Peanut Butter Cream Sandwich Cookies

I really like making sandwich cookies because they can make an ordinary (but tasty) cookie seem special. My husband recently sent me a couple of recipes for peanut butter sandwich cookies and I decided to give these a try. I hadn’t made peanut butter cookies in a very long time and the sandwiches seemed like they would be fun. Sometimes I worry about making a more involved recipe since I don’t always have a lot of time to make my Friday cookies, but these came together very quickly.

The cookies themselves are a basic peanut butter cookie. I didn’t have to refrigerate the dough before baking with was a nice time saver. They spread out a little bit and don’t be afraid if the dough balls seem kind of small! They baked up and looked great when they came out of the oven. The trickiest part of the recipe was measuring the marshmallow fluff. How do you measure this stuff? It’s super sticky and I did my best. The original filling recipe called for some cinnamon, but I decided to leave it out.

I really liked these. The filling really makes the cookie. I asked my husband to describe these and he just said “They’re really tasty!” They are reminiscent of the peanut butter sandwich cookies you buy at the store, but I think I like these a lot more. The cookie is soft with a little bit of crispness and the filling has an intense sweet, peanut butter flavor. Yummy!

1-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
8 tablespoons shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Granulated sugar

3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup marshmallow fluff
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixer bowl, combine peanut butter and shortening until stir until incorporated. Add brown sugar, egg and vanilla, stir until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix until combined.

Scoop out the dough by level teaspoonfuls and roll into balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheets. Using a fork dipped in granulated sugar, flatten each ball by making crisscross marks on top. Bake until the edges are lightly brown, about 7 to 8 minutes. Allow cookies to cool slightly on the cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together all filling ingredients. Sandwich cookies together in pairs with about one teaspoon filling.

Recipe from Culinary in the Desert