These Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies feature soft and crumbly peanut butter cookies sandwiched together with a creamy peanut butter filling! They are super easy to make and stay soft and fresh for days, making them the perfect cookie for gifting to friends and neighbors.
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I’m not kidding when I say that these are seriously some of the best cookies I’ve ever made. Here’s why you’ll love ‘em:
- Oodles of Peanut Butter Flavor: These cookies are a peanut butter lover’s dream! They deliver an intense, rich peanut butter taste that’s hard to resist.
- Soft and Chewy: The combination of shortening and peanut butter in the dough results in a soft, chewy, and a little crumbly peanut butter cookie texture. Once we sandwich two cookies together with the creamy peanut butter filling, they stay so tender and melt in your mouth!
- Totally Portable: I originally made these for Christmas, with shipping in mind. That said, they are a fun, easy cookie to whip up, and yes – they travel very well and stay fresh for days!
- Customizable: Customize these by adding chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or even a drizzle of honey for extra flavor.
Want another take on peanut butter cookies? Try these peanut butter oatmeal cookies or this classic recipe for the best chewy peanut butter cookies! If you like a peanut butter and chocolate combo, these festive peanut butter blossoms or giant peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
The Ingredients You’ll Need
There’s nothing fancy here, just ordinary baking ingredients you probably already have on hand. For full ingredient amounts and directions, scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
For the Cookies
- Flour: All-purpose flour.
- Baking Soda: Make sure you use baking soda, not baking powder.
- Salt
- Shortening: Go with butter-flavored shortening to keep the flavors on point!
- Peanut Butter: I usually use commercial peanut butter in baking – natural peanut butter is so good, but it tends to be more runny and less stable in baking recipes.
- Sugar: Regular granulated sugar – some for the dough, plus additional sugar for rolling. You’ll also need light brown sugar.
- Eggs: Large, whole eggs bind the cookie dough together and add structure.
- Vanilla
For the Filling
- Peanut Butter
- Butter: Unsalted butter, at room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as confectioner’s sugar, don’t substitute for granulated sugar.
- Vanilla
- Salt
Making peanut butter sandwich cookies is actually easy, even if you aren’t very experienced at baking! You’ll just be making a simple cookie dough, baking up the cookies, and then mixing up the filling to fill them with. Here’s how the process looks in a nutshell.
- Wet and Dry Ingredients: In one bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. In another bowl, you’ll cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together, and then add the rest of the liquid ingredients.
- Combine: Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture to make a soft dough. Roll it into balls, and then roll the dough balls in the granulated sugar. Flatten and bake until done (this will take about 8 minutes).
- Make the Filling: The cookies will need to cool, and while they do, you can make the filling. Just place all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and then scoop it into a piping bag.
- Cookie Sandwich: Pipe the filling onto the bottom of one cookie (make sure the cookies are completely cool first!), and then stick another cookie to it. Voila! A peanut butter sandwich cookie! Repeat until you’ve used all the cookies and filling.
Tips and Variations
While developing this recipe, I definitely learned a thing or two – here are some of my most helpful tips and variations for baking up this easy recipe.
- Use Shortening: I know that shortening is not a commonly used ingredient anymore these days, but it really does create the best texture in peanut butter cookies. If you swap it for butter, your cookies will be less soft and chewy.
- Measure Flour Carefully: To achieve the right texture, it’s essential to measure your flour accurately. With flour, you want to measure it loosely. Don’t pack it into your measuring cup. Instead, fluff the flour and then spoon it into the measuring cup, and then level it off with a butter knife.
- Evenly Space and Flatten the Cookies: When placing the dough balls on the baking sheet, ensure you leave enough space between them for spreading, and flatten them down so they bake correctly.
- Add Chocolate: If you are a chocolate and peanut butter fan, you can swap out the creamy peanut butter filling for this chocolate buttercream frosting. You can also melt chocolate and drizzle it over the cookies or dip them directly into the chocolate. Lastly, after filling the cookies, you can roll them in mini chocolate chips so that the chips stick to the filling.
- Peanut Butter Pretzel: Instead of mini chocolate chips, roll the finished cookies in crushed pretzels for a sweet-and-salty version you’ll crave!
This sandwich cookie recipe was purposely designed to be stored at room temperature, so that they ship easily. They will stay fresh for up to 5 to 6 days in an airtight container at room temperature! If you refrigerate them, they should last even longer – a week or more.
Can I Freeze These?
To freeze, first make sure the cookies have cooled completely, and then layer them into a container. Separate the cookies with parchment paper so they don’t stick together. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature when you want to enjoy them again!
More Perfect Peanut Butter Treats
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
- Easy Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecakes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake
- Peanut Butter Cake
- Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shortening, butter flavored
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar, plus additional sugar for rolling
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
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Instructions
- Cookies: Preheat oven to 375°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In bowl of stand mixer, beat together shortening and peanut butter. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar, cream together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add in eggs and vanilla extract, beating till combined. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture and stir until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough will be a soft dough.
- Place a few heaping tablespoons of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl or saucer. Then roll 1 tablespoon worth of dough into balls, toss in sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Using the bottom of a flat glass, or the palm of your hand, evenly press on the dough balls to flatten till about 1/2 inch thick. Leave about 1 inch between each cookie for spreading.
- Bake for 8 minutes, rotating half way through, or until the cookies have slightly spread and risen a little. They will not brown or change much color because of the peanut butter. Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 3 to 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
- Filling: Place all the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Beat to combine, about 2 minutes.
- Scrape filling into piping bag with a plain circle tip, or in a ziplock baggie with the top cut off. Pipe filling into the center of every other cookie, and then sandwich together. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
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These looking amazing. Love these creamwiches!
I’m not sure which sounds better, these cookies, or your poem!
Love the poem!! Need to try these cookies…they look divine!
Ha, you’re a poet and didn’t even know it! “Merry Christmas to all, now pass me a cosmo.” THAT is my new Christmas mantra, beautifully said!
OH heck yes
If I didn’t adore you, I would totally hate you. You’re pics are awesome and you’re so creative…I love that poem! You also make the best sweet treats. Why you don’t have your own show yet is baffling.
I love that you picked a “sandwich” cookie to send. These looks incredible! And I love that little poem… such an inspiration 🙂
Love. This. Post. Would it be too tall an order to request cookie poems on a regular basis??
I’m not sure how I found your website, but I wanted to tell you that I think the design is brilliant! I am in the process of completely gutting mine and re-doing it and yours is a true inspiration. Love it!
Also, the photography is spectacular, and the recipes look divine.
Did you design this yourself or have a little bit of help?
Peanut butter upon peanut butter, that is my kind of cookie!
How wonderful! I guess it’s time for me to start baking some cookies… it’s the 13th already and I haven’t even started!
I can’t decide if I’m more impressed by the poem or by the fact that you did a freshness comparison to make sure you chose the best cookie for shipping! That’s so thoughtful.
You are not only a talented cook and baker but an excellent writer! Love this post, love the look of these cookies 😉
this.is.AWESOME! i love this & i love you! i’ve never read a better post!
aaand these cookies sound amazing. they kind of remind me of those girl scout cookies. tagalongs? do-si-dos? anyways, i must make these soon!
These rock girl!
I wish I could have gotten my act together and participated in the cookie exchange! Because I would kill for one of these right about now!
this had me tearing up laughing so hard. I love, love this poem. You’re a rockstar.
You already know that I love you! 🙂
Chica.. you made me laugh so hard, that people at work were like.. what!?!?! and then I read your post, and everyone thought you were the BOMB! You may have a couple of new followers.
And those cookies look delish… I’m thinking I may give them a try before the week is out (I have to bake some for a cookie exchange at work ).
mmm these sound delish as well! Love your poem & agree big thanks to LIndsay & Julie for putting together such an amazing event!