Better Than Nutter Butters

Now that I'm really getting the hang of cooking and baking, (The first two years of wife-ness were a little rocky!) I'm excited to venture out into the world of store-bought-to-homemade. I love the idea of making something I buy at the store all the time (crackers, naan, tortillas, etc) at home, with better ingredients, and generally saving money! This was my first try. (I made them before the crackers, but am posting them later. Sorry for being confusing!)

Although I have only had Nutter-Butters a few times in my life, I love them. I have never bought a package for myself; I think I would polish them off in a matter of hours! Stephen isn't the biggest fan of peanut butter cookies, so we rarely have them around, homemade or otherwise! Such is the dilemma of baking for a chocolate lover, while not being a huge fan myself. Most of the time I bow to his preferences, but occasionally I make something Just Because I Want!!

I also am really enjoying baking things for little Stephen's lunches. He is so appreciative! And these cookies are just plain fun. I hope he likes them. I need a cookie jar...

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies (adapted slightly from The Brown-Eyed Baker)
Printable Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Divide the dough in half, and shape into two rectangles. Wrap in plastic (or put in plastic bags) and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day. (I recommend 1 day. Then it's not as much work all at once!)

When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. If you refrigerated the dough longer than 30 minutes let it stand at room temperature to soften a bit.

On a sheet of waxed paper, sprinkle the dough with a teeny bit of flour and roll out to a ¼-inch thickness. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter (I used a pizza, cutter. Awesome!), cut the dough into 2 inch-by-1 inch (ish) rectangles. (I gathered up all the odd edge pieces, rolled them into 2 balls and made 2 normal peanut butter cookies)

Using a fork, press the top of each cookie. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, placing about an inch apart, and refrigerate about 15 minutes.

Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the peanut butter filling. Combine the butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and heavy cream and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. (This also helps the flavors meld, otherwise it just tastes like cream and peanut butter) Use immediately, or store in an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days.

Spread filling onto the flat sides the cookies, as much or as little as you want! (You can frost half of them first, I just built a sandwich at a time.)

Unfilled cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Once filled, cookies are best eaten the same day, but can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I only used half the dough, and it made 21 sandwiches! I'm going to freeze the rest for another day.

I am so excited to put a few of these in Stephen's lunch tomorrow! I might even hide them until then so it's a total surprise...

YUM!! My First Success! Homemade sandwich cookies. And they're way better than their store-bought cousins!

The cookie is crisp and light and crumbly, not hard or crunchy at all! I'm glad, because I'm not usually a fan of crunchy cookies. 

The filling is soft and fluffy and scrumptious. The recipe made tons, so I'm going to have to come up with something else to put it on! Oh darn... :)

This one's a keeper!