These cookies got me thinking about all the different ways that I enjoy peanut butter and jelly. ย You know I love a list… so here goes.
I love peanut butter and jelly:
on white bread with the crust cut off.
rolled up in a warm flour tortilla.
on a toasted bagel, excluding the dreaded onion bagel.
on a spoon.
at midnight.
at lunch from a plastic bag.
with a Capri Sun.
after a date.
after a breakup.
with a banana.
without a stinkin’ banana.
on Wednesday.
every Wednesday.
from now.
until forever.
amen.
I could go on. and on and. on. Really… let’s cut to the cookie.
These flourless peanut butter cookies are my go-to cookie recipe. ย There are only four ingredients. ย This recipe is heroic. ย They’re super simple, crisp little cookies. ย Make a little indentation in the center of these cookies, add your favorite jam, bake em up… you’ve got peanut butter and jelly cookies.
It’s not rocket science. ย It is super yumtown.
Flourless Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook
makes about 32 small cookies
1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
about 1/4 cup any fruit preserves you fancy
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. ย Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. ย In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. ย Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes. ย The dough will be crumbly. ย Roll into teaspoon sized balls and make a small indentation in the center of the dough ball with your pointer finger. ย Fill the depression with fruit preserves. ย Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly browned. ย Cool on a baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
155 Responses
This recipe does not work AT ALL. the cookies spread out like crazy and do not hold their shape. Major fail. Still super tasty but very misleading recipe. Followed recipe exactly too — didn’t change a thing. Oh well.
gonna try it with a glob of nutella or a choc kiss
I stick the flourless PB cookies in the freezer. They are still delish right out of the freezer and they hold together much better.
Can you use all natural peanut butter from Whole Foods or does recipe work best with a processed brand?
Not sure what I did wrong…mine came out completely flat and didn’t stay together. Yummy but not presentable.
Love these cookies! I made mine a little larger so they needed an extra 5 minutes to cook in order to set up properly. Amazing flavor, so simple and now my belly is happy:) Thanks for the recipe, Joy.
ok, I just made these but they turned out more like pb donuts??? where the “jelly” is supposed to be just fell right thru when I pulled them off of the cookie sheet? what did I do wrong???
I had the same problem as Mitzi. Ended up throwing them away. :(
I just bought two jars of my favorite GF peanut butter from Peanut Butter Co. I cannot wait to use it for this recipe!
This recipe is yummy! I did add a teaspoon of vanilla, about 2 tablespoons of flour (it helped with the consistency, and we don’t have any gluten issues), cut the sugar to 1/2 cup, and they tasted great. I used a disher for portioning, and strawberry preserves, and baked them closer to 20 minutes. There was no running—they stayed a nice fluffy/sandy texture.
I forgot to mention I made the cookies with a “chocolate strawberry mermelade” (I’m in Spain) and it was AMAZING…if anyone can find something similar, go for it!
These cookies are super easy! I didn’t read the recipe correct at first and made indentations with a spoon which made the cookies too large and flat, so the jam (I also put too much jam in them, and made the cookies too big), spilled out of the cookies and made them hard to lift from the pan. So all of this was my fault. The recipe is great and follow it exactly. The ones I did make indentations with my finger and made them smaller in size came out beautifully. Took no time to cook, and DELICIOUS!! I have eaten so many at this point that I am embarrassed.
Thanks for such a great easy recipe!! I will make these for my secondary students in Spain to give them a little taste of America!
I made these last night while not feeling well… let’s just say that they made me feel better. Mine didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as yours, but damn did they taste good. I think one trick to making them pretty and not having them glob is to actually use preserves and NOT jam. The more “preserve” bit I put in the cookie, the prettier they turned out.
hi joy,
just made these last night and they were deeeeeeeeeelish!
just one question – i was trying to find the original recipe in the gourmet cookbook and i couldn’t find it (i tried the cookie book as well). can you link to the actual title of the book?
thanks!
maya
These turned out AWESOME for me! I riffed off your other flourless pb cookie recipes and substituted the cup of sugar with half a cup of sugar and half a cup of lightly packed brown sugar, added a half teaspoon of vanilla extract, and then threw in two big heaping ladlefuls of chocolate–a big chocolate chunk that I chopped up, threw in the food processor, and then sifted all the powder out of. Re: the jelly-everywhere problem someone had, I just made deeper dents in my doughballs, like little volcanoes, and tucked the jam in (I used apricot-raspberry, mmmm Bonne Maman). The cookies turned out much darker, with jelly centers kind of like Jammy Dodgers, and they were a huuuuge hit! So thank you so much, Joy! I love your blog, it inspires me to keep baking.
thank you i need something to make for my friends brthday and i will try it
Looks delish. Clearly more fun to eat than the sandwich variety [:
Joy– do you think this recipe would work well if you substituted Nutella for the jelly? I know you’d have to augment the recipe some, namely putting the Nutella part way through the baking time… just wondering what you think!
Thanks for the yummy inspiration each week!
Ok, I managed to FAIL on these simple cookies (I know, I know, I don’t know how that’s possible). I made them last night and the jelly went everywhere except on the cookies. They ended up being glazed pb cookies. They were tasty, just not visually appealing :(
When you say natural peanut butter, is Laura Scudder’s ok to use?
Can’t wait to make them.
These look soooo yummy but is there something I can do without having to use the egg. M daughter is allergic to eggs and I was thinking of subbing a “flax egg” to the mix what do you think?
This recipe is RIDICULOUS. How can something so easy come out so yummy? I’ve made them three times since posted this…obviously it’s my go to recipe too. Thanks!
I will be trying these this weekend as I’m sensitive to gluten, it will be a nice easy holiday treat!
Janet: I haven’t tried it yet for this recipe, but I recently made a muffin recipe where I substituted 1 cup sugar for 1/2 cup date sugar and 1/2 cup sucanat and it worked fine, just a bit less sweet than the sugar would have been. I’ll let you know how it comes out with this recipe.
Aleta, thanks for the idea!
Hi,
I made these biscuits today. They turned out really soft. Would that be because I added more sugar than the recipe required? Or would it be that the egg I used was too big?
Anyhow, they didn’t turn out crunchy at all.
I just made these, telling myself it would be a “healthy” snack (since there was no flour or butter.) Have you tried reducing the sugar or substituting honey or agave? I’m wondering how they might turn out, since the PB is naturally sweet.
I substituted a cup of date paste (smashed up date fruits) for the sugar. This helped the cookies hold their shape instead of melting into a peanut butter sheet. It provided fiber (oh yay.) and a pretty good flavor too. Um, I also substituted flaxmeal and water for the egg, yielding the uberhealthy cooky of your dreams. No seriously. They tasted great. I filled them with a tiny bit of blueberry jel-jam and it didn’t bubble over or anything. These were a real hit amongst my hippie/alternative-food-lifestyle co-workers who demanded the recipe and a cooking lesson as a result. THank YOU!
I forgot that I also added 1/3 cup of soy grits.
Well, I didn’t have a cookie sheet (I know, I know, what the heck?!) but just had to try these. So I scooped the mixture into a mini-muffin pan and went from there. They’re still in the oven, smell delicious, are a bit overflow-y, but look good so far!
A coworker made these amazing PBJ cookies for an at-work baby shower and they are absolutely delicious! I will be baking them with my 3-year-old daughter for our Fourth of July celebration. PBJ (cookies) all the way!
These are delicious! Even though mine spread out to the degree that I had a baking sheet full of peanut butter … well, a peanut butter sheet really. But not to worry, I just separated the cookies again once they were done.
By the way: they taste totally phenomenal with chocolate and caramel in the center instead of the jelly/jam. If you want to cheat (not that I’d ever do that. Nope. I just heard that other people do. Cheaters!) just cut Rolos into quarters and stick a quarter Rolo into each indentation. YUM!
Hi,
I found that the fruit preserves bubbled out and over the edges of the cookies. they ended up having more of a jam “glaze”. I would put the fruit preserves in after baking the cookies next time. Also, make sure the indentation is small or the cookies will be too delicate to stay together after they are cooked.
Taste good though!
Thanks so much for posting this recipe!! It came just in time for the weekend spent with my brother (who has a gluten allergy). They were an absolute hit! And my dad couldn’t stop eating them!! Luckily it made enough to make everyone happy. :) Thanks again!
Hi! I just had to feature them on my Blog, they are so yummy yet so easy to make!
such yumo cookies….my house still smells of them and my hubby loves them! thank you for sharing, they are perfect for my niece who has an allergy to flour.
here are pictures of her making them. she is only 2! a star baker…
https://soulfoodcrazy.blogspot.com/2010/06/family-baking-rocks.html?spref=fb
I made these tonight and they were fabaliscious. I didn’t have the problems that some had, but I made mine about tablespoon size, easy on the jam, and just a tiny splash of vanilla. I also used the natural, kind you have to stir PB. They aren’t as cute and petite as yours, but they sure do taste yum. Beauty is overrated anyway, right?
Thank you for posting this recipe! I made these tonight, and used some strawberry jam I made this past weekend, and they turned out absolutely delicious. So incredibly peanut-buttery!
I just made these and had the exact same problems as Freya (68) and Shawna (91). They looked perfect before baking (pretty sure the indentation wasn’t too deep and I held back on the jelly), but then the jelly frothed up, the cookies went flat, and the jelly sank through holes in the dough to the baking sheet. I have an oven thermometer and the temp was exactly right, and I followed the recipe exactly, so I’m not sure what went wrong. They’re still delicious, but can’t be the gift to a wheat-sensitive friend I’d hoped they’d be.
I clipped these…they sound really good. And I just got several jelly samples. This will be a perfect way to try them.
Gosh, I had a “little” peanut butter freny last week when I baked peanut butter brownies TWICE to a birthday party, then made peanut butter ice cream and chocolate-peanut butter cookies. So kinda tired of peanut butter but your cookies sound really jummy none the less! Gotta try these types of cookies one day
Is it bad that whenever I make these flourless peanut butter cookies of yours, I never actually get around to baking any of the dough before it’s all gone?
Oh man, this is one of my favorite recipes too, but I’ve never put the thumbprint + jam in the cookies! Actually, as much as I like jam, I like nutella more, and I’m thinkin’ that nuts on nuts could be pretty awesome…
These sound awesome! Can’t believe I’ve never seen these before. Will definitely have to try them. I looooove a good PB&J.
I’m going to have to try these! My daughter would love them…. and I’m sure I’d finish off the other half. Thank you!!
Maybe I didn’t do something quite right, but mine didn’t turn out looking as nice as the picture. My jelly foamed up and cooked thru the bottom onto the cookie sheet and then left a hole in the cookie. Did I make the indent too big? hmmm… They taste yummy tho!
booo. i’m sorry. perhaps you made the indent too deep.
MMMMM Peanute Butter. Easy and quick. I love it!!! I can see it as an end to a very Americana BBQ for the 4th. Good luck with the Wedding Cake.
strawberry cream cheese on an everything bagel is uh-maze-zing. trust me on this.
as for the cookies….it is my one way ticket to fat town. i can’t wait to bake this and eat them all.
Oh man, I feel like a total oddball…
*whispers*
Me no likey PB&J. I ate jelly sandwiches as a kid. Still do.
But I would inhale an onion bagel (even garlic) every day of my life if I could.
I love peanut butter and jelly on my pancakes and french toast!
Thank you, thank you! I have been needing a simple, easy recipe that make really yummy cookies to bring into work when I get caught the night before with a message on my phone saying: “Don’t forget to bring in your home-baked cookies for the reception tomorrow” – oh did I mention I usually get this message at 8pm?
These will be a life-saver! I’ll just remember to keep an extra jar of peanut butter on my shelf and I will be all set!
I can’t wait to make these I may even be so generous and bake some for work! I added you in a link on my website/diary today, https://tinyurl.com/2f3ctda
I hope you enjoy!
Gina
Wow could these cookies be any easier!! I love PBJ in fact I had it this morning on a banana! It’s awesome with honey as well…
Looks like an awesome gluten free, dairy free, soy free cookie for me to make for my daughter!! Bookmaking now!!! Would make them today, but I am low on PB and just post c-section so I can’t drive to the store :-( Maybe hubby will pick some up for me on his way home from work!!
Very cool! I too eat PB&Js on a regular basis. Who am I kidding? I eat PB almost everyday. Thanks for this.
I’have done them today!buonissimi!bye bye bikini:)!
thanks for sharing!
I’ll make these today!!!
Super easy…
These look so yum and so EASY!!
x
Love your list! Rolled in a warm tortilla sounds wonderful. And yes, onion bagels are dreaded. :D Your cookies look cute and scrumptious.
My kids love PB&J. I will definitely have to whip these up for a treat this week. Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! Pb&j is the best combination. i love it on saltine crackers :)
is it bad to add just plain grape jelly? it’s my favorite pairing with peanut butter! will it bake ok? or should i find some… grape preserves?
i bet grape jelly is a-okay!
These look so soooooo good. And easy! Nothing like adding a cup of sugar to your favourite spread. AWESOME.
I have been looking for a quick, easy cookie to make for my co-workers (they have started a cookie fund so I am obligated to bake for them regularly! ;) ). These little guys are it. You have perfect timing.
I wonder how they would be with a hershey’s kiss stuck in the middle?
seriously yummy.
Never mind, I found the original source on Google books and it shows enough of the recipe to let me know it is just the white sugar, singular.
Hi Joy. In your recipe, you said to mix the PB with the sugars, plural, but you only have one sugar listed. Is there suppose to be a second sugar (brown perhaps)? Sorry, I am one of those literal people and like to over think things.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I cannot wait to taste them (I have a batch in my oven right now). The perfect cookies, who doesn’t have all ingredients always on hand?
So I made these and followed everything to the letter. The cookies lost their round shape and oozed and flattened until the cookie sheet looked more like a traybake. The jam melted right through to the bottom, so the cookies wound up with holes in them and globs of jam on the baking tray. They taste great, but look a mess and are chewy instead of crumbly. I’m mainly bummed that the jam totally bailed. Any idea where I went wrong? fairly sure oven was at 350, too. But I don’t have an oven thermometer. Could temperature account for this?
Yum, thanks! Can’t wait to try. I recently went gluten free and dairy free so I’m craving sweets and I can have this! Yay! It could also easily be vegan with egg substitutes.
I know the flourless peanut butter cookies and they are superb. Now, why didn’t it occur to me to add the jelly? Can’t wait to give these a try.
I believe that pristine baking equipment is a sin…
I’d make these cookies right now, but they’d just end up in my mouth…..
yummmo
just printed it and off to preheat the oven! perfect timing, was wondering what I was going to bake with my 4 year old today! thank you, she will love these! (and so will her daddy and grandpa, she is making them for fathers day!)
PB & J, PB & Honey, PB & Bananas, or how about a PB+H+B+loads of home-made strawberry jam (that is the way my hubby likes it, I came home and busted him with jam dripping down his shirt and all over the kitchen floor) I will try making these cookies for him if he is lucky, he is at the top of my poop roster right now!
My favorite…PB & J with crushed BBQ chips in the middle. YUMMY!!
Peanut butter? You’ll never go wrong. I just posted about your low-fat chocolate muffins!
Joy – Yummers on the PB&J cookies! simple. beautiful. delish. You don’t know how comforting it is to see your cookie sheets are just as rockin-ratty as mine! ;) ha,ha
Yum! I think I’ll make these for Father’s Day, I make regular ones every year but these sound great, Thanks!
That sounded like a brilliant mix of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. Considering, I feel similarly about all things PB&J, I much appreciated it. And CANNOT WAIT to make these cookies!!
Yummy peanut butter!!! Man that would be great with some fresh made jam :)
Haha! I love all the descriptions of how you love peanut butter and jelly. I may love to cook and bake, but I have a PB&J sandwich at least twice a week. Good to know I’m not alone! Those are the most adorable cookies, Joy. They’d be cute for a kid’s bday party, and probably very popular!
I had just decided to make these for my daughter’s 4th birthday party this weekend & then I read your comment! Right on!
hahaha its good to see that not only my baking sheet looks a little “used”. ^^
the cookies look delicious!
Have you tried pb on toast with sweet chili sauce – delicious – just like a satay!! Will try making these darling little cookies tonight…
I hope you don’t mind, I posted you as my favorite blog on Taste of Home’s Facebook page, and now they’ve posted a link!
This is a great Monday morning to be reading about peanut butter cookies.
Joy – what kind of cookie sheet do you use? I often (almost always) use a double insulated cookie sheet with parchment and turn it half way through the baking.
I will make these tonight!!! Yum.
Woo hoo for gluten free cookies! I can’t wait to make these! :)
Love this recipe and your list….but what about grilled peanut butter and jelly? I thought I had figured out the major ways already to whip up PB&J until a friend of mine asked my daughter about eating her PB&J grilled. I found a new heaven! Warm jelly, buttery bread, oozing peanut butter. YUM!!!
Whenever I have a break from PB&J and then have it again it’s like cake to me! I love it. And these cookies seem like the dreamiest thing yet.
I can get behind a cookie recipe that involves five ingredients. I just have to make sure I don’t polish off my jar of peanut butter with a spoon before I get to make these! :)
I love PB&J! But you know, never in my life did I like grape jelly. Go fig. I love strawberry, blueberry, seedless raspberry, bosenberry, I hear we even have famous jalapino jelly! But by far, PB&J on thick white bread makes me feel like a kid again. *happysigh* I need to feel like a kid again…..where’s my bread and condiments???
I loev these! I bake them all the time. the texture is way different that normal “flour-full” pb cookies. And they make great peanut butter and jelly sandwich cookies!!!
i think pb&j is every kid’s ultimate comfort food… nice cookies :)
Oh my god, thank you thank you thank you. I’m always looking for a peanut butter cookie recipe and I never find one without needing measuring cups. (We measure in grams here.) But this recipe is so easy with so little ingredients that it’s not really important that it’s measured in cups, I’ll just convert the peanut butter and sugar in grams and that’s it. Or I’ll just use some cup standing around. I don’t think it’s that much difference if it isn’t a regular measuring cup, right? And by the way, they look delicious.
Hi Stephanie – was just thinking that the same quantity of peanut butter and sugar (1 cup) might not weigh the same amount in grams. Does that make sense? The way a cup of marshmallow would not weigh the same as a cup of concrete? Peanut butter and sugar are different substances, after all, so don’t go converting them into grams. Go with the second idea of using any old cup that’s lying around :)
I love these with a Hershey’s Kiss instead of preserves OR mix chocolate chips into the dough.
Peanut butter and jelly – my favorite combo. I can’t get enough peanut butter. One of these days you need to throw together a peanut butter and honey combination. I’d love you forever if you did!! :) :)
great cookies!!! and who doesn’t love peanut butter!! its such a wonderful thing! If you want to add one more reason to love peanut butter I have a peanut butter pie on my blog!
These cookies are pure butter then… never heard of something like that… if I find some peanut butter I’ll definitely try them!
I think these would be so perfect for a party or potluck. I mean, who doesn’t like PB&J? And mini-cookies! :D These look great. Bookmarked! :)
Wei-Wei
You never cease to amaze me!!! These are on the list for tomorrow…
This is something quite unique, peanut butter cookies made without flour! Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
I just have to comment to say that peanut butter is my ultimate after date – especially if it’s a bad date – food.
What a great combo! My grandma made flourless pb cookies but she didnt use the baking soda and she used vanilla. I recently introduced them to my gluten free friend and she thanked me profusely! I’ll have to try these and pass them on. Thanks!
THANK. YOU. you are my hero. for me, saltine cracker pb and j sammy is where its at, never lets me down.
YUM TOWN! um yeah you are cool. Clearly cool.
P&J is Gods gift to comfort the masses:)
I’ve made flour less peanut butter cookies before, but the decision to add preserves is brilliant. Can’t wait to try them this way!
Mmmmm! I’ll have to try those. Have you ever had a PB&J milkshake? My blog buddy Rick has a neat recipe for that. You can find it here:
https://bittersweetsugarandsarcasm.blogspot.com/2010/03/peanut-butter-jelly-time.html
oh wow this is fabulous I have to try.. YOu are now officially my blog crush. Love how you write love what you bake! :))
Have a great week… off to try some of those icecream cupcakes/brownie thingees
This may be my new way to enjoy PB&J. They look delicious.
Oooo! I love recipes like this for times that I run out of flour but really really want cookies.
Also, I like the peanut butter on a spoon, but I usually dunk that peanut butter covered spoon in a cup of cheerios. Yum!!
These look so cute!
But I have a peanut allergy, do you think MaraNatha Almond Butter would work? My favorite sandwich lately is Almond Butter with Blackberry preserves.
I would love to try a twist on this recipe!
Wow, that recipe looks really simple! Love it :D
I’ve made your flourless peanut butter cookies and the are, indeed, yum. I never thought to make thumbprint cookies out of them and now I’m all, “Duh.”
totally kicking myself for finishing the rest of the PB yesterday with a spoon (dipped in raspberry jam, of course), and forgetting to replenish my PB supply when i went shopping earlier. you can bet i won’t forget to grab PB on next week’s shopping trip! looking forward to eating these!
Mmmmm, how can you go wrong with PB+J? I’m such a chunky PB girl, and I bet these are so tasty and crumbly and crunchy! I have a ton of cashew butter in my fridge though… wonder if that would work?
I’ve made this cookie recipe with cashew, walnut, hazelnut, and almond butters (at different times), and they work, but usually need a little bit of flour, or else they turn into cookie crumbs when you bite them. Unless you make one bite cookies :)
Hmmm….you seem to be feeling a little “Dr. Seussish” today. I’ve never baked the flourless peanut butter cookies, but your post made me want peanut butter and jelly right now.
Yay for thumbprints! I think if I do this recipe, it will be with blackberry. Totally awesome.
I make this same recipe with chocolate chips, I never thought to put jelly w/them, what a brillant idea! I can’t wait to make them! Thanks!
The only thing that would make these better would be dipped in chocolate!
Oh my gosh. I just made these and I gotta say they are amazing. I’m 23 weeks pregnant and one of the worst cravings I have is for PB&J! Oh goodness, the babeh is very happy.
Thank you. Since going gluten free, I have been lost. These are a keeper. More flourless recipes, please. Yummy. PB and J.
YUM!! I can’t wait to try this and so simple too :)
Love the looks of these great cookies! Nice recipe!!
I was laughing out loud the entire time I read this. Thanks for a great post!
Soooo stinkin’ simple. I have this one saved for later :)
sounds delicious! thank you Joy for another inspirational recipe :)
YUM! I’m going to not only try em with jelly, but I think I may try em with a dab of chocolate too :)
Chocolate? O.O
I’ve made these cookies before for my son. He is allergic to wheat and loves them! I never thought of adding jelly to the middle. Thanks for the idea.
“without a stinkinโ banana” made me laugh out loud. These sound GREAT. Any combination of jam and anything else is fine by me, especially if that anything else is a cookie.
These look like so much fun! And peanut butter and jelly burritos are a staple lunch in this house :)
oh my goshness, how delightfully yummy!
I might make them today.. I WILL INFACT!
Thank you!
why hasn’t that thought ever occured to me…peanut butter cookies with a jam center…
Genius. I can’t get enough of peanut butter and jelly, personally.
Holy yum!! I am so tempted to go down and bake these like now!!
With love and cucpakes,
CookTeen
cookteen.blogspot.com
You had me at peanut butter…peanut butter are my MOST favorite cookies. Give me some jelly and my heart is content!