Both my fiancé and I have a serious sweet tooth. We always have something in the house that will satisfy the inevitable 2:00 am sugar cravings. As much as we love (and will happily devour) candy and ice cream, I try to keep slightly healthier sweets around. The way I see it, if we’re going to eat cookies, they might as well be homemade with organic, high quality ingredients. Yes, they’re still cookies, and no, they don’t exactly qualify as a healthy snack, but at the very least I know exactly what’s in them and can find some solace in that. Plus, I’m a professional pastry chef! I love to bake, and I get no complaints from the man of the house.
One of my favorite things in baking is the combination of salty and sweet. I think most people would agree that the combo is utterly satisfying. That way you don’t crave chips right after you eat your sweet snack, a condition I’m quite susceptible to. To that end, I love these cookies because they’re the best of both worlds. Not only do you get the saltiness of the peanut butter, but there’s a liberal amount of kosher salt in the recipe as well. That saltiness is tempered by the divine sweetness of the blackberry jam. Obviously these cookies can be made with any type of jam, but I like the deep, earthy sweetness of blackberries. With summer just around the corner, berry jams will be available at farmers’ markets all around the country and should be hoarded for cookie making purposes as far as I’m concerned. This recipe is super simple and only takes about 15 minutes of active baking. Yes, you do need to chill the cookies for up to an hour before baking, but you can use that time to clean up! I’ll bet that most of you already have all these ingredients on hand, so preheat that oven, throw on an apron, and let’s some PB&J cookies!

Ingredients: (Yield: ~2 dozen cookies)

4 1/4 oz. unsalted butter (room temperature)

3 1/2 oz. granulated sugar

5 oz. brown sugar

1/4 oz. salt

1 extra large egg (room temperature)

1/8 oz. vanilla extract 

3/8 oz. honey

4 oz. creamy peanut butter

7 3/4 oz. cake flour

1/8 oz. baking soda

Blackberry jam

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and weigh out all your ingredients.

  
2. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until fluffy. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar and salt and beat until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl.

3. Add egg and vanilla extract. Scrape.

4. Add honey and peanut butter and beat until fully incorporated. 

5. Add cake flour and baking soda and beat just to combine.

  

  
6. Roll dough into 1″ diameter balls and place on a lined baking sheet.

  
7. Make an indentation with your thumb in the center of each ball and fill with about 1/4 teaspoon blackberry jam.

  
 8. Refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze 30 minutes until cookies are solid.

9. Bake cookies ~14 minutes, depending on oven, turning once halfway through cooking. The cookies should turn golden brown but still be slightly soft to the touch when done.

  
10. Allow to cool completely and enjoy with a glass of cold milk!

  
These cookies are truly satisfying.I love how the jam spreads and sinks into the cookie a bit. That way you get more real estate touched by the jam and the center bite isn’t overpoweringly jammy (if that’s a word). If you have a moment, try this recipe out and let me know what you think! I’ll just be here, eating cookies. 

Feeling a little sweet and a little salty – Cassie