Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies Filled with Peanut Butter Cream (aka "the Nora Ephron")

I was at a holiday party a few weeks ago and someone asked for the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies I'd brought. I was more than a little mortified to admit that I haven't actually published anything on my blog in two and a half years ... I have plenty of recipes I want to post saved up, but have failed completely at actually making time to write them up, edit photos, and wrap everything into a neat little post. Filled peanut butter cookies seem like an easy enough re-entry point, even if the original recipe was something of a disaster.

I don't know why I bought the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook originally... I've probably owned it for the entire 10 years since it was first published, and I have made a few things from it without much success (like the blueberry muffins), but could never convince myself I'd tried enough from the book to give it away.

We had a sandwich cookie bake-off at work recently, and I decided to make these peanut butter cookies for it since I've liked Nora Ephron ever since I read Heartburn.

As I was preparing the cookie dough, I realized this cookbook was/is riddled with errors in unit conversion; there are wild discrepancies in the grams vs. ounces vs. cups amounts for some ingredients. I took some notes, deciding to use what's generally accepted conversion for the volume/cup measurements published with this recipe since I hoped that would be the measurement any recipe tester tried.

A quick google search for this recipe after I made my cookies showed that I wasn't alone in noticing the incorrect measurements - plenty of people had also noticed the issue, but the recipe as published online at Bon Appetit or on other blogs isn't actually "fixed".

I made the recipe one more time and it turned out wildly differently, so obviously I decided to make these cookies until they turned out consistently every time.

One important source of potential variation from batch to batch is peanut butter brand. Using two different all-natural vs something like Skippy vs a reduced-fat peanut butter, for example, will result in 4 totally different cookies.

Cookie dough portion and chill time are also big factors in how these cookies turn out, so do aim for consistent size and provide them with ample time to chill.

All these disclaimers aside, these cookies are quite good. The oatmeal in the dough keeps them tender and chewy, while the crunchy peanut butter in the dough helps pack an extremely delicious peanut butter punch. The honey in the filling is a wise addition (as someone who loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches), adding a floral quality to the filling and keeping the cookie sandwich from being too one-note. It's important to use high-quality honey that has flavor here, not just honey that tastes "sweet".

Since making these cookies, I've also made the bread pudding from this cookbook, and while it took forever, it was quite delicious, so I'm still hanging on to Tom's book.

Corrected/adapted from the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies Filled with Peanut Butter Cream (aka "the Nora Ephron"

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 2 hours hours 52 minutes minutes

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.