know I haven’t commented- but I really have appreciated the healthy recipes this month, and I have incorporated a bunch into this month’s menu! Thanx. Oh and thanx for taking one for the team and eating the cookie!
These look divine 🙂
You never disappoint! Love the running commentary on the pictures. Totally what I would have done.
These look so yummy! I definitely agree…you can’t wipe your fingers on your pants… 😉
Yum! That last part of the post was soo funny! I just may have to try making these for FHE. Hmm.
These are super good, but you can’t stop at just 5:)
Those look delicious! Must make….
Oh yum. Those look so good. Question, though: any chance they can be made with butter instead of shortening?
Lindsay,
I meant to comment on the butter thing. Everyone knows I’m usually a butter purist, but the only time I like to use shortening in cookies is when it’s needed for texture. In this case, it keeps the cookies soft which is important when they’re sandwiched. I’m sure they’d still be delish with butter (what isn’t?!) , but they will probably spread out more and be thinner and a little crispier. If you try it, come back and tell me how it goes- I’d love to know!
I’m a PB fanatic. Can’t wait to try these! {loved the Edward reference!}
Yum! These seriously have me drooling. All I have is crunchy PB, and I’m too scared to buy new stuff! lol. I am definitely going to try these- probably today 🙂
And ps- my word verification is PINKEYE. Nice visual! lol
These look yummy! We love peanut butter cookies here and nutter butters are the boys favorite store cookie. I will have to try these.
Good job with the diet! 15 lbs! I need to pick your brain. I only lost 5 lbs last month. Then again I did cheat.
Double yum. They look fabulous!!! I adore sandwich cookies!!
Congratulations on losing those 15lbs. Those peanut butter cookies look delicious.
as someone who is as baking challenged as myself I am tempted to try this recipe!
These look sooo good! Yum.
Oh, and I have sent a lot of traffic your way today via my blog. You’re welcome! 🙂
Haha, Thanks Erin! Your story was so funny too.
Now I will return the favor and tell everyone to go read your blog: Everyone go read Erin’s blog! She’s a hilarious Mom who doesn’t have to do anything but be herself and write about her life and hoards of people flock to read about it. Now that’s talent! Love you Erin!
That was way too funny (channeling my inner Edward)!
I’m putting these on my “to make” list. Thanks for the smiles.
Mmmm, I’m definitely making these! I always say the same about PB – it’s full of protein, right!? And, you totally had me laughing at the end (channeling Edward!). It’s a good thing you two aren’t boring chefs! Keeps us all entertained while we drool over the recipes!
Scrumptious !!
Thanks for your comment on my blog anyway..
Those look so yummy! Oh, and I for one wouldn’t feel bad if you kept posting healthy recipes. Some of us are still working on the 15 pounds. 😉
Oh Sara these were fabulous!!! Unfortunately my kids didn’t allow me to hoard, I had to be a good mommy and share 🙁
Ooooh I will be making these (gluten-free) very soon!!!!!
love nutter butters! excited to make these! how did you lose 20 lbs in a month?
Those look gut-bustingly delicious!
Oh and MY word verification is bringst. Bringst those cookies hither to me!
Jodi- I only lost 15. That’s already a lot, but 20 would be a little crazy! I think that would have to involve drugs or starvation or both, lol.
I did it with a combo of diet and exercise. With my diet I did South Beach, which involves cutting out bad carbs and replacing them with good carbs and generally eating foods low on the glycemic index. Then I exercised a lot. I did 30-60 minutes of cardio a day (6 days a week) and weight-training about 3 times a week.
Weight comes off pretty fast at first with low-glycemic eating so that’s why I had a big number last month. Now that I’ve added more things back into my diet (like pb cookies, haha) my weight-loss is at a more normal pace of 1-2 lbs a week.
Oh, and I’m loving all of these funny word-verifications. One day we’ll have to have everyone post theirs!
Everything that has peanut butter is yummy 🙂
You lost 15 lbs in 1 month…I never loose more than a pound a week! Great looking cookies!
These look so yummy!
Sara, 15 lbs is fabulous! Good job! Maybe we need a new blog…you could post a daily menu of what you’re eating and then we’d all be skinny together! 🙂
Congrats on the 15 lbs! That’s wonderful and amazing to do in one month! These cookies look so delicious. I love anything with Peanut butter in it!
Can I ask how many these make?
Ha, ha, Sara you’re so funny. Congrats on all the weight you lost. That is impressive and inspiring. I am making these cookies today because we’re having some friends over (the only safe time to make something like this so we don’t eat it all 🙂 and I can’t wait to taste them!
Samantha- thanks for asking that, I forgot to include it! I’m going to go add it in.
It makes a lot of cookies. With the size that I made them, I got about 8 dozen PB cookies, which made 4 dozen sandwiches.
I've already made these twice and they've been a huge hit. I've also tried drizzling and dipping half in chocolate…YUM! Thanks for your yummy recipes!!
I've already made these twice and they've been a huge hit. I've also tried drizzling and dipping half in chocolate…YUM! Thanks for your yummy recipes!!
These are ever so yummy!! Just made them today!! One question though, how do you store them due to the filling? Is the fridge required? Thanks
Jen, I just store them in an air-tight container at room temp. They don't last that long at my house though- I've never had to store them for more than a day! lol
Oh my goodness. Made these last night and they are amazing! It took everything I had to hold back from squeezing the filling leftovers all in my mouth…
These are sooooo good!! I used butter & they turned out very chewy & delicious! I halved the filling recipe (4 cups of icing sugar seemed liked too much to me!) & it was the perfect amount. Definitely going in my roster!
I just got done making these….I LOVE THEM!!! They are so good…and so cute!! These are so much better than the ordinary PB cookies I usually make.
These look great! I cannot wait to try them! I do have a question though, I don't have butter shortning, would it be alright to use regular, or should I wait until I can pick up the other?
Jill, you can totally use regular shortening!
how do you get the icing to look so perfect? one glob in the middle and smash the cookie down?
Kimberly- yup, you got it!
Okay I know it is a year since you posted this recipe and I know I am a little white girl and I know it isn't 1998 but seriously… these cookies are da' bomb! Everytime I make these I can not believe how delicious they are and when I give them away to friends they are blown away that they are homemade.
"Enough" filling to be "generous"?? I was very generous and still had about a cup and a half left over!!! But I'm not gonna complain! 🙂 A tip: this stuff is great to spread on graham crackers. SOOO good!! so now I can have peanut buttery snacks after the cookies are gone! yum yum…
I have made these SOOOOO many times already! THE best EVA!! Everything is so much better with frosting in it… 😉
Magnificent! I ended up using 1 cup less of powdered sugar in the filling, and it was maybe still a little sweet for my taste. But my 5 year old was squeezing the leftovers out of the bag onto his finger all night!
These look delicious! I just found your site a few weeks ago, thanks to a friend, and I LOVE IT! I've made the Candy Corn cupcakes (also did an Alice in Wonderland rainbow version). I'm excited to try so many other new things as well, especially as the holidays are approaching. Baking season, as I like to call it:)
Congrats on the 15 pounds! It's so ironic that I jumped over to this particular post, because I'm sugar/carb fasting this week. I've noticed a huge difference in clothes fitting, energy level, general health, etc. when I lay off the simple stuff. But oh how I miss it! It also feels a little wrong since I'm a baker and known for it. But, I will enjoy the upcoming weeks more if I'm a little bit "ahead" and plan out my treats instead of eating just because it's there.
Thanks again!
Mindy
Is it possible? Death by…peanut butter? 😉
These look AMAZING, but then again, I really should be surprised. You gals rock! 😀
These should be called "cookies fer trappin a husband"
But, so could most other recipes on here. Home run girls!
I just started to make these, and I'm a little unsure about the sugars. Is it one cup of brown sugar and one cup of white sugar in the cookie dough, and then roll them in additional white sugar before flattening? Thanks for all of your great recipes!
I just made these for our church's Thanksgiving Potluck tomorrow, but hubby and I HAD to sample one, of course. Holy cow – these things are AWESOME. Good thing we love our church family because otherwise these just might have "disappeared". 🙂
I just recently found your blog, and I love it! You guys have so many awesome ideas and recipes that I want to try. I just made these PB sandwich cookies today and they are amazing! For the filling, I added about 1.5TBS unsweetened cocoa powder to give them a little chocolatey kick — 'cuz who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate? Next time I might cut down on the PB in the filling a little bit so the chocolate comes through a bit more. I'm giving some of these away tonight to a friend of mine for her birthday — if there are any left! — I can't wait to see her reaction. 🙂
I made these cookies tonight…and they turned out super delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe! I am wondering what your original recipe for the filling was???? Because I had to triple this recipe to get enough for all of my cookies! The filling is the best part of this cookie!
Really? You had to triple the filling Ashlee? Shoot, maybe I accidentally edited it (aka cut it in half) twice! Hmmm…I think I'll go back and double it again, thanks! lol.
These are AMAZING!!!! Everyone I've had try them totally agrees. I used butter and they were still VERY soft.
Oh man. These are so bad for you in such a good way. And you’re right, they’re really good the next day. In the words of Rachael Ray, “YUM-O!”
I was just given MS cookies for Mother’s Day, my son requested that I make PB cookies from it. Well, it looked quite boring so I came here to see how you made them & went with your recipe instead. So great! We’re calling them homemade Nutter Butters. I also used butter, my smallest scoop was a Tbsp. so they were a normal cookie size, baked for 8 min. left them crispy on outside with chewy center. MS didn’t roll hers in sugar so I tried some with & w/o, found that the dough didn’t come off the Silpat w/o rolling in sugar, & they weren’t changed in appearance in anyway. Anything to make it simpler, is my rule. Great recipe!
These are so fabulous!
These are so deliciously fun. I have made them twice now and both times they were a huge hit. I feel especially lucky since my old roommates left behind two tubs of butter flavored Crisco -something I probably wouldn’t have bought otherwise. What are the odds?
Does anyone have any ideas for other delectable treats to use the rockin’ frosting with?
This filling is amazing with gluten-free peanut butter cookies.
Oh my tasty goodness – so yummy! Another amazing recipe! Those are the softest peanut butter cookies ever. I confess I loved Jen’s suggestion to add cocoa so based on her feedback I reduced the peanut butter in the filling to about 2/3 c and added 4 T cocoa – I just kept tasting it until I liked it well enough. I also reduced the powdered sugar to more like 3 cups. Heaven.
These look so wonderful and I am starving. Anyway, what is the best way to store these? Will they ship okay? thanks as always.
Just keep them in an airtight container. And I’ve never shipped them, so I don’t know!
LUV this!!
Okay,so I only made these because I was out of chocolate chips (my favorite cookie). I knew my husband would love them because he is a big peanut butter cookie fan but I am not, which is good because I am on a diet. I was shocked that I LOVED them. I have made them twice in the last week and have been eating them all day long, there went my diet! I used butter instead of shortening, and they turned out perfect. And you are right they are better the next day! Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, I’m hungry…I wonder if it’d taste better if I make the dough peanut butter flavored too… 🙂
How do I get an ourbestbites account so that I can print off your recipes? I tried using my google account to sign in but it said I didn’t have permission. I need to print off your yummy recipes!!! 🙂
You don’t need an account- you just stumbled across and old, inactive link. This one is all fixed now!