This tastes like childhood, if you had PB&Js in your lunch box every day. This flavor combo is classic for a reason, and you can switch up the jam flavor inside the thumbprint to whatever you like. Unless you have a perfectly round thumb, you’ll need to shape the divot in the middle into more of a circle so the jam doesn’t start to slide out. And if you have a perfectly round thumb, show me, because that’s weird and cool.
NOTE: These cookies are part of Cravings’ One Dough, Three Holiday Cookies story, so the base sugar cookie dough makes three different cookies. You only need ⅓ of the dough to make Peanut Butter & Jelly Thumbprint Cookies—the rest makes Ombré Iced Sugar Cookies and Spice Cookies.
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 4 ¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
For the Peanut Butter and Jelly:
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup finely chopped salted peanuts
- ⅔ cup strawberry or raspberry jam
Directions
1
Make the Base Sugar Cookie Dough:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2
Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until fluffy and creamy, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides midway if you have to, 3–4 minutes. Stop the mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla, return to medium speed and beat until creamy, 2 minutes. Stop the mixer, add the dry ingredients, then turn on the mixer to low and beat until everything is incorporated, being careful not to overwork the dough. Divide the dough into three equal-sized pieces.
3
Make the Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies:
Before chilling, add 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter to one third of the dough (you can do this in the stand mixer or by hand). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
4
Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap, and divide the dough into 20 equal-sized pieces (about a tablespoon of dough each). Roll each piece into a ball, then roll in ½ cup finely chopped salted peanuts, pressing to adhere. Arrange three inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and press a ½-inch-wide hole into the ball with your thumb, smoothing it out to make that divot into as much of a perfect circle as possible. Fill each hole with ½ teaspoon raspberry or strawberry jam.
5
Chill for 1 ½ hours, preheating the oven to 325°F in the last 15 minutes of chilling. Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 12–13 minutes. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to four days.
So, do you recombine the three doughs after mixing the PB into one third of it?
No, I used half for the PB&J and the other half for the spice cookies. I just now made the spice cookies and am just about to taste the them for the first time, right out of the oven.
I kept the other two doughs to make a variant of the PB&J biscuits, ones w nuts, ones w peanut butter and ones without both but just the jam (for those that don’t like nuts)
Just want to thank Chrissy Tiegen and her Cravings team for this delicious cookie recipe! PB&J are my family’s absolute favorite! I sent a box of them along with my own recipe’s to my son in Atlanta, who is recovering from Covid by himself. Until he received the box of cookies, he said it had been his “worst Christmas ever!” After getting the cookies, and all the love and support from family and friends, he cheered up and ate them all in one setting. Thank-you so much for helping to make this Christmas bright and yummy!