PB & J Cookies

I'm not a big fan of peanut butter cookies.  To me, they taste kind of dry, even when they're soft.

Better Homes and Gardens has a similar idea to this in this February's issue.  I'm amazed no one has popularized these before now.

I decided to use Grandma Sophie's peanut-butter cookie recipe, since those are the only PB cookies I remember having as a child.  I knew the recipe worked, and avoided dryness by pulling them out of the oven before they were fully baked.  In the 50's, all cookies were thoroughly baked, but no one nowadays complains about an under-baked cookie.

For the jam, I bought Polaner All-Fruit strawberry jam.  The links on their site don't seem to be working, but I'm sure you can find it in the market.  You need the thickest jam you can find, or it's going to run everywhere.  It does soak into the cookie, so don't sandwich them more than a few hours ahead.

As an alternative to jam, Nutella would make an excellent filling, like a Reese's cookie.

I know, a 2" cookie seems very small these days.  This was the size in the original recipe, back before the super-sizing of cookies into 500-calorie monsters.  Besides, you're eating two of them at a time.  Smaller is better.

1/2 C brown sugar, packed
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C butter
*1/2 C peanut butter
1 egg
1-1/2 C flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tsp boiling water
1/2 C thick jam, like an all-fruit

1.  Cream together both sugars, butter, and peanut butter.

2.  Lightly beat egg and cream into butter mix.

3.  Sift together flour and salt and beat into butter in stages.  Activate and beat in baking soda last.

4.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Form dough into 1" balls and place 2" apart on cookie sheets.  With the back of a fork, press each ball into a criss-cross pattern and bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.

5.  Place half of cooled cookies upside-down on work surface.  Spread 1 tsp of jam on the back of each cookie, then top with an un-jammed cookie to make a sandwich.

Makes 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Difficulty rating  π