Soft and tender peanut butter and jelly cookies combine the classic flavors of the beloved sandwich into a delicious cookie. Made with a peanut butter cookie base, strawberry jam center and a vanilla glaze on top!
If you love this classic flavor pairing, peanut butter and jelly muffins are another great recipe to try and if it’s dessert you love, peanut butter fudge is not to be missed.
Table of Contents
A Fun Twist on a Classic
Lately I have been craving PB&J sandwiches with cold milk. I’ve also been craving cookies, so I combined my two loves and made some peanut butter and jelly cookies.
Once I perfected the recipe, I was in complete heaven. They are a fun twist on classic chewy peanut butter cookies, with the addition of sweet strawberry jam in the middle like thumbprint cookies but with an added drizzle of powdered sugar icing.
These are perfect cookies to make with kids during the holiday season and then share with loved ones. They are also great for a cookie exchange or to add to your Christmas dessert board. Everyone always loves the yummy PB&J flavor!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies Ingredients
These thick and buttery peanut butter cookies are topped with strawberry preserves and perfect for a lunchbox treat, afternoon snack, or anytime you need a PB&J fix!
- Salted butter: Softened butter, so plan accordingly to bring it to room temperature. If you used unsalted butter, you will need to add a pinch of salt to the dough.
- Sugar: You will need both brown sugar and granulated sugar for tender cookies that have crisp edges.
- Creamy peanut butter: I used Jif, but you can use your favorite brand, I would avoid using natural peanut butter, though.
- Egg: For binding the dough together.
- Baking soda: This gives cookies a slight rise.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract is always best for taste.
- All purpose flour: Gives structure to the cookies.
- Strawberry jam: I often use homemade strawberry jam but this I used Smucker’s.
- Glaze (optional): Powdered sugar, milk or heavy cream and vanilla extract.
Variations
- Jelly: Feel free to use strawberry preserves or other varieties of your favorite jelly, such as raspberry jam or grape jelly.
- Glaze: You can definitely leave them plain with jam on top (they are plenty sweet), or you can add a simple powdered sugar icing to dress them up. A cream cheese glaze would also taste delicious on top as well.
- Sugar: Roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar before baking for another hint of sweetness.
How to Make Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
I adapted this recipe from my favorite peanut butter blossoms. It is so simple to make and they are so soft and tender.
- Make peanut butter cookie dough: Cream together your butter and sugar, then add in peanut butter, egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add in flour and baking soda and mix until just combined.
- Roll dough into balls: I love to use medium cookie scoop that is about 1 1/2 Tbsp to roll the dough into balls. Place on a prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Add jam: Place a thumbprint in the middle of each cookie dough ball. My trick to getting the perfect thumbprint, is to use a teaspoon. Fill the space with jam.
- Bake: Bake at 350°F for 9 – 11 minutes. Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then let cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.
Expert Tips
- Easy way to glaze: Place the glaze in a zip top bag and snip the top off, to make it easier to drizzle the glaze on.
- Stuffed cookies: You will need two pieces of cookie dough roughly about the same size. Flatten one piece of dough and place about 1/2 tablespoon or less of jelly on the cookie dough, top with another flattened cookie, pinch the seams together to seal and bake. It becomes the ultimate stuffed cookie!
- More jam: After baking add some more jam to fill in the space where the jam ‘melted’ into the cookie.
- Don’t over bake: Or you will have dry crumbly cookies. Remove them from the oven when the edges are just set. They will still appear soft.
FAQs
Sure! While I feel like creamy is best, crunchy peanut butter will add nice texture.
The sky’s the limit! Whatever jelly or jam you use on your sandwich, you can use it on these cookies. Strawberry jam or grape jam are classic, but there are so many flavors to try from blackberry to apricot.
No you don’t need to chill these cookies. Just make your dough and bake, hallelujah! You probably have all the ingredients on hand anyways.
How to Store Peanut Butter Jelly Cookies
- To store: Once the cookies have cooled, store in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- To freeze: Once they have cooled, store in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Once frozen, you can stack them in the container.
More cookie recipes to love include chocolate chip cookies, s’mores cookies, and these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!
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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
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Ingredients
Cookies:
- ½ cup salted butter , softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar , packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used JIF creamy)
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup strawberry jam (I used Smucker’s)
Glaze (optional):
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-3 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Then add in the peanut butter, egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
- Add in flour and baking soda and mix just until combined.
- Using a medium cookie scoop or about 1 1/2 Tablespoons, scoop the dough onto the baking sheets about two inches apart. Use a teaspoon to press a hole in the center of the dough and fill the centers with 1 teaspoon of jam.
- Bake 9-11 minutes, or just until the edges firm up. They should still be a little soft. Allow to cool on pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
- For the glaze, mix together the powdered sugar, cream and vanilla. Then drizzle over the cookies once they have cooled. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Enjoy! :)
Categorized as: American, Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Freezer-Friendly, Holiday Cookies, Kid-Friendly, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is also the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook. Here you will find easy family-friendly recipes for every occasion.
Looks so great! Would I need to have a mixer or could I mix manually by hand?
You can mix manually by hand. A mixer does speed up the process and gives it more of a blended batter though.
Haven’t tasted them but they smell delicious. I’m just wondering if the jelly usually comes out of the oven foamy looking? I used grape jelly, I’m going to try with different jelly next batch. Thank you for the recipe 😁
I have not had that experience yet. I would think that maybe the jelly was hot and will change appearance as they cool. I hope you loved the taste of them! You can always fill the top with more melted jelly.
These cookies are so yummy! I made them for a cookie exchange so next time I have to make them for me!
Yay, I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Leslie!
These cookies came out Delicious! What a hit! Plan on making more!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for your comment, Stephanie :)
I made these cookies this weekend and they were amazing! I already can’t wait to make the again!
How clever using the measuring spoon for the “thumbprint”! I’m totally going to use that trick. These look DELICIOUS – the drizzle of glaze is such a nice touch too.
I made these to bring into work and they are a huge hit! Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe.
I’m so glad they were a hit! Thanks for leaving a comment and review Sarah! :)
What a great cookie! I love the combo!
I totally craved pb&j during my pregnancies! It’s such a comforting combo!
These are so cute! My kids will love making them!
What a fabulous cookie idea!! My family is obsessed with PB&J
This is incredible!!!!
Such a fun thumbprint cookie idea!!
My boys are obsessed with PB&J so I know they’re going to eat these up! What a great idea to make plates for the neighbors too!
These sound amazing! I totally crave PB&J sandwiches all the time too and I bet they are so much better in cookie form. :D