Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. To Die For. So Good.

I’ve written about my foodie explorations here in Seattle. .  and among them, eating my way through all of Tom Douglas‘ 13 restaurants.  I got to meet the man, the chef, the writer . . he’s a gem and so funny. .  and that same night, I also purchased his new cookbook, The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.  I was kind of surprised that they actually published a cookbook of all of their favorite recipes. .  like they should be kept top secret or something. .  but I LOVE that I can now bake some of my Dahlia bakery faves here at home!

My first visit to the Dahlia Bakery was an interesting one. First of all, I didn’t know how small it was. I went with Madeline, my daughter. And she was in her stroller. 🙂 I was thinking we could enjoy some baked treats together- inside. If you’ve been there, you know it’s a pretty small space. That is, the entrance and where you stand to order your baked goodies or food.  There is actually no place to sit inside. You just go in to order your bakery goodies and leave. I’ve heard that the bakery entrance is small because the back- where all the magic happens– is big. .  or so I’m told.

So, we get inside, and yes, I take the stroller in there with me. I think I made a lot of fellow customers really happy with that move. It was raining and I wasn’t about to carry Madeline or let her walk. There was a bit of a line out the door and some man was nice enough to hold the door for me.  I finally get to the counter and – thinking I would have had enough time while in line – am still not ready to order and have questions. Now, there’s a longer line of people behind me. .  but no one says anything or makes rude comments 🙂 In fact, some man mentions “Everything here is good.”

We end up leaving with the Triple Coconut Cream Pie Bites, the grilled cheese sandwich, some of Tom’s Rub with LOVE for steak and – of course- 3 Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies. Oh yes I did! (I used to eat peanut butter on a spoon right out of the plastic tub. Yeah, I was one of those kids.)  And Madeline has my taste and love for peanut butter. She is her mother’s daughter. We polished off 2 peanut butter cookies and a coco cream bite immediately and – of course- saved some for The Hubs and Phoebe.  Madeline absolutely LOVED this cookie and kept asking for MORE.

Why?

Because these aren’t just cookies. These are soft, chewy, peanut-butter-to-the-max, pillow sandwich delights! I may have gone a little overboard with my peanut butter filling. . . but dammit, they were so good.

Yesterday was Madeline’s birthday so I thought I would bake her some of these wonderful, scrumptious peanut buttery sandwich cookies! If you’ve never tried these and you live in Seattle, get your bootie down to the Dahlia Bakery ASAP and give these a go. You can thank me later.  If you don’t live anywhere near here, here’s the recipe.

Yes, I LOVE you all that much.

I hope you enjoy!!

Print Recipe

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

This recipe is all from the Dahlia Bakery. I did have to adjust the temp on my oven. In the cookbook, they say to bake the cookies at 375 but mine burned so I had to lower my temp (and adjust my oven rack higher) to 350 degrees. PLEASE NOTE THE CHILLING TIME FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: cookies

Author: Hip Foodie Mom

Ingredients

PEANUT BUTTER FILLING:

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter like Skippy
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 2/3 cups rolled oats such as Quaker Oats
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons 2 sticks + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup crunchy natural peanut butter such as Adams; well mixed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temp
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• To make the peanut butter filling, combine all of the filling ingredients in a bowl using a whisk. Cover and chill until you are ready to use.
• To make the peanut butter cookies: in a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the oats and salt; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, chunky peanut butter and sugars and mix on medium-high speed until very fluffy and pale, for at least 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.
• Turn the mixer to medium-low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate each egg and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract and then add the dry ingredients on low speed in 3-4 additions and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure there is no flour mixture left on the bottom.
• Use an ice cream scoop to portion all the cookies in 1 ounce scoops (or use about 1 heaping tablespoon per cookie), placing the dough balls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Tom says you should end up with about 48 cookies but I only had about 40 (using about 1 heaping tablespoon per cookie dough ball). (You can place all the dough balls on one cookie sheet during the chilling step- you will space these out later when you bake them). Chill the scooped dough balls for at least 2 hours or longer.
• When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees (See my note in the summary above). Arrange 8 cookie dough balls, spaced evenly apart and staggered, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until evenly golden, for about 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely before filling them.
• To make the cookie sandwich: turn one cookie flat and spread with a little less than 2 teaspoons of filling. Top with another cookie, flat side down, pressing gently. Repeat with all other cookies.

Recipe from The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook, pg 130-132.