Peanut Butter and Jam Cookies

I've been trolling Pastry Studio's blog again. I love her recipes! There were two tempting sandwich cookie recipes in her older posts and here's the first. Now don't think this is a cookie only for kids just because it's pb&j. Not so. The peanut butter flavor is oh so delicate, in fact the entire cookie is perfect for a tea. At least that's how I'm going to serve both her cookies. I made half a recipe to try and will do the same to the second. I'll keep you posted on the other one. And BTW: you can serve them just as single cookies without the jam. Every bit as pretty and tasty.

There's no doubt the best presentation for this post is a cookie with a bite out of it, just the way Pastry Studio did it. That way you can see the jam...and you can just imagine how the mouthful tasted. Doesn't even look like a pb cookie, does it? But take my word for it, these are peanut butter and very classy cookies indeed, despite the common name.

Peanut Butter & Jam Cookies
From Pastry Studio

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 oz (8 tablespoons) cold butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
jam of your choosing

For dipping:
2 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 oz (2 tablespoons) butter

Method:
In a processor, add the flour, powdered sugar and salt. Process briefly. Dice the cold butter and add the butter plus the peanut butter to the flour. Process until you get coarse meal.  The add the egg yolk and vanilla and process until the dough begins to clump around the center of the machine.

Place the dough in a ball on wax paper. Cover with another sheet of wax paper and roll out to approximately a 10 inch square. Put on a sheet pan and refrigerate until well chilled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and using any shape cookie cutter you wish, cut and place on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake until the edges just start to brown, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.  Cool.

Chop the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a small heatproof bowl.  Add the butter and you can melt over a water bath, or use a microwave in 30 second increments until the chocolate and butter are melted. Give a good whisking. Dip a portion of half the cookies in chocolate and set on a wire rack to dry. Spread the other half of the cookies with your favorite jam and sandwich the cookies together. Pastry Studio warns they may soften a bit after you sandwich them together, so serve as soon as possible, or do the sandwiching right before you serve.