It's peanut butter jelly time! In the form of delicious bite sized peanut butter and jelly thumbprint cookies. The filling is strawberry jelly for some of the cookies and Valrhona strawberry inspiration chocolate for some. You can use either or both or the jam of your choice!

Peanut butter cookies filled with strawberry jelly and strawberry chocolate on a white plate

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I love a good peanut butter cookie recipe whether its in drop cookie form, roll out or thumbprint cookies. And the addition of jelly, specifically strawberry, brings back childhood nostalgia with the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich but in cookie form.

Jump to:

? Ingredients needed:
How to make peanut butter and jelly thumbprint cookies:
? Pro Tips:
How to melt chocolate with a double boiler:
Weighing ingredients Vs using cups:
Other peanut butter recipes you might like:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints Cookie Recipe:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

? Ingredients needed:

All Purpose Flour - you could substitute with gluten free all purpose flour blend
Baking soda - gives baked goods a lighter texture
Salt - I use Diamond Kosher salt, if you use any other kind use less since other brands are saltier than Diamond.
Butter - unsalted
Sugar - regular white granulated sugar (this is used in the cookies as well as rolling the cookies in before baking).
Brown sugar - you can use light or golden, I wouldn't use dark brown sugar for these cookies.
Egg - just one large one, cracked open discard the shell. Egg shell doesn't go in baked goods.
Peanut Butter - I use natural unsalted and it is what I recommend. Brand name commercial brands have other ingredients added such as oils and sugars and could mess up the taste and texture of the cookies.
Vanilla extract - I love using the Bourbon Vanilla extract from Trader Joe's.
Turbinado sugar - also known as sugar in the raw. The cookies are rolled in both granulated and raw sugar before baking for texture and crunch.
Strawberry Jelly - I use jelly and not preserves, if you want some pieces of strawberry use preserves
Valrhona Strawberry Inspiration - strawberry flavored chocolate that melts beautifully and has an amazing strawberry flavor. A little bit of a splurge but worth it.

How to make peanut butter and jelly thumbprint cookies:

Make the dough - then chill. These roll out better when chilled.
Set out a bowl of granulated sugar and a bowl of turbinado sugar. The cookies are rolled in both sugars before baking.
Once you roll the cookies in both sugars you are going to chill them until firm. Just about 10 minutes. This is an important step to keep the cookies from spreading too much when baking.
As soon as the cookies are out of the oven you quickly make indents in the middle before cooling.
Once cooled fill the centers with the jelly and or the melted strawberry chocolate.

cookie dough balls on a baking sheet cookie dough in a bowl bowl of strawberry jelly bowl of strawberry chocolate feves

? Pro Tips:

Making the indents in the cookies after they bake will give you an even sized space to fill with the jelly and chocolate. Making the indent before baking doesn't always work as the cookies puff and spread during baking and you will have to indent again as soon as they are out.
Chilling the cookies before baking will help keep their shape and so they won't puff out as much.

I did a little experiment with the cookies with chilling, not chilling and making the indents before and after baking.

three peanut butter cookies with different sized indents in the middls

As you can see above there are different results with chilling, not chilling and when to make the indent. I wanted just a small indent so I indented the cookies as soon as they were out of the oven. If you want more filling go with either option one or two. If going for option one you can make a bigger indent with a measuring spoon, working quickly so the edges don't crack too much.

I used the end of a wooden spoon, I could have made a slightly larger indent but since these are smaller cookies I didn't want the filling to take over the overall taste of the cookie.

You can pick whichever method you like, but as you can see not chilling and indenting before baking just kind of makes a blob cookie and the indent has spots where the filling will ooze out, especially if using chocolate.

round peanut butter cookies with an indent in the middle on a baking tray bowl of melted red strawberry chocolate bowl of dark red strawberry jelly

I love how nice and uniform the peanut butter thumbprint cookies are with chilling after rolling and indenting after baking. I set the cooled cookies on a baking pan lined with parchment so I can quickly fill then set in my freezer to set up the chocolate.

To fill the cookies I slightly heat up the jelly so it is easy to spoon into the cookies, the chocolate I melt using a double boiler method.

How to melt chocolate with a double boiler:

This method is quite easy for melting the chocolate and keeping it melted as well as remelting if it has cooled too much.

Set a pan with less than half full of water over a stove burner and set a bowl over the top that fits against the pan sides and the bottom doesn't touch the water. I use a glass or a stainless bowl for this. Heat over medium heat. You don't want the water to boil, but just a gentle simmer.

Place the chocolate in the bowl and stir with a spatula until melted. That's it!

round peanut butter cookies filled with strawberry jelly and strawberry chocolate on a baking tray bowl of melted red strawberry chocolate bowl of dark red strawberry jelly

I fill each cookie with a generous teaspoon of the jelly and the strawberry chocolate then I chill to set.

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.

Other peanut butter recipes you might like:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

Shanna

Bite sized peanut butter thumbprint cookies filled with strawberry jelly and Valrhona strawberry inspiration chocolate. A childhood favorite flavor combination in a tasty cookie.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 30

Additional Time 1

Total Time 2 10

Servings 44 cookies

Ingredients

162 g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
115 g unsalted butter, room temperature
50 g granulated sugar
108 g brown sugar, light or golden
1 large egg, room temperature
187 g creamy natural peanut butter, not peanut butter with added oils or sugars, room temperature ( see notes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For rolling:

50 g granulated sugar
50 g Turbinado sugar, raw sugar

For filling:

114 g Strawberry Jelly
114 g Valrhona strawberry inspiration feves

Instructions

Get a medium bowl out, measure the flour into it then add the baking soda and salt and whisk together, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add in the egg and mix until combined then add in the peanut butter and vanilla extract.
Next, add in the flour mixture and mix on low to combine. Chill in refrigerator either in mixing bowl or transfer to another bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least thirty (30) minutes.
When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 Deg F ( 176C) and set out baking sheets with parchment paper.
Fill a small bowl with the granulated sugar and another with the turbinado (raw) sugar.
Roll out the dough in 14 gram sized balls ( a generous tablespoon), roll in the granulated sugar first then the raw sugar. Place a few inches apart on a baking sheet then chill until firm. I chill in the freezer to make this step faster.
Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes until puffed and golden, remove from the oven and quickly indent the middles with the end of a wooden spoon or a round measuring spoon. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling. Repeat until you have 44 cookies baked.

To fill the cookies:

Set the cooled cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Heat up the strawberry jelly slightly so its a little runny and easier to drip off of a small spoon into the cookie middles.
If using the strawberry chocolate ( or any chocolate) heat until melted - you can do this in either a microwave at 30 second increments, stirring after each time until melted or with a double boiler method ( how to in post).
Once the cookies are filled, set in either your refrigerator or freezer until chocolate is set.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in your freezer.

Notes

Natural peanut butter tends to have some of the oil separated in the jar before using. Some brands you can turn upside down and the oil will mix in, others will take more finesse with stirring or even using a single beater of a hand mixer to get it evenly mixed. This is best done at room temperature.

Don’t use name brand peanut butters that have other added ingredients such as oils and sugars as the taste and consistency of the cookie will come out different.

If it’s your first time making this recipe then make sure you read all of the information in the main post as it includes lots of additional tips, as well as the answers to some common questions.

If you have any further questions then do let me know in the comments and or email me [email protected] and I’ll do my best to help.

If you choose to make substitutions to the recipe that I have not tested yet please do so at your own risk. I cannot guarantee the same results if you change a lot of the ingredients or method. However, if any of your changes are successful I would love to hear about it and will add to my recipe notes for other readers to try as well.