Granola Butter and Grape Spread Sandwich Cookies. Peanut butter and jelly got a glow up with these sweet and a bit savory cookies in the shape of a sandwich ( how cute is the cookie cutter shape?) I made these cookies for Fikabröd box's "Bake to School" September 2023 box.
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It is back to school time! Or bake to school for that matter. These cookies are a sweet treat take on the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Oat Haus granola butter and Brins Salted Concord grape jelly are the stars of these cookies.
I am a big fan of making sandwich cookies, Linzer cookies and cookies in fun shapes. These were inspired by my Ube sandwich cookies, my apple cinnamon linzers and my jam sandwich cookies.
Jump to:
What is granola butter?
Granola butter is a mixture of oats, maple syrup, coconut oil and spices such as cinnamon. It is a nut-free alternative to peanut butter and other nut butters and it tastes amazing, like a speculoos cookie or cookie butter.
Salted grape spread?
Yes and OMG it is so good. All sweet desserts from cookies to pastry and cake need a bit of salt to balance out the flavor. Salted grape spread adds a nice hit of umami like salt to balance out the sweetness in these cookies and give them almost a savory note.
You can use any filing you like from jam to jelly to even something such as a chocolate spread like nutella.
Ingredients:
These are a simple shortbread butter cookie using the granola butter in both the cookie and the buttercream.
The buttercream is a Swiss meringue buttercream with the granola butter mixed in. It is so tasty.
Cookie ingredients:
- All Purpose flour
- sugar
- butter
- granola butter
- egg
- vanilla
- kosher salt
- Salted concord grape spread
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions:
The cookies are a straight forward basic shortbread cookie recipe. It is a softer dough that needs chilling to firm up enough to roll out. This step is important.
Soft butter and granola butter are mixed together first. Next the sugars are added. Then the eggs and vanilla. Finally the flour and salt.
Divide the dough into two portions and wrap in plastic wrap, press to make a disc. Chill until firm.
Roll out the dough between sheets of wax paper, cut out shapes but don't remove them just yet.
Slide the cut out cookies onto a baking tray and freeze until firm.
Working quickly pop all the cutouts out and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake until just set and the edges start to turn golden - no more than 10 minutes.
Filling the sandwich cookies:
Granola butter Swiss meringue buttercream ingredients:
- egg whites
- sugar
- cream of tartar
- salt
- vanilla extract
- butter
- granola butter
See recipe card for exact quantities
Buttercream instructions:
If you haven't made swiss meringue buttecream before, do not fear, it is quite easy to make. You do need some equipment such as a stand mixer and a candy thermometer.
Whisk together the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a stand mixer bowl. Set it over a pan of summering water and whisk until it reaches 170 Deg F. About 6 minutes.
Using the whisk attachment, whip the egg white mixture until thick and fluffy and it reaches 90 deg F.
Add in the butter one to two tablespoons at a time until all the way mixed in and keep whipping until thickened like you see here.
Switch to the paddle attachment and add in the granola butter and mix well.
Buttercream tips:
- When you add in the butter the mixture may looks soupy. Keep whipping until it thickens. If it isn't thickening, remove the bowl and pop in your refrigerator to cool for a bit then whip again to thicken.
- You can use brown sugar in place of the white for a more caramelly buttercream and a darker color.
This granola butter swiss meringue buttercream is by far one of my favorite buttercreams I have ever made. It is delicious.
Hint: Chilling the dough is super important to make sure its firm enough to roll out. You can make the dough and chill overnight if you like to make the cutting, baking and assembly of the cookies a lot faster the next day.
Once all the cookies are filled and sandwiched I pop them in the freezer to firm up the buttercream then transfer to either a freezer safe bag or container. I keep the cookies in the freezer since they last longer than way and the buttercream softens quickly at room temperature.
Substitutions
These are a pretty simple cookie with a few ingredients but here are a few suggestions
- Nut butter or other spread- instead of granola butter, you can use any nut or seed butter you like. I tested the recipe with natural creamy peanut butter and it worked great.
- Gluten free - use gluten free flour instead of all purpose to make this gluten free
- Jam or jelly- You can use any jam or jelly spread you like.
Equipment
Stand Mixer - I highly suggest using a stand mixer for the cookies and the buttercream. IF you decided to omit the buttercream and just spread the granola butter and jam between the cookies you can use a hand mixer for the cookie dough. I don't suggest hand mixing the dough since you need the faster speed to cream the butters and sugars.
Candy thermometer - You want to make sure the egg white sugar mixture reaches the correct temperature when making the Swiss meringue buttercream. A candy thermometer is a great item to own when making any kind of cooked syrup for things like buttercreams, caramels, candies or marshmallows.
Storage
Since the buttercream is soft, I keep these cookies stored in an airtight container in my freezer to keep them fresher longer.
Top tip
Don't roll the dough too thin or else the cookies will be very brittle. I probably rolled mine a little thinner than I really would have liked, I would say roll to between ⅛ and ¼ of an inch (3-6mm) thick.
Variations:
You don't have to make these into literal sandwich shapes like I did. You can make them into any cut out shape you like. You could even roll the dough discs into logs, chill wrapped up then slice like slice and bake shortbread cookies. Spread on some of the buttercream or granola butter and jam and eat them that way instead. I did that with some of the dough just to see if it would work and it did!
Weighing ingredients Vs using cups:
I use my food scale and weigh out ingredients in grams because this is the most accurate way to get the best quality baked goods. Cups aren't accurate because not only are all cups not the same the sizes vary from brand to brand as well as from different countries. I have done tests with different brands of measuring cups and they all came out with different weights after I did the spoon and level as well as scoop method and then weighed in grams.
Baking is a science and science needs accuracy. Weighing is accurate and precise. Not to mention a lot easier. Another issue with cups is that I have no control over how people use measuring cups to measure dry ingredients especially flour. You could pack in way too much which would result in a sub-par baked good. Too much flour could throw everything off. Same with not enough. Not to mention also some ingredients are difficult to measure in cups such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate etc. This is why weighing in grams is the most accurate.
I also use grams for most liquid measure since 100 grams equals 100 ml of water. Smaller amounts of items measured in teaspoons I usually leave as teaspoons, tablespoons are sometimes listed in grams as well but for the most part the different tablespoons I have used have all resulted in the same amount. Aside from cute, decorative ceramic tablespoons and teaspoons are never accurate. Those are better as decoration than for being used for baking.
Related:
Love sandwich cookies? Try these sandwich cookie recipes:
Granola Butter and Grape Spread Sandwich Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- For the cookies:
- 113 g Butter, unsalted very soft
- 125 g Granola butter, room temp
- 100 g brown sugar, light or dark
- 100 g granulated white sugar
- 1 egg, large room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 215 g all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the Swiss meringue buttercream:
- 90 g Egg whites
- 180 g Granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 270 g unsalted butter, cool room temp, sliced into tablespoon sized pieces
- 125 g Granola butter, or other nut or seed butter of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Filing:
- Salted concord grape spread, or jam, jelly or fruit spread of choice
Instructions
- Make the cookie dough:
- In a bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter and granola butter. Scrape down the sides then add in the sugars and cream until light and fluffy
- Add in the egg and vanilla and mix again well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl when necessary
- Add in the flour and salt and mix until well combined.
- Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap, shaping into a disc. Chill until firm - at least 4 hours.
- Bake the cookies:
- When ready to bake heat oven to 350 Deg. F
- Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper
- Roll out each dough disc, one at time, between sheets of wax paper until between ⅛ and /14 inch thick. You don’t want any thinner or any thicker. Slide the cut out cookies on the wax paper onto a baking sheet and freeze until firm. Carefully remove the cut out cookies and transfer to parchment lined sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely before filling and assembly.
- For the buttercream:
- While the dough is chilling, make the buttercream.Set a saucepan over the stove with an inch of water in it. Bring to a simmer.
- In a stand mixer bowl whisk together the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt. Set over the pan of simmering water, whisking constantly with a whisk or silicon spatula, scraping the sides when needed until the egg whites reach 170 Deg F. About 5 minutes.
- Once they reach temp, place the bowl on the stand mixer, attach the whisk attachment and bring up to high speed. Whip until the meringue has increased in volume and is white and fluffy and holds a stiff peak off the whisk and is about 90 Deg F. About 6 minutes.
- Add in the butter one to two tablespoons at a time until fully incorporated. Add in the vanilla. Whisk on high until the buttercream has thickened. Add in the granola butter and mix again.
- If the buttercream is too thin or soupy, refrigerate for 20-30 minutes then whip again.
- Assemble the sandwich cookies:
- Spread a little buttercream on one bottom side of a cookie, then the jam on the other side. Sandwich together. Place all the assembled cookies on a baking sheet
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