These peanut butter and jelly cookies are a fun twist on a favorite childhood sandwich. This classic flavor pairing uses a soft peanut butter dough filled with sweet strawberry jam and topped with a drizzle of peanut butter and crushed peanuts.
These peanut butter cookies with jelly don't take long to assemble! While they do need about 30 minutes to chill both before and after baking, I promise it's worth it. Both chilling sessions lead to a super chewy peanut butter cookie with gooey jam in the center of each cookie.
The deep peanut butter flavor in these cookies comes from the same base recipe as these popular fluffernutter cookies. Which nostalgic sandwich cookie is the ultimate stuffed cookie? You'll have to make both to decide!
You can also try other combinations of peanut butter bakes, like these peanut butter and jelly bars, fluffernutter fudge, peanut butter chocolate marshmallow cookies, or edible peanut butter cookie dough!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Nostalgic flavors - treat your kids (and yourself) to a classic flavor combination in dessert form using your favorite jam to put on a PBJ sandwich.
Get better with time - most cookies taste best hot and fresh out of the oven. These jelly-filled cookies taste best after a few hours or the next day(s).
Stuffed cookie - who doesn't love a surprise in the middle of their cookie? While some of the cookies break open slightly to expose the jam, others stay completely sealed. Either way, they all taste delicious.
Ingredients
- Peanut butter. You want to use a non-natural peanut butter like Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan. Natural varieties are too loose and contain too much oil for this recipe.
- Sugars. Both granulated sugar and brown sugar are used to create the perfect chewy peanut butter cookie.
- Strawberry jam. Jam instead of jelly holds up better for this recipe. Use any flavor of jam you love!
Cornstarch. The jam gets mixed with a cornstarch slurry to make it even more thick. This is key to cookies with jelly in the middle so it doesn't melt into the cookie. - Peanuts. I like to add a drizzle of peanut butter and crushed peanuts on top of the cookie to really bring the flavor home.
- Freeze-dried strawberries. Not pictured, but I also like to crush these up and add them to the tops of the cookies for extra flavor and to make them pretty!
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities. Note that it is important for the eggs and butter to be at room temperature for best results.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use different types of jam or preserves. Seedless raspberry jam, blackberry jam, or grape jam would make for a delicious dessert!
- Stud peanut butter chips into the top of the cookie dough balls before baking.
- Freeze 1 teaspoon-sized dollops of peanut butter and add it to the filling for extra peanut butter flavor.
How to Make This Recipe
This recipe can be made in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
One: Combine the jam and cornstarch slurry until thickened, then refrigerate in a shallow bowl until cold.
Two: Cream together the peanut butter and butter until smooth.
Three: Add the remaining wet ingredients and beat until fluffy.
Four: Add the dry ingredients and mix together until just combined.
Hot tip! The dough should be very soft and pliable and easy to work with!
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Five: Use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop to add 12 dollops of dough to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Six: Squeeze each dough ball to bring the dough together.
Seven: Flatten it out in the palm of your hand.
Eight: Add 1 tablespoon of the chilled jam to the center.
Nine: Gently work the dough up and over the jam to close, then roll in between your palms. Repeat will all dough balls then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Ten: Bake the cookies, cool on the pan until room temperature, then transfer the pan to the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
Hot tip! Scoot the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. This helps the cookies keep their structure and prevents any jelly from spilling out the sides.
Expert Tips
- Don't skip the step of thickening the jam with cornstarch. After testing, non-thickened jam melts into the dough and disappears.
- Measure the flour with a digital scale or the fluff, scoop and level method. Too much flour will make the dough crumbly & hard to assemble.
- Keep the dough as even as possible when wrapping it around the jam.
- Scoot the cookies as soon as the pan comes out of the oven to sure up the sides and keep jelly from falling out
- Cool the cookies on the pan, then in the fridge before enjoying. This makes them ultra chewy!
- Only bake according to instructions, otherwise they will crack too much.
Recipe FAQs
I suggest using jam for the best structure since it's a bit thicker to start off with. Strawberry jam was used in this recipe, but you can use blackberry, raspberry, or your favorite flavor of jam. Just use a seedless variety!
Yes. I recommend 30 minutes in the fridge or freezer prior to baking to ensure structure, then another 30 minutes in the fridge after baking to help make the cookies ultra chewy.
Yes! Once baked, simply place the cookies in an airtight container and freeze for up to two months. Allow the cookies to thaw uncovered at room temperature before enjoying.
Storage
Store the baked cookies in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temperature for up to 3 days.
The baked cookies can be frozen in an airtight container or zip-top bag for up to two months. Thaw the cookies uncovered at room temperature (uncovered), then enjoy.
What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
- If you'd like to make the recipe in a different pan, use the pan size converter.
📖Recipe
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
- Large baking pans
- large cookie scoop
Ingredients
- ¾ cup strawberry jam
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter Jif/Skippy/Peter Pan (not natural)
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- peanuts finely chopped, optional
- freeze dried strawberries finely chopped, optional
Instructions
- Add the jam to a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until hot.¾ cup strawberry jam
- Mix together the cornstarch and water, and add to the jam, stirring it in immediately. Cook until the jam is bubbling and gets quite thick. Remove the jam to a shallow bowl and place in the refrigerator or freezer (uncovered) to cool and thicken.1 tablespoon cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water
- Once the jam is cold, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and peanut butter together until smooth.½ cup unsalted butter, ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- Add both of the sugars and cream the mixture together for two minutes on medium speed.½ cup light brown sugar, ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium speed for one more minute until lighter in color and fluffier.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the whisked dry ingredients and mix on low speed until the flour is fully incorporated into the dough. Use a rubber spatula to mix in any leftover flour on the sides of the bowl.
- Measure out 3 tablespoon pieces of dough (~60g) and scoop onto a parchment lined cookie sheet until there are 12 balls of dough.
- Flatten a piece of dough in your palm, then scoop one tablespoon of cooled jelly into the center. Close the dough completely around the jelly, being sure there are no cracks. Repeat with all 12 pieces of dough, placing them back onto the same cookie sheet.
- Add the cookie dough balls to the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Prepare another full-sized cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Move 6 of the cookie dough balls to the new sheet pan, then bake one pan at a time for 10-12 minutes. Keep the other pan in the fridge while one bakes.
- Note: scoot the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven to sure up the sides. This helps the jam stay in the cookie.
- Let the cookies cool completely on the pan, then transfer the pan (or cookies on a plate) and refrigerate the cookies for 15-30 minutes to finish firming up.
- If desired, drizzle melted peanut butter over the cookies and add crushed peanuts and/or crushed freeze dried strawberries.peanuts, freeze dried strawberries
Video
Notes
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