These chewy Fluffernutter Cookies have an ultra-smooth, soft peanut butter dough stuffed with creamy peanut butter and gooey marshmallow. The dough gently cracks open to expose the marshmallow and they get even softer as the days go by.
Love fluffternutter flavor? Try this super easy Fluffernutter Fudge, too!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Texture - The fluffernutter cookies are super soft, but structurally sound enough to hold the filling together. The top of the cookie bits get slightly crunchy and the centers are gooey and perfect. They actually get softer as the days go on from the moisture of the filling!
Flavor - Rich, major peanut butter flavor, and the sweet vanilla flavor from the melted marshmallows. I like to add peanut butter chips to bring home the flavor, and have recently started adding flaky salt to help cut the richness (it actually brings out the peanut butter more)!
Nostalgia - If you grew up eating fluffernutter sandwiches as a kid, you're going to love these. It's that ooey gooey peanut butter and marshmallow filling that you loved stuffed into a peanut butter cookie! Fluffernutter sandwich cookies for the win.
This is the original fluffernutter cookies recipe, and you can see how many folks love these from all of the rave reviews!
For more delicious cookie recipes, try these graham cracker cookies, peanut butter chocolate marshmallow cookies, cookie butter cookies, dark chocolate almond cookies, and classic thumbprint cookies!
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Ingredients
- Dry ingredients. All-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Wet ingredients. Unsalted butter, egg, and vanilla.
- Peanut butter. Creamy, non-natural peanut butter needs to be used. This means Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan-type brands. Natural peanut butter doesn't contain the necessary structure and adds too much oil to the dough and centers.
- Marshmallows. Whole, normal-sized marshmallows are used. I've found that Aldi-brand marshmallows work best for this recipe!
- Peanut butter chips. These are totally optional, but I love how they make the cookies look, plus, who doesn't want a bit of extra peanut butter?
See recipe card for quantities.
Marshmallow vs. Marshmallow Fluff vs. Marshmallow Creme
All of these contain the same base ingredients but have different methods and the additions of a few different ingredients to change the textures of the base recipe.
Marshmallows contain gelatin, marshmallow creme contains xanthan gum or cream of tartar, and marshmallow fluff doesn't contain either. Fluff and creme are a spreadable consistency, while marshmallows are stabilized to stay much more springy in form.
These stuffed peanut butter cookies use standard marshmallows, which hold up best to the stuffing process, and also allow for a slower melt for that exposed crack!
Substitutions and Variations
Here's a few ways you can mix up the recipe:
- Mini marshmallows - use about 4-5 mini marshmallows in the centers if you don't have normal marshmallows.
- Smaller cookies - cut the marshmallows in half, peanut butter filling amount in half, and the dough balls in half to make smaller cookies. The cookies, as written, are the size of your palm.
- Chocolate chips - stud the cookies with chocolate chips rather than peanut butter chips to make chocolate fluffernutter cookies!
Note, I would not recommend using crunchy peanut butter for the dough portion, but it can be used for the peanut butter filling.
How to Make This Recipe
Before beginning, preheat the oven and also add 12 heaping teaspoon dollops of peanut butter onto a parchment-lined plate and freeze them while you make the dough. This helps so much with the assembly process.
Use your finger or a butter knife to get the peanut butter out of the teaspoon. If the ¼ cup does not yield the 12 teaspoons, use additional peanut butter to get to 12. It should be very close.
One: Make the dough, then remove 12, three-tablespoon (~60g) sized dollops and flatten them with your palms. Add a piece of frozen peanut butter.
Two: Place a marshmallow longways on top of the peanut butter and gently press down.
Three: Gently work the dough up and over the marshmallow to close, keeping the surrounding dough as even as possible everywhere.
Four: Turn the dough ball over (so the marshmallow is on the bottom), then stud the dough with peanut butter chips, if using.
Five: Place six balls of dough on a parchment-lined, full-sized baking sheet. You will need two sheets.
Six: Bake the cookies only for the amount listed, then allow them to cool completely on the baking tray. Use a spatula to remove them.
Expert Tips
- Use the side of fork tines to reshape the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. Just give them a gentle push inwards all the way around so you have perfectly round cookies. Pull off any marshmallow bits stuck on the fork before moving to the next.
- Work in batches of 3-4 when assembling the cookies, leaving the peanut butter dollops in the freezer. Keeping them frozen is key to easy assembly.
- The dough may crack in some places when assembling. Just gently push it together with your thumbs as best as possible.
- Bake only for the amount listed. The edges and tops will look barely brown, so take care not to overcook them! Overcooking can cause the marshmallows the disintegrate.
- If the cookies haven't quite flattened the whole way, smack the pan on the counter a few times straight out of the oven to help them fall.
- Use parchment paper, as the marshmallow seeps out in some places and can get stuck to an unlined pan.
Recipe FAQs
Aldi brand marshmallows have given me the best results for this recipe! Stay away from homemade marshmallows or any organic or natural marshmallows. For this recipe, we need marshmallows with additives for a bit of structure.
A classic fluffernutter is a sandwich made from squishy white bread, filled with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. If you had this tub in your cupboard growing up, welcome to the fluffernutter club.
It originated in the New England area, and they have festivals to celebrate this genius concoction!
Not in this recipe! This is for a couple of reasons:
1. The cookie dough needs the structure of the marshmallow to completely wrap around - the fluff is too soft.
2. The marshmallow takes longer to melt which gives the cookie time to cook before "cracking" open to show the gooey marshmallow.
Storage & Freezing
Store the cookies in a sealed container for up to 5 days. If you need to stack them, place a piece of parchment paper in between so the marshmallow sticks to the paper instead of other cookies.
Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container for one month. Remove individual cookies from the freezer and thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Baking Fluffernutter Cookies from Frozen
Once the dough ball are assembled, place them on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them for 30 minutes, then transfer to a zip-top bag or sealed container.
Bake the cookies from frozen in a preheated 350℉/177℃ oven for 13-15 minutes.
Store the frozen dough balls for up to 2 months.
More Peanut Butter Recipes You'll Love
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📖Recipe
Fluffernutter Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
- Two full-sized cookie sheets
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour 180g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature (113g)
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (270g) divided, Jif/Skippy/Peter Pan (not natural)
- ½ cup light brown sugar 100g
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar 67g
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 12 marshmallows standard sized
- peanut butter chips optional
- flaky sea salt optional
Instructions
- Lay a piece of parchment paper over a standard sized plate. Measure out ¼ cup (~67g) of peanut butter, then use a teaspoon measure to scoop heaping scoops onto the plate. You will need 12 dollops. Use more peanut butter to get to 12, if needed. Place the peanut butter in the freezer while preparing the dough.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and ¾ cup (202g) peanut butter, then add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine, then scrape down the sides. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just incorporated.
- Prepare two full sized cookie sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350℉/180℃.
Assembly
- Measure out three even tablespoons (~60g) of dough then flatten it out in between your palms. Place one dollop of the frozen peanut butter in the center, then add a marshmallow (on its long side) on top and gently press down.
- Work the dough upwards and around the top of the marshmallow until it’s completely sealed. The dough may crack in some places - just gently push it together with your thumbs as best as possible. Place the dough seam side/marshmallow side down on the cookie sheet.
- Repeat this until there are 12 cookie dough balls. It's best to work in batches of 3 or 4, leaving the extra peanut butter in the freezer. Arrange the cookies, 6 on each pan, and stud each top with 4-5 peanut butter chips, if desired.
- Bake one pan at a time for 9-11 minutes on the middle rack until the edges are set and just barely brown on the very bottom edge. You also want the cookie to slightly break open to expose the marshmallow (see notes section). Remove from the oven and use a fork to gently push the cookies into nice circles. Then, top with flaky salt, if desired.
- Let cool completely on the pan before transferring to a serving platter or storage container. You may need to use a spatula to lift off some of the sticky marshmallow pieces.
Esther
These cookies tasted great but make sure you don't over bake them. I was waiting for the bottoms to barely brown so the ALDI marshmallows kept melting and overflowed out of the cookie. I couldn't push them back into a circular shape because the marshmallow would stick to my spoon. Take these cookies out of the oven when the edges are set. Don't wait for the bottoms to barely brown.
Syd
Could you make this recipe gluten free?
Callan Wenner
Hi Syd, I have not tried these specific cookies with gluten-free flour, but I've had great success with Bob's Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Baking Mix for other GF swaps. If you try it, please report back!
Krista
I can’t stop eating these cookies!! They are beyond delicious!
Callan Wenner
Ahh yay!! Love to hear that, thanks so much for making them!
Ella
These are truly incredible!! I’ve tried other fluffernutter recipes but this is the best one!!
The Cozy Plum
Yay!! This is the best news. Thanks so much, Ella.