Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies Filled with Peanut Butter Cream (aka "the Nora Ephron"
Servings: 24 filled cookies
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 215 grams (1½ cups; 8 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 130 grams (1⅔ cup; 4½ ounces) rolled oats
- ½ teaspoon Diamond kosher salt
- 250 grams (1 cup + 2 tablespoons; 9 ounces) unsalted butter softened
- 117 grams (⅓ cup, 4.1 ounces) crunchy all-natural peanut butter well-mixed
- 150 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 150 grams (⅔ cup) light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Peanut Butter Filling
- 370 grams (1½ cups; 14 ounces) creamy peanut butter preferably Skippy
- 84 grams (6 tablespoons; 3 ounces) unsalted butter softened
- 2 ounces (6 tablespoons) powdered sugar
- 42 grams (2 tablespoons) honey
- 1 teaspoon Diamond kosher salt
Instructions
Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl, then stir in the oats and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, chunky peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar at medium-high speed until the mixture lightens and fluffs, increasing substantially in volume (by about double), about 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl down as needed (you'll need to often for everything to become cohesive).
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium-low and scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the vanilla extract and beat in until fully incorporated.
- Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and beat until the mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients all at once, pulse on low speed a few times to avoid spraying flour everywhere, then continue beating at the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are just combined.
- Using a 1-ounce cookie scoop (the black-handled scooper), an ice cream scoop, or two spoons, portion out all the cookies onto parchment-lined baking sheets or into Ziploc bags. You should have about 48 cookies total. Place the portioned cookies into your freezer to chill for at least 4 hours or up to overnight (if chilling longer, definitely keep them in a bag, not exposed on the sheet).
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and place 8 cookies evenly spaced and staggered onto each sheet. (Note, do not flatten the cookies). Place the baking sheets inside another baking sheet to double-pan them (so you don't burn the outside & bottom of the cookies) and then place the doubled-pans in the oven and bake until evenly golden, about 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking time (and switching which pan is on which rack if they are on different levels).
- Remove from the oven, cool on the sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Peanut Butter Filling
- Place all the ingredients into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer and mix at very low speed. Alternately, whisk together by hand, being careful not to over-whisk. Filling should be smooth, creamy, and stiff enough to hold a shape.
Assembly
- Flip the cookies bottom-up, pair with a similar-sized cookie. Place a spoonful of filling (about 1⅔ teapoons-worth) in the center of half the cookies, then close the sandwich with the other half of the cookie pair. Press lightly to push the filling just to the edges.
- Serve or keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days.