A Southern spin on the childhood classic of PB&J, these cookies are one of the best recipes to come out of our test kitchen.
Peanut Butter and Pepper Jelly Cookies
Serves: 1 (10-inch) cookie
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter*
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup finely ground graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup quick-cooking oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅔ cup red pepper jelly*
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped salted peanuts
- Garnish: confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 7-well cast-iron mini cake pan with baking spray with flour; place a 7×1-inch strip of parchment paper across each well, pressing into bottom and up sides, letting excess extend over sides of wells.
- In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugars with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, oats, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture all at once, and beat at medium-low speed just until combined. (Dough will be thick.)
- Reserve ½ cup dough. Divide remaining dough among prepared wells (about 5 tablespoons each), pressing to cover bottom and slightly up sides. Spread jelly onto center of dough (about 1½ tablespoons each), leaving a ¼-inch border. Crumble reserved ½ cup dough over jelly. Sprinkle with peanuts.
- Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Using excess parchment strips as handles, remove from wells, and let cool completely on wire rack. Garnish with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
Notes
If you don’t have a mini-cake pan, follow the recipe through step 3. Reserve ⅔ cup of dough; spread remaining dough to cover bottom of a 9-inch cast-iron skillet Spread jelly over dough, leaving a ½-inch border, and continue as directed with reserved dough and peanuts.
*We used Jif Creamy Peanut Butter and Braswell’s Red Pepper Jelly.
*We used Jif Creamy Peanut Butter and Braswell’s Red Pepper Jelly.
