Peanut Butter and Jelly and Nutella Cookies

At work, my friend recently moved from a temporary position to a permanent one, which is reason to celebrate! We all have the favorites that we love to eat, and one day I noticed that she was having peanut butter and jelly. She corrected me and said it was peanut butter and jelly and Nutella. I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate those three items together in a cookie. 

I found a couple of PB&J recipes that I felt I could alter to include Nutella as well. I chose the recipe you see below, but I made a ganache with Nutella, instead of using peanut butter ganache. I also used the Nutella ganache as a drizzle to finish the cookies. I had thought about adding chopped hazelnuts to garnish as well, but perhaps that would have been too much.

These cookies are quite large, and they are a little fussy. The dough is sticky, but I could work with that. The cookies came out of the oven really flat, so I had to shape them a bit (using this method). Make sure the ganache cools a bit before using it, or it will be too runny. I used seedless raspberry jam, but you have lots of options, and heating the jam slightly helps a lot. These cookies, while huge and a bit delicate, are fantastic. They were so enjoyed and I had several people come to me and say they were just the best!!

Peanut Butter and Jelly and Nutella Cookies
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 

1 cup Nutella
¾ cup heavy cream
Raspberry Jam

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the eggs and vanilla. Mix again on medium to combine. Mix in the peanut butter. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, until the soft dough comes together. 

Separate the dough into 24 portions. Shape each portion into a flattened bowl, and then make an indentation in each cookies. The dough is quite sticky, so it may help to wet your hands or use nonstick spray . Place on a parchment covered plate or baking sheet and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
Place 6 cookies on each baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until set.

Once the cookies come out of the oven, reshape the cookies as needed, and press the center of the cookies to make a deeper indentation. Allow the cookies to set and cool. 

Make the ganache: place the Nutella in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream until almost boiling. Pour the hot cream over the Nutella and allow it to sit for two minutes. Slowly whisk the mixture until the ganache is smooth and shiny. Allow to cool slightly before assembling the cookies. 

Assemble the cookies: fill the indentation in the cookie with the cooled Nutella ganache, and then top with a dallop of raspberry jam (heated to make it more viscous). Abstractly drizzle some additional Nutella ganache to finish the cookies. 

Recipe inspired by In Bloom Bakery
Ganache recipe from Sugar & Sparrow

Pop Tart Inspired Shortbread Bars

I came across this recipe and honestly, with the sprinkles on top of these bars I couldn’t resist. I know that funfetti and that sort of thing is really popular right now, but it isn’t something that I seek out. These were different, and they are inspired by pop tarts. I haven’t really eaten pop tarts in ages, and they likely don’t taste as good as I recall, but I still have a fondness for them.

The original recipe called for strawberry preserves, but I ended up using the preserves that I had in the correct quantity, which in this case was blackberry preserves, that was made by my friend at work. I think it worked well and the flavor was not any different. I also used milk in the icing rather than heavy cream. The heavy cream would be thicker, and I do know that my icing took forever to set, so perhaps that would make a difference.

The dough for these bars is very soft, but it wasn’t too hard to work with. When I first read through the instructions, I was unsure why I needed the 8” square of waxed paper. I ended up using it to shape the top dough for the bars and then I could just put it into place. I worried that the waxed paper would stick, but it peeled off quite easily. I thought it was a brilliant approach. Does this taste like a pop tart? A little bit. I love the combination of butter cookie and preserves, and you can never go wrong with sprinkles!

Pop Tart Inspired Shortbread Bars
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup preserves, chilled

1 cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon almond extract
2-4 tablespoons milk
Rainbow sprinkles

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Have an 8” square of waxed paper ready, which will be used in shaping the topping of the bars.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and powdered sugar and mix on low to start, then increasing to medium speed. Beat until the mixture is light. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed to make sure all of the flour is incorporated. The dough will be soft. Divide the dough into two halves. Press half of the dough into the base of the prepared pan. Top with the preserves and place the pan in the refrigerator.

With the other half of the dough, place it on the 8” square of waxed paper and shape it to fit the paper. Remove the bars from the refrigerator and flip the shortbread on top of the preserves. Carefully peel away the waxed paper and spread the dough to the edges of the pan if needed.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Allow the shortbread to cool before icing.

Make the icing: in a medium bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and almond extract. Add about two tablespoons of milk, whisking until the icing is smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add additional milk as needed. Remove the bars from the pan and spread the top with the icing. Top with rainbow sprinkles. Allow the glaze to set in the refrigerator before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Butternut Bakery

Pistachio Shortbread Bars

I came across these bar cookies a little while ago, and they have been in my folder waiting for just the right time. The recipe talks about the red of the jam and the green of the pistachios is a perfect combination for Christmas. When I look at these cookies, all I can think of is spring! I wanted to save these for when the weather wasn’t so gloomy, and the time is right.

This is a recipe that can be varied in any way that you would like. If you don’t like pistachios, you could certainly use something different. I think that these would be especially good with almonds. For the jam they suggested raspberry or strawberry jam. At first, I was going to use blackberry jam, but I didn’t have enough so I ended up using blueberry jam. Yes, the taste is a little different, but it’s still very tasty. Just think of these as shortbread bars with jam and nuts.

I did change to blueberry jam, but otherwise I didn’t change anything. I love pistachios and I have to say how happy I am that I can buy them already shelled! The nuts that I used were already salted, so I did not add additional salt. These bars aren’t too sweet, which perhaps varies depending on the jam you use. I realized too late in the game that I was supposed to add the pistachios to the second half of the dough, but obviously I didn’t. They were still tasty, but the nuts weren’t as crunchy as they could have been. Maybe I will try mixing the nuts into the dough using a different combination of jam and nuts!

Pistachio Shortbread Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt (if using unsalted nuts)
½ cup jam (raspberry, blueberry, etc.)
2/3 cup chopped pistachios

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and egg on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and salt (if using). Divide the dough into halves.

Press half of the dough into a thin layer in the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove the bars from the oven. Spread the jam in a thin layer on top of the partially baked bars, within ½” of the edges. Top with the chopped pistachios. Carefully shape the remaining dough into a layer on top of the jam, covering as much as possible.

Bake for an additional 35 minutes, until golden. Allow the bars to cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.  

Recipe from Eazy Peazy Mealz

Simple Jammy Biscuits

We sure have had all sorts of weather here in the Pacific Northwest: rain, snow, some sun, even hail! I think everything keeps adding up: the weather, staying home, not seeing people, etc. I went to a meeting and there was an interesting conversation about what our work would look like after the pandemic, and that’s an interesting question. Some of my work involves people directly, but some of it doesn’t. One thing is for sure: I can’t wait to bake for people again!

There are lots of recipes out there that make small batches, and I have found that British cookbooks/recipes are a good source as most folks in the UK have a smaller oven, which leads to smaller batches. This recipe was in one of the British food magazines that we get, and it was beautifully simply. The cookie is for Red Nose Day, which is in today March 19! Red Nose Day is a fundraiser, primarily in the UK, uses the power of laughter as they base of their fundraising. For information, you can visit https://comicrelief.com.

For these cookies, and jam would work, but I used some tasty huckleberry jam that I got for Christmas. I made the dough in the food processor and it was too crumbly to form into a log, so I mixed in an additional egg yolk, shaped the dough, and then refrigerated it for a bit. The dough is a touch stickier, but it worked. I cut just 12 cookies, and they were quite thick! They spread a lot so next time I will not make them so thick. Like many British recipes, these cookies aren’t too sweet, but the jam adds that extra touch of sweet. They are on the big side, but very tasty none the less!

Simple Jammy Biscuits
200 grams self-rising flour*
100 grams sugar
100 grams butter
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons jam

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the egg and pulse until a stiff dough comes together. Shape the dough into a log, about 2 inches in diameter. Cut into ½ inch slices and place on the prepared baking sheet.

Make a small indentation in the top of each cookie and fill with about a teaspoon of jam. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

*I make my own self-rising flour by combining 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt

Recipe from BBC Easy Cook

Blackberry Meltaway Cookies

Last week’s cookies used jam, and I noticed that one other that I plan to post this month have, jam, so I decided that would be my theme this month. All of the cookies in March contain jam/jelly/preserves in some form, but I have tried to mix up the flavors for different experiences. For the most part, jam flavors are interchangeable, just make sure that there isn’t a secondary flavor that would clash with you jam of choice. Last week I used cherry jam, and this week it’s blackberry jam.

When you are searching for jam cookie recipes, you find a lot of thumbprint cookies. I have grown to like thumbprint cookies, but there are many other options. These cookies use jam as a decorative topping, and I think they just turned out beautifully. The original recipe called for raspberry jam, but I used some lovely blackberry jam made by my friend at work.

The recipe states that you should use seedless jam. The blackberry jam wasn’t seedless, but I wanted to use it anyway. You use such a tiny amount, which I piped by cutting a tiny tip off of my pastry bag, and the seeds get in the way. The blackberry jam worked, but I routinely had to squeeze the seeds out of the piping bag. Annoying. The cookies themselves are simple, and the sweetness comes from the jam and the icing. They are crumbly and do want to meltaway, and they taste great.

Blackberry Meltaway Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour

3 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk
1-1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons blackberry jam

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and cornstarch and beat on medium until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and almond extract and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and stir until the dough comes together. Refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes.

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

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet and roll into a ball about 1-inch in diameter.  

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set. As soon as the cookies are removed from the oven, press the cookies down with the bottom of a glass. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the topping: melt 3 tablespoons butter, then stir in the vanilla and milk. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of powdered sugar, adding additional powdered sugar if the topping is too thin. Cool slightly, then spoon onto the cooled cookies. Allow to set for 10 minutes, then pipe a few drops of jam on top of the glaze and swirl the topping with a toothpick or the tip of a knife. Set completely before serving.

Recipe from Family Cookie Recipes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Peanut butter and jelly are such a classic combination! Working from home, I have to say I have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch with some regularity! I bake a lot with peanut butter, and I have made a couple of peanut butter and jelly creations, such as thumbprint cookies and cookie cups. This was my first try in the traditional cookie form, and I was intrigued to make a cookie with a filling of frozen bits of peanut butter.

I didn’t change too much about these cookies, but the original recipe called for peanut butter chips for the dough and additional chips to top the cookies. I thought I had some, but I used them in another recipe, so they are missing here. I don’t really think you need them anyway. In order to make these stuffed cookies, the cookies end up being very large. You could try to make them smaller, but it is hard enough to shape the dough around the fillings as it is. I did halve the recipe and made 7 (really big) cookies.

These cookies are a bit fussy to get formed. Since the jelly is so liquid, it spread a little and it was about impossible to encase it fully. I was worried that the cookies would open up during baking, but they didn’t. They all cracked on the top in different ways, but that was fine. The original recipe said to bake the cookies for 12 minutes, but mine need a lot longer to bake, likely 20 minutes since the cookies are large. I do love peanut butter cookies, but these with the peanut butter and jelly filling are just the best. They are so tasty that I don’t mind that the cookies are enormous!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
1 cup + ¼ cup peanut butter, divided
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup jam or jelly

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

With the ¼ cup peanut butter, make 15 small dollops and place them on a parchment-covered plate. Freeze the peanut butter dollops while you make the dough.

In a mixer bowl, beat the 1 cup peanut butter and the butter on medium until combined. Add the sugar and brown sugar and mix again on medium until combined. Add the egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, add gradually add the flour and stir until the dough comes together.
    
Separate the dough into 15 mounds, each about 3 tablespoons. Make a well in each cookie and add a dollop of jelly and a frozen dollop of peanut butter. Form the dough around the peanut butter and jelly, sealing in the fillings as much as possible. Place on the prepared baking sheets. A+s these are large cookies, place a maximum of 8 cookies on each baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cookies are golden around the edges, the tops start to crack, and the cookies are set. If you bake both sheets at the same time, rotate the baking sheets half-way through the baking time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Cookies and Cups