Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Photo courtesy of Madison Myers

Today is my father-in-law's birthday, so I wanted to make him a special treat. I learned he shares his birthday with a National Day of recognition! In addition to being my father-in-law's birthday, June 12th is also National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!  Who knew?  I sure didn't! But now that I do I will be sure to honor it every year by making my favorite Peanut Butter Cookies!

After all, It will be easy to remember!

Once again, I found this recipe on my favorite recipe site - Allrecipes.com. You can view the original recipe here.  I did not change the recipe too much, as it is perfect the way it is! However, this time around I did not have the quick cooking oats on hand, so I used regular oats and they turned out just fine! 

I really love these little sandwich cookies, and when I say little I mean it. The first time I made these - I made them sort of big because so many people really love those big cookies you get from bakeries - my daughter included! These cookies are so rich though, I recommend following the recipe to a 'T' and using a teaspoon to measure them. They turn out to be a perfect bite size piece of peanut buttery goodness! I prefer bite size cookies, so these are perfect as far as I'm concerned!

Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope it's great!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup quick cooking oats (or regular oats)
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1/2 cup peanut butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. I like to beat this for 3-5 minutes until it is well mixed and lighter in color

See how much lighter it became after mixing for about 5 minutes? Add egg and beat well.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir just until combined. 

Add oatmeal and stir - I like to stir this in by hand

Drop by teaspoons onto a parchment lined baking sheet (or greased baking sheet), and press each mound down with a fork (or a spoon) to form 1/4 inch thick cookies. The dough is pretty soft so making the fork marks can be challenging unless you put the dough in the freezer or the fridge to harden up a bit.  I've always found cookies taste better if you refrigerate the dough overnight, so if you can resist baking these for a day you'll have an easier time of making those fancy fork marks for which peanut butter cookies are famous. Notice mine don't have the pretty fork marks...I couldn't wait! But I did reserve 1/2 the dough and filling to make tomorrow, so I'll make fancy fork marks with THOSE cookies! 

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 7-10 minutes, or until cookies are a light brown. (mine were perfect after just 7 minutes)

 To Make Filling: Cream 3 tablespoons butter or margarine with the confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, and the cream. Spread filling onto half of the cooled cookies, then top with the other half to form sandwiches.

Photo courtesy of Madison Myers

Photo courtesy of Madison Myers

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