These aren’t just any Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies; they were Nora Ephron’s favorite. The Nora Ephron – writer of Sleepless In Seattle and When Harry Met Sally.
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The story goes that while visiting Seattle, Nora stopped in to the Dahlia Bakery and bought a few of these cookies. Then she sent Tom Douglas an e-mail to say that they were her all-time favorite cookies and could she have the recipe. He sent the recipe along with a big package of cookies and later asked if they could name the cookies after her in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook. I love her response: “Are you kidding me? This may be the greatest cookie ever ever ever.”
I have to agree, not just about these Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, but about every cookie (or sandwich, or soup, or pie) I’ve tried at the bakery. Now I can say the same about everything I’ve made from the cookbook. The recipes are no-fail and, really, are nothing short of heavenly.
Table of Contents
Recipe at a Glance
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 32 minutes (includes chilling)
- Yield: 24 sandwich cookies
- Skill Level: Easy
Ingredients for Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
For the Peanut Butter Filling:
- Peanut Butter: creamy peanut butter; use your favorite brand
- Butter: unsalted butter (if using salted butter, reduce the amount of kosher salt)
- Powdered Sugar: also called confectioners’ sugar; just 2 tablespoons, enough to thicken the filling without turning it into frosting
- Honey: or maple syrup; a couple of tablespoons keep the filling smooth rather than stiff
- Kosher Salt: or about half the amount of fine sea salt; a full teaspoon sounds like a lot, but it’s what makes the filling taste like peanut butter instead of sugar.
For the Peanut Butter Cookies:
- Flour: all-purpose flour; spoon and level it, or better yet weigh it
- Baking Soda: just make sure it’s not past the date on the box.
- Baking Powder: works alongside the baking soda to give the cookies lift and spread.
- Kosher Salt: or about half the amount of fine sea salt
- Rolled Oats: ideally old-fashioned rolled oats; they’re what give these cookies their chew.
- Butter: unsalted butter, softened (if using salted butter, reduce the amount of kosher salt)
- Peanut Butter: crunchy peanut butter; the bits of peanut add texture to the cookies while the creamy filling stays smooth.
- Sugar: granulated white sugar
- Brown Sugar: I like to use golden brown sugar, but you can use dark if that’s what you keep on hand.
- Eggs: large eggs or extra large eggs, at room temperature so they blend smoothly into the creamed butter.
- Vanilla: real vanilla extract
A Great Cookbook
These sandwich cookies are the second cookie I’ve shared from the book, the first being Chocolate Truffle Cookies. But the genius of these recipes I attribute to the cookbook authors Tom Douglas and Shelley Lance alone. And I highly recommend that you add the Dahlia Bakery cookbook to your collection; it’s loaded with sweet and savory secrets that may become your favorite recipes, as many have become mine.
How to Make Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
When you make these cookies, you’ll want to start the process several hours before you plan to bake them. The filling and cookie dough need to be refrigerated for a couple of hours ahead of time.
The filling comes together first: everything goes into the stand mixer until creamy, then into the refrigerator. The cookie dough is a classic creaming-method dough, butter, crunchy peanut butter and sugars beaten until fluffy, then eggs, vanilla, and the oat and flour mixture. Scooped dough chills for at least 2 hours, then bakes at 375°F until golden, about 12 minutes.
Once the filling is chilled and the cookies have cooled, it’s fun to assemble the cookie sandwiches. You just scoop a generous dollop of filling onto one cookie, bottom side up, and top it with a second cookie, bottom side down. Then gently press the top cookie down to spread the filling.
Try these peanut butter sandwich cookies and I bet you’ll whole-heartedly agree with Nora that they may be the best cookies ever ever ever.
Pro Tips
- Chill the Scooped Dough: Chilling the dough isn’t optional. It’s very soft and fluffy and would spread into a mess on your cookie sheet if you tried to bake these immediately. Two hours in the refrigerator is a minimum.
- Convection Baking: If your oven has convection baking, you can bake a couple of trays at once to save you time.
- Rotate the Pan Halfway Through: Convection or not, ovens tend to run hotter in the back. A quick turn at the 6 minute mark helps keep the whole batch evenly golden.
- Cool Cookies Completely Before Filling: Even slightly warm cookies will soften the chilled filling and you won’t end up with proper cookie sandwiches.
Make-Ahead and Storage
The dough and filling of Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies work well to make ahead. The filling goes into the refrigerator as soon as it’s mixed and the scooped dough needs to chill for a minimum of 2 hours, so you can make both a day before you plan to bake and assemble. Once assembled, store the cookies in an airtight glass container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
More Must Try Cookies
- Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
- Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- A whole collection of my best Cookie and Brownie Recipes
Video
Ingredients
For the peanut butter filling:
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For the peanut butter cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 2/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 18 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup packed golden brown sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the peanut butter filling:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine all filling ingredients. Mix on medium speed until creamy and fully combined. Transfer mixture to another bowl; cover and refrigerate.
- Clean and dry stand mixer bowl.
To make the peanut butter cookies:
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl; whisk to combine. Whisk in the oats. Set aside.
- Add butter, chunky peanut butter, and sugars to the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, occasionally scraping down the bowl.
- Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and add eggs, one at a time, until combined. Scrape down bowl and add vanilla extract; mix until combined. Add dry ingredients in 2 or 3 additions and mix just until combined. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape down sides with a rubber spatula, being sure to incorporate any dry ingredients still in the bottom.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- You’ll be chilling these scoops, so place them close together (not touching). Scoop out dough with a 1-tablespoon scoop. Place scoops on prepared baking sheet. You’ll have about 48 cookies. Refrigerate scooped cookies at least 2 hours.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 375 °F (191 °C).
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper and create a double pan by setting it inside a second baking sheet.
- Arrange 8 to 12 cookies on prepared baking sheet (number depending on the size of your sheet) , leaving an inch or more of space on all sides of each cookie (cookies will spread during baking). Bake until golden, about 12 minutes, rotating pan halfway through the cooking time. When golden, remove from oven and cool on wire rack 10 minutes before transferring cookies to cooling rack with a spatula. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely before filling them.
To assemble cookie sandwiches:
- Turn one cookie bottom side up and scoop a little less than 2 teaspoons of peanut butter filling into the middle. Top with another cookie, bottom side down, and press gently to spread filling. Repeat to assemble remaining sandwich cookies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! These remind me of a homemade Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies my family enjoyed when I was young.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying these, Susan! They’re a house favorite for us too!
How are these best stored after they are assembled? I’ve made them a day ahead of our cookie exchange and I don’t want them to be moist. Do they have to be refrigerated for the filling? I didn’t want the crisp cookie to soften.
Hi, Susan. I’d store them in an airtight, glass container at room temperature to maintain as much crispiness as possible.
Marissa! I swear I left a message on this but I can’t find it….we are totally in sync, I made brownie cookie sandwiches yesterday with peanut butter filling!! Can’t believe it!! 🙂 These look so yum…I am totally trying your peanut butter filling next time!
Yum! Brownie sandwich cookies sound amazing!!
OK, so I need to go to this bakery NOW … well, OK, at least some day …
These do indeed look like the ultimate cookie! 🙂
😉 Thanks, Helen!
I am a HUGE pb cookie fan and these look pretty perfect! That filling takes them over the top! 🙂
Wow, thanks Faith! 🙂
my mouth is watering just imagining how delicious this tastes. you’re so clever!
That’s sweet, Kelsey! Thank you.
These remind me of a cookie I made a while back and they were so good…and now I’m totally craving something ultra peanut buttery! Love that creamy filling – could eat it with a spoon!!
I’m with you! I may have tried a little on it’s own. May have. 😉