PB & J Thumbprints

It’s been a very stressful week and while I really didn’t have the time, I wanted to make cookies. I didn’t want to make anything too fancy or complicated. My husband suggested making peanut butter cookies, and those sounded perfect. These are peanut butter thumbprints, filled with the jam or jelly of your choice. In the end they do look kind of fancy, but they weren’t too complex at all.

The original recipe just called for ½ a cup of flour, and I guessed that it wouldn’t make very many. The measurements you see here are for a double batch, which ended up making nearly 5 dozen cookies. I guess I would have been ok with the single batch. I never measure peanut butter by volume; I always measure by weight as it is so much easier. I bake enough that I know what conveniences are necessary!

These cookies spread a bit, so make sure they aren’t too close on the baking sheet. I filled the thumbprints quite full with jam, which made for a better looking cookie in the end. Since the cookies spread, if there isn’t enough jam they just look odd. The frosting is a little messy to mix together and I should have just made it in the mixer. I wanted to drizzle the frosting but it was too thick and did have to pipe it on. So these took a tiny bit more work than expected, but they are worth it. The peanut butter and jam are so homey together and these cookies were just the perfect thing to have when feeling stressed.

PB & J Thumbprints

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups creamy peanut butter, divided

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1-1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

½ cup jam or jelly

 ¾ cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

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

 In a small bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Set aside. In a large mixer bowl, blend 1-1/2 cups of the peanut butter with the butter on medium speed. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat until smooth, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs until incorporated. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes if it seems too sticky to shape.

Shape the dough into 1 tablespoon balls and place on the prepared cookie sheets. Using your thumb, gently dent the center of each cookie. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of jam or jelly into each center. Bake about 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting: in a medium bowl, beat together the remaining ½ cup of peanut butter and the powdered sugar. Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, until the frosting reaches a good consistency for piping. Using a pastry bag or resealable sandwich bag with a tiny corner snipped off, pipe the frosting over the cookies.

Recipe from Rachael Ray, via Energy for the Good Life