Peanut butter sandwich cookies with chocolate buttercream
Decadent dark chocolate buttercream sandwiched between sugar-coated peanut butter cookies. These peanut butter sandwich cookies are for peanut butter and chocolate lovers. Chewy peanut butter cookies are filled with a deeply chocolatey buttercream frosting. The result is one of my favorite sandwich cookie recipes ever.
The addition of instant espresso powder to the chocolate buttercream really makes it sing. It also gives additional flavor to these buttercream sandwich cookies. This is a cookie you can really sink your teeth into.
I’ll give you variations and substitutions where I can, plus helpful tips and tricks for success. Read on for this info as well as the recipe. If you’d like to skip straight to the recipe, use the jump to recipe button at the top of the post.
You may also be interested in my red velvet sandwich cookies and my classic sugar cookies recipes. For ease of browsing, you can find all of my cookie recipes in one place.
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Why you should make this recipe
If you love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, and you like a chewy cookie, this is a recipe for you.
- Easy to make – Both the cookie recipe and the buttercream are very easy to make.
- Perfect for special occasions – A great addition to holiday cookie platters or parties.
- Versatile – If you don’t want to make sandwich cookies, you’ll have about 6 dozen small peanut butter cookies to share with friends and family.
Peanut butter sandwich cookies
When you bite into these cookies, the first thing you notice is a chewy peanut butter cookie. Then, as your teeth meet in the middle, you hit the smooth chocolate buttercream, with it’s deep chocolate flavor and hit of sweetness. This cookie is so good! It is the ultimate cookie for peanut butter and chocolate lovers.
Sandwich cookies always feel a little special, because they are a bit more work than a regular drop cookie. For that reason, I think these sandwich cookies deserve a place on your holiday cookie platters.
Check out my guide on how to ship cookies if you plan to send them to a loved one. Fans of peanut butter and chocolate should also try my homemade buckeye recipe.
Cookie Ingredients
Peanut butter cookies are great because they use common pantry ingredients. You likely have everything you need to make them already.
- Bread flour – Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose, and it makes the cookies nice and chewy.
- All-purpose flour – Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. I highly recommend using a scale to measure flour.
- Peanut butter – Smooth or creamy peanut butter is perfect.
- Substitutions: Almond butter is a good substitute if you have a peanut allergy. However, it tends to be runnier than peanut butter.
- Butter – Use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt in your baked goods.
- Vanilla – Gives baked goods that familiar flavor we all love.
- Sugar – Provides just enough sweetness to the cookies.
- Brown sugar – It has a deeper flavor than regular sugar, thanks to molasses, and it also contributes to the chewiness factor.
- Eggs – Provide moisture and structure to the dough.
- Salt – All baked goods need salt.
- Baking powder and baking soda – Baking powder gives the cookies just a tiny bit of lift, while the baking soda helps the cookies spread just the right amount.
How to make sandwich cookies
Here’s a quick summary of how to make peanut butter sandwich cookies. Please see the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full recipe.
- Prep – Preheat oven to 325°F // 160°C. Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl, then set aside.
- Beat – Using a handheld electric mixer, beat peanut butter and butter together until creamy and smooth. Then add remaining ingredients and beat until combined.
- Scoop – Use a small cookie scoop to portion out the peanut butter sandwich cookie dough. Using a small cookie scoop is VERY important because you want all of the cookies to be the same size.
- Bake – Bake the cookies until light golden brown, about 14 minutes.
- Match – Once the cookies have cooled, match them up to make sure the sandwich cookie halves will be the same size.
- Pipe – Use a pastry bag, or a knife, to add chocolate butter cream to bottom cookie.
- Buttercream – The chocolate buttercream should not come all the way to the edge.
- Top – Place the second cookie on top of the buttercream and lightly press to secure in place.
Sandwich cookie filling
The filling for these peanut butter cookies is a chocolate buttercream. It is an American buttercream, which means everything is simply beaten together until light and fluffy. There is no cooking involved in the chocolate filling.
I do have a particular cocoa powder that I like for this buttercream. It is dark cocoa powder and has excellent chocolate flavor. If you are used to a store brand or Hershey cocoa powder, you will notice a big difference between the two.
To make the buttercream filling, you’ll need cocoa powder, powdered sugar, butter, cream, salt, vanilla, and espresso powder. You don’t have to use the espresso powder if you prefer not to, but I always add it to anything chocolate. Espresso, or coffee, brings out the chocolate flavor and really makes it shine. Trust me.
This is the scale that I own and use daily. It is easy to use, plus it measures in pounds, ounces and grams.
Measuring ingredients by weight, ESPECIALLY in baking, is much more accurate than cup measurement.
Peanut butter sandwich cookies FAQ’s
You can freeze both the peanut butter cookies and the buttercream for up to 3 months. Store them in an airtight container. I froze a filled cookie as well to test it out, and I’m happy to report that you can freeze them filled, if you prefer.
Yep! You can make these up to 2 days ahead of time.
Absolutely. Baking chilled dough reduces the spread. Chilled dough will give you thick and chewy sandwich cookies. When dough is not chilled, it tends to spread more.
Variations and substitutions
- Nutty – Use chunky peanut butter instead of smooth for more crunch.
- Dairy-free / vegan – Omit butter and replace with vegan butter.
- Peanut butter – Swap out the cocoa powder with peanut butter to make a peanut butter buttercream filling.
Helpful tools and equipment
- Heavy duty sheet pans that hold up to high temps without warping.
- Parchment paper sheets are MUCH easier to use than tearing pieces off of a roll.
- A food scale is one of your best tools in baking. It is much more accurate than measuring cups.
- Small cookie scoop – The same scoop I used in the recipe. It is a size #60 scoop, it holds exactly 1 tbsp. It will make uniform balls of dough, so the peanut butter sandwich cookies match up perfectly.
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Peanut butter sandwich cookies with chocolate buttercream
Ingredients
For the peanut butter cookies
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour // 180g
- 1 cup bread flour // 120g
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temp // 226g
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter // 270g
- 1 cup granulated sugar // 200g + extra for rolling
- 1 cup brown sugar lightly packed // 213g
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
For the chocolate buttercream
- 12 tbsp. unsalted butter room temperature // 170g
- 2 1/2 cups powdered confectioners/icing sugar // 300g
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder // 60g
- 1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp. sea salt
- 4 tbsp. half and half or cream
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine all purpose flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk well to thoroughly combine. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat peanut butter and butter together until smooth.
- Add sugars, and beat to combine. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add eggs and vanilla to the bowl, and beat to combine.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Beat on low speed until most of the flour is incorporated, then beat on medium speed until the mixture is uniform, about 3 – 4 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold cookie dough, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, to ensure everything is well combined.
- Use a small cookie scoop to portion roughly 6 dozen balls of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roll cookie dough in your hands to form a round ball. Dip the tops of the cookie dough in granulated sugar.
- Return peanut butter cookie balls to baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325°F with convection fan // 350° F without fan // 180°C // Gas mark 4.
- Place cookie dough on parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each one, and bake for 14 minutes. (Bake one sheet at a time for best results. Keep cookie dough in the fridge until ready to bake).
- Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving to cooling rack to cool completely. While cookies are cooling, make chocolate buttercream (recipe below).
- When cookies have cooled completely, line them up in pairs, flipping over the bottom of the sandwich cookie.
- Using a piping bag, or a small spatula, fill cookies with about 1 tablespoon of buttercream.
- Place top cookie on buttercream and lightly press to secure in place.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days, or refrigerate for up to 7 days.
Chocolate buttercream
- Combine all ingredients for chocolate buttercream in a medium mixing bowl and beat on medium/medium-high speed for 3 – 4 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Notes
Nutrition
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