Blue Ribbon Group 1st Place Creative Cookie at Minnesota State Fair
Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies - Blue Ribbon Winner
These Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies are a 2022 blue ribbon winner, a 1st Place creative cookie at the Minnesota State Fair.
Betsy Faber created these for one of the new 2022 special contests. Here’s what hers looked like. Perfection!
Betsy won $100 in King Arthur Baking Company gift cards and lots of accolades.
These Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies are exceedingly delicious. The cookies themselves are candy-like and the filling is magical. They are said to blur the line between candy and cookie.
Recreate these award-winning cookies today! Be sure to follow the recipe because Betsy gives lots of tips and tricks. Here are a few we found to be extra important.
Using no oil peanut butter is key. You want a brand that is 100% peanuts. No sugar, oil or anything else added. Otherwise the oil makes them spread out to thinly. You want them thin and solid but definitely not brittle.
Be sure not to overheat the “dough” part. It will harden once it’s heated by the time in the oven.
The dough really spreads out when in the oven so spread them out when baking.
Admittedly, this cookie takes some finesse to make. We botched our first batch and had to chop them into chewy toffee cookie chunks. They ended up being a perfect mix-in for homemade ice cream.
You are going to want to make these time and time again!
Enjoy!
-Cyndi
p.s. We updated this post with additional text and new photos after our testing activities.
Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
1st Place Creative Cookie at Minnesota State Fair
Yield 36 sandwich cookies
Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cookie Ingredients:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 cup flour
1/3 cup salted peanuts, chopped fine
1/4 cup creamy, natural peanut butter (100 % peanuts, no oil added)
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, for decoration
1 teaspoon salt flakes (for finished cookies)
Directions: Combine peanut butter, vanilla, and butter in mixer and mix until combined. Add powdered sugar and mix on medium/high speed until mixture is fluffy. Put into piping bag or Ziploc and store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium/low heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir until dissolved. Allow to lightly bubble. Add peanut butter and stir to incorporate. Remove from heat. Stir in flour and crushed peanuts. Allow mixture to cool 5 or more minutes, just enough to roll “dough” by hand. Scoop mixture by half teaspoons and roll into marble-sized balls, about 8 grams each. Mixture spreads significantly. To quote Betsy: it’s a fussy bake that rides the line between candy and cookie. Bake 7 to 9 minutes, until cookies have flattened and browned. Allow cookies to cool on pan for at least 5 minutes before putting moving to cooling rack. Soften peanut butter in microwave, for around 30 seconds to soften/melt but not get significantly heated.
To make sandwich cookies: sort cookies by size and shape and find close pairs that match. Pipe approximately 1 tablespoon filling onto each cookie half and top with second cookie. Melt chocolate chips in microwave staring every 30 seconds until fully melted. Use a spoon to drizzle chocolate quickly over cookies and sprinkle with salt. Cool in refrigerator until chocolate sets.
