Description
Soft, rich, peanut-butter–packed cookies topped with a swirl of fruity jam? Absolute heaven. These PB&J cookies bake up tender in the center, lightly crisp on the edges, and the best part—they’re ready start-to-finish in about half an hour with zero chilling required. If you want a dessert that feels nostalgic, comforting, and insanely easy, this is the one.
Ingredients
Scale
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, leveled properly
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup seedless jam of your choice
- Extra jam for after baking
- Warm peanut butter for drizzling
- Chopped peanuts for garnish
Instructions
- Get your oven ready.
- Set it to 350°F. Line two baking trays with parchment or silicone mats so nothing sticks.
- Cream the butter.
- Add the butter to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and spreadable, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Sweeten the mix.
- Pour in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat until the mixture is fluffy and no streaks of butter remain.
- Add the peanut butter.
- Mix in the creamy peanut butter until everything blends into a thick, uniform mixture. Crunchy peanut butter works too if you want extra texture.
- Mix in the wet ingredients.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients.
- Sprinkle the flour over the dough but don’t mix yet. Top it with the baking soda and salt. Use a spoon to lightly combine the dry ingredients on top.
- Bring the dough together.
- Turn the mixer back on and blend just until the flour disappears into the dough. Stop as soon as the mixture is cohesive.
- Overmixing = tough cookies, so keep it gentle.
- Shape the dough.
- Scoop the dough into balls roughly 1½ inches wide. Place them on the baking sheets, leaving room for spreading—these cookies expand more than standard peanut butter cookies.
- Flatten and pattern.
- Dip a fork into a bit of sugar or flour to prevent sticking, then press crisscross marks into the top of each dough ball. Press them down to about ½-inch thickness.
- Prepare the jam.
- Stir your seedless jam to smooth it out. Spoon about 1 teaspoon onto the center of each cookie, making sure it doesn’t drip over the edges.
- Bake.
- Pop the trays into the oven and bake for 13–15 minutes.
- They’re ready when the outer rims look set and just barely turning golden. Because the cookies are topped with moist jam, underbaking isn’t recommended.
- Cool the cookies.
- Let them rest on the pan for 5–10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Eat at least one warm—you owe yourself that joy.
- Finish with toppings.
- For prettier cookies, add an extra dab of jam once they’ve cooled slightly. Drizzle with melted peanut butter and sprinkle with chopped peanuts if you want an extra flourish.
- Storage.
- Keeps well in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freezing instructions.
- This dough freezes beautifully. Shape and flatten the dough before freezing so they’re ready to bake. Freeze in a zip-top bag, then bake from frozen—just add a couple extra minutes to the bake time.
- You can freeze them with or without the jam already added.