Peanut Butter and Jelly. Is there a more comforting or nostalgic sweet-salty combination out there? Still, at age 26, I get regular cravings for PB&J sandwiches, especially on white bread (as opposed to the sprouted whole grain stuff I usually eat). They remind me of elementary school lunches and simpler times. And they taste good. Obviously.
As a connoisseur of peanut butter and jelly desserts, I’ve long been searching for a recipe that would combine peanut butter and jelly in cookie form, but all of them were never quite right. Either the cookie itself was too crumbly (as peanut butter cookies can often be), or the jelly flavor just wasn’t there at the forefront enough.
What I was ultimately looking for was a soft, chewy cookie (think about your favorite chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe, because that’s where I’m going with this), and even jelly distribution.
I eventually came up with a peanut butter cookie recipe that would—instead of the traditionally dry, crumbly peanut butter cookie texture—have that slight chew that one can only get from brown sugar.
It would also have peanut butter chips, for an added peanutty punch and creaminess. And finally, there would be jelly (jam works too) swirled into the top.
I think this peanut butter and jelly cookies recipe is pretty much perfect, but try it for yourself and let me know what you think!
Recipe Instructions
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, blend the sugars and butter until you get a grainy consistency.
Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla, and beat until fluffy.
On low speed, add the flour mixture and peanut butter chips, and mix until barely combined.
Fold the dough together a bit with a spatula, and drop heaping tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
Add a small spoonful of jam on top of each cookie…
And use a toothpick to swirl the jam into the dough.
You can also dot the tops of the cookies with extra peanut butter chips, if desired.
Bake each batch for 18 to 20 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks/8 oz./225 grams, softened)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
- 2/3 cup strawberry jam
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, blend the sugars and butter until you get a grainy consistency. Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla, and beat until fluffy. On low speed, add the flour mixture and peanut butter chips, and mix until barely combined.
- Fold the dough together a bit with a spatula, and drop heaping tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Add a small spoonful of jam on top of each cookie, and use a toothpick to swirl the jam into the dough.
- Bake each batch for 18 to 20 minutes, or just until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned.
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
Can’t wait to make these! Do you know how many grams of flour are in your typical cups? There’s such a huge range in the “official” number (120) and what people actually scoop out (up to 150) that I want to make sure I’m weighing based on your recipe.
Also, salted or unsalted butter?
Thank you!
Yes, our 1 cup of flour is most consistently measured at 140g! Great question! Unsalted butter for baking recipes generally, but using salted butter honestly wouldn’t hurt these cookies, as they’re a sweet/salty combination!
Thank you! So helpful!
Forgot to mark stars in last comment… 5 sisters for sure even though they took longer then most cookies so worth it!
These are amazing! I used grape and rhubarb jam and everyone loved them. They are worthy of me Sending them overseas to our son in the army they are so good!
Thanks for sharing
My cookies came out of the oven super soft! They did not turn golden brown even though i followed all the steps. Did i do something wrong or is this normal?
Hey Joy, usually the need to cool for quite a while until they get that chewy texture. As for the golden brown part, it could be that your oven is a little cooler than ours. Maybe try upping the temperature by 25 degrees (F) or so?
Making these now, nut I used half almond butter & half peanut. Personally, I always use the natural peanut butter, the oils in it help make the cookie SOOOO chewy and yummy. I like to spread the dough out, add spoon globs of the jelly and cut it into the dough. Less personal attention to each Cookie = less prep time, but don’t over cut it into the dough.
Thanks for the tips, Cheryl!
This sounds like pure awesomeness. Thanks for sharing. Simon
Thanks for commenting, Simon! Hope you like these. :)
Rie- me too. ….
Sarah, I can’t get my husband to stop drooling over the pictures!!
Good thing it’s 1:25 in the morning, or I might have to make this, like..Now !! Oy
hahaha let us know how it goes if you do make them!
Be still my heart!!!!! I haven’t even read the blog……just went straight to the post…..teehee
Hahaha
Is the jelly part still sticky when baked? Wondering if these will stick together in one clump if I try to mail them.
Hey Beeka, the exposed jelly is a little bit sticky, but not excessively so. Might i suggest packing them between squares of parchment paper?
pb&j’s are the one thing i don’t mind on healthy bread; the pb is so flavorful and dense that i can’t tell i’m eating whole grains :3 and love that this sounds like a chewy cookie! i always end up with cakey pb cookies for some reason.
haha i don’t mind pb&j on healthy bread either! I’ll take a PB&J any way i can get it. But there’s something about peanut butter and jelly on white bread that just says childhood. :)