I bake in waves. Sometimes, I’ll bake twice a week – bread, cookies, cakes or rolls, just because I have the time and inclination. Then I might go four months neglecting my sad, lonely flour canister. But my canister and I recently rekindled our relationship. With school in full swing and random kids spending the night, there have been biscuits, breads, and more recently, cookies.
Because I was sure I could remember more than four things without a grocery list (I was wrong.), I came home with nothing sweet for the family lunchboxes. But I happened to have several random jars of jelly on hand, so I decided to go with the classic thumbprint cookie. I hadn’t made them in a while, and I forgot how ridiculously easy they are. And better yet, so few ingredients! No baking soda or baking powder and no need to add vanilla (unless you are like my grandmother, who put vanilla in all baked goods).
After making the classic thumbprint cookie, I realized it would be easy to just cut down the amount of the butter, add peanut butter, and make a PBJ cookie. I let everyone choose their jellies (I have a red raspberry fan, a strawberry fan and an old-school grape fan in the house.), and everyone was happy – even the flour canister.
Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Cookies Inspired by a recipe by Garrett McCord Makes about 2 dozen
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
¾ cup crunchy peanut butter
½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 cups flour
½ cup jam or jelly, divided
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugar about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides regularly.
• Add the egg yolks and mix to combine. Slowly add the flour until fully incorporated. The dough will be a bit dry.
• Scoop the 1 tablespoon dough, roll into a ball, and place on the cookie sheets, about 12 cookies per sheet.
• Use your thumb to gently press down in the center of each cookie and make a slight indentation. Fill it with about ½ teaspoon jam or jelly.
• Bake 14 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes.
This article appears in October 2013.