Probably the only thing better than a big fat PB&J on white bread are these Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies! A soft, tender cookie recipe with TONS of peanut butter flavor is baked with a dollop of jam on top.
I was photographing these Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies on my front porch (which I always do, for the best light) when a FedEx guy literally jogged up to deliver a package. I asked him if he wanted to try a cookie and he said over his shoulder as he ran off, “No thanks, I don’t eat sweets.”
“I don’t eat sweets.” Simple as that. I don’t eat sweets. A declaration. The end. Forever and ever amen.
I honestly just don’t understand how these people get by. I am outraged on his behalf and I don’t even have to live by his rules. I feel like maybe I should have offered him something else besides the cookie, just to make sure. Maybe some cake? It would be like that scene on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when the aunt finds out the new boyfriend is vegetarian: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE DON’T EAT NO MEAT? It’s okay. I make lamb.”
Later on I was still photographing these cookies, kind of in the zone, when I looked up to find another delivery guy waiting patiently down the walkway, holding my package. Usually people just come up and drop it, which is totally fine, but I could tell he didn’t want to interrupt me.
I offered him a cookie after I took the package and he said no, that’s okay. I said are you SURE? He said no I’m good. There was enough hesitation in his voice (that maybe I totally made up??) that I looked him in the eye and said, “You’re making the wrong choice.” Then he finally came and took one. He said, “I didn’t want to take the cookies you were shooting.”
So that’s me, just bullying people into taking my food over here. Welcome to my house, where you have to eat the cookies I offer you, OR ELSE.
I’m sure you can all relate. Haven’t you ever made something so delicious that you literally want to shout it from the rooftops?? Or harshly criticize deliverymen who reject them?? No, just me, okay.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
Are you into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I mean I know it’s kid food, but I never let that stop me. I probably have a bite of a PB&J every single day, stolen from my children. They are just the best. I never get tired of it. My kids are weirdos and like thinly-spread sandwiches. “My sandwich has too much jelly on it, mom.” I’m sorry, get out, who are you? Not my kid. BRING ON THE JELLYYYY
Anyway, what could be better than a soft in the center, slightly crispy on the edge peanut butter cookie with jelly on top?? It is like the cookie version of the sandwich. I knew I would like these, but I actually wasn’t expecting to LOVE them as much as I did. But I do. I LOVE THEM.
How to make Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
We start out with a typical peanut butter dough. I worked for quite a while perfecting the recipe for The Best, Softest Peanut Butter Cookie of Your Life. Those cookies have the ultimate peanut butter flavor and a super soft texture.
Today’s cookies are very similar, but they are a little more sturdy, the better to hold up the jelly topping situation. It took me several tries to get it right, and to figure out the best way to incorporate the jelly. They are soft in the center and have a perfectly light crisp on the edges. They are baked with the jam added straight to the raw dough for this amazing melding situation, just like how peanut butter and jelly get smashed together on a sandwich. It’s so good! PB&J forever!
Start out by beating together your butter and sugar for at least a minute or two, to get some creaming action going on. Make sure there are no butter chunks; once you add the peanut butter, it’s tough to beat them out. (I always start out with cold butter because I’m lazy and softening butter is too much for me. If you have a stand mixer, just beat and scrape and beat and scrape until it’s creamy.) Then add in the full cup of peanut butter.
Can you use crunchy peanut butter?
Well I mean, yes, you can, if you’re the kind of heathen who likes crunchy peanut butter on your sandwich. Just kidding, I actually think it would be really delicious to add some crunch to these cookies. Do it!
Once you get the peanut butter mixed in, add in the eggs and vanilla.
Then add the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt. I add them right into the wet ingredients and use a little spoon to stir it into the flour a bit. I’m just not a two-bowl-cookie person. Don’t over beat your dough. Stop the mixer when there is still flour on the edges and scrape it all down, then mix a final time.
Shape the dough into balls and smash with a fork. I like to dip my fork in a little flour or sugar to make sure it doesn’t get stuck to the dough. Now it’s time for some jelly!
You only want to add a little bit, about a teaspoon.
What kind of jelly can you use?
Sky is the limit here! I tried these with seedless blackberry, seedless raspberry, and seedless strawberry jams. All of them are so good. The jam in the photos is raspberry. I really love the strawberry though, I think it’s the most classic flavor. I much prefer using seedless jelly or jam for these cookies, but really any kind will work! It would even be fun to try apricot jam or marionberry, or grape, or whatever else you can find! If you would make a sandwich with it, you can use it to top these cookies.
After baking, add a tiny bit more jam on top to even out the spaces where it melted in. Drizzle with melted peanut butter, top with chopped nuts and you are golden!
Do I need to chill these cookies?
NO! Hallelujah. You can go from zero to peanut butter and jelly cookies in like 30 minutes flat. YES! I hope you get to make these soon, like probably today is a good day. You already have all the ingredients right?? Who doesn’t have all the ingredients on hand to make a PB&J at all times?? Enjoy!
More cookies to love!
- The Best, Softest Peanut Butter Cookies of Your Life! << today’s cookie recipe is based on this one
- Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies << these are so soft and perfect.
- Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies << I love to make these all year, not just at the holidays!
- No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies << Please tell me you’ve tried no-bakes? A classic!
- Texas Cowboy Cookies << everything’s bigger (and better) in Texas ;)
- Chewy Cookies and Cream Cookies << Crushed Oreos, white chocolate, oh my!
- Nathan’s Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies << my brother’s childhood favorite
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies << just like your favorite Girl Scout cookies, but better!
- 30 Minutes Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies << my all time favorite. They are just the best, right?
- S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies from A Classic Twist
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancakes from Tastes of Lizzy T
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Crunch Cups from In Katrina’s Kitchen
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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, 1 stick
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 & 1/2 cups flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup seedless jam
- more jam, to top baked cookies
- melted peanut butter, to garnish
- chopped peanuts, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter until it is smooth and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl.
- Add 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar. Beat well until fluffy, scraping the sides. There should be no chunks of butter.
- Add 1 cup peanut butter. I like Jif best. You can use crunchy peanut butter if you like! Beat well until combined.
- Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until combined.
- Add 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, but don't stir it in yet. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt on top of the flour. Stir it in with your teaspoon to combine the dry ingredients together a bit.
- Turn the mixer on to combine the dry ingredients into the dough. Don't overdo it! Once the dough barely starts to come together (with some flour still visible), stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Continue mixing until you no longer see flour streaks, then turn off the mixer. Over mixing cookie dough results in tough cookies.
- Shape the dough into 1 and 1/2 inch balls. I used this cookie scoop.
- Place each cookie on a baking sheet with about a couple inches of space in between. I added 12 cookies to an 11x17 inch pan. The cookies will spread a bit more than your average smash-and-bake pb cookie (because of the jam), so plan ahead.
- Dip a fork into a bit of sugar or flour (to make sure it doesn't stick too much to the dough) and press into the top of a cookie. Turn the fork perpendicular and press one more time. Smash them to about 1/2 inch thickness. Dip in sugar whenever the fork starts to stick to the dough.
- Add 1/2 cup seedless jam to a bowl and stir well to get out most of the lumps. Use a teaspoon to carefully add 1 teaspoon (or less) of jam to the top of each cookie. Do not let the jam slide off the edge, you want it right in the center. If it touches the pan it will spread and get gummy. It's not the end of the world, but try your best to keep it on top.
- Bake the cookies at 350 for about 13-15 minutes.
- The cookies are done baking when the edges are set. You want to see a very slight browning just on the very edges. These cookies are delicate and covered in moist jam, so under baking is not advised. This might be the only cookie I ever tell you you shouldn't under bake!
- Let the cookies set on the pan for at least 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. If you know what's good for you, eat at least one of these warm, with a tall glass of milk!
- If presentation is important, add a little more stirred jam on top of the cookies to make them look pretty. You can also drizzle with melted peanut butter and chopped peanuts.
- This recipe makes about 28 cookies. Store leftovers in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days.
- The dough freezes very well. Since these cookies need to be flattened before baking, I like to shape the dough, press with a fork, then transfer to a ziplock to freeze. That way you can just put them on the baking sheet frozen, add the jam and bake immediately. No need to thaw, just add 1-3 minutes to the bake time. You can also add the jam before freezing and flash freeze on a baking sheet before transferring to a ziplock.
Hello Karen! Help! How do I transport these little darlings without wrecking the gorgeous look of them or getting the jam all over the place?? I can’t put them on top of each other and I don’t have a HUGE flat container with a lid that would hold them all in one level?? What should I do??
Love Morag
Hi Morag! I totally hear you, of course you don’t want the tops to get ruined! If you don’t have enough large flat containers to put them in a single layer, you can put them on plates with tented foil to avoid it touching the cookies, or you can carefully slide them into gallon size ziplock bags that have been placed on large cookie sheets. I think both of those methods would work – let us know what you end up trying and how it turns out!
This recipe is amazing! Just one question – in the ingredients there is “1/2 cup seedless jam” listed but in the instructions it doesn’t say where to add it (I’m assuming this 1/2 cup is not the garnish since that jam is listed separately in the ingredient list). When do I add the non-garnish jam to the recipe? I just left it out when I made them yesterday and they turned out amazing but not sure if I should’ve added it
Hi Claudia! I see what you’re thinking here. The 1/2 cup of jam is approximately the amount needed to top the cookies before baking. The additional amount, labeled as “to top baked cookies,” is intended to be used as described in step 15: “If presentation is important, add a little more stirred jam on top of the cookies to make them look pretty.” This is totally optional, so you didn’t do anything wrong! Glad they turned out amazing for you–thanks for taking the time to comment :-)
I don’t know what I’ve done but I’ve cooked them longer than 15 and they’re super soft can fall apart when I l pick them up to eat.
Hi Stephani! So sorry to hear your cookies fell apart. A few things might have happened. If you made dough balls larger than 1.5 inches, then 15 minutes might not have been enough. If you used natural peanut butter, that could definitely have changed the texture (I always use the easily spreadable, shelf-stable creamy kind). It’s also possible that you added more butter than was called for or not enough flour. We’ve all been there! I hope your cookies turn out perfectly next time.
Oh wow, these are amazing! They were so easy and so delicious! I DO EAT SWEETS! ;) I would say that everyone who likes cookies needs to try them once. These are definitely going to be repeated…a lot. Thank you for the great recipe. It is always so fun when they turn out at all, but this one tasted better than I even hoped.
Amazing!! Very easy to make and so good. Added crushed honey roasted peanuts too on top with the extra jelly and PB. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Peanut butter & jelly cookies have been a favorite of mine since I was a child (we ran out of Hershey kisses one holiday season when making the classic peanut butter thumbprint kiss cookies)…and ever since it’s been jelly all the way! I do enjoy all the flavors you suggested although my absolute ALL TIME FAVORITE FLAVOR COMBO is made with apricot preserves!!! 🤤
It sounds odd but believe me it’s amazing! Kinda gives an elevated “grownup” feel to the classic.
Hi Leigh Ann! Apricot preserves sound amazing. Thanks for the great suggestion! Enjoy making your childhood favorite :-)
These Peanut Butter/Jelly cookies are a keeper. I used crunchy peanut butter and raspberry preserves. (Do not overfill) They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I dusted with powdered sugar. They looked like the Lintzer cookies my grandmother used to make.
Ok, so number 1, these cookies look AH-MAZE-ING!!! I can’t wait to make them.
And number 2, based on nothing more than what you’ve written about in this post, I am absolutely convinced that we are identical twins of the soul, separated at birth. You, my dear, are the yin to my yang, the – dare I even say? – peanut butter to my jelly.
Keep ’em coming!!
Super yummy! I don’t like things overly sweet so PB&J was right up my alley. I used Lingenberry jam from IKEA and they turned out great. Thanks for the inspiration!
Lingenberry! That’s such a fun idea, I bet it was delicious! I’ll have to try that next time. Thanks for commenting and sharing Beth!
Salted or unsalted butter?
Hi Mandy! I used salted butter but you can use unsalted if you prefer! enjoy
Oh good goodness, these cookies are my jam!! I just made them tonight, and Karen, all your experimenting has produced the most exquisite texture! Soft on the inside and such a delicate crunch to the outside. And the flavor is a perfectly balanced sweet-salty. Love them! Amazing!!!! Thank you!
YAY! I always feel particularly happy when someone tries this recipe, it’s a favorite of mine! I’m so glad you got to try it out and that you loved it! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a review, you are awesome :)
my first time making peanut butter cookies!! these are delish!!! literally so amazing!
Hooray!! SO glad you loved them Rachel! Thanks so much for coming back to review, you know how to help a blogger out :) ❤️
These are my new favorite. To die for!!! Can I freeze leftover baked cookies?
Hi Allison! So glad you loved these cookies! PB&J forever. I haven’t tried freezing these ones but I think it will work just fine. Let them thaw in the fridge for best results. I’m thinking they might get kind of soggy if you thaw at room temp. Enjoy!
I came here because the picture looked so amazing, and then ended up staying the whole way through. I loved the stories about the delivery guys. So funny. “You’re making the wrong choice” … lol! And then the heathen comment about crunchy peanut butter. I will definitely make these at some point!!
You totally made my day sf!! Thanks so much for commenting! I love making and sharing recipes, but telling silly stories is the only reason I’ve stuck with this gig so long ;) Thanks for reading! I hope you get to try the cookies soon! PB&J’s forever right.
I’m drooling! These cookies are what my cookie dreams are made of!! I can’t wait to try them!! Oh,
and the FedEx driver is crazy for not eating one of these cookies AND for not eating sweets!!!🤦♀️