Fun, easy to make, soft, lightly crumbly homemade peanut butter sandwich cookies with a creamy peanut butter filling in a fun to eat peanut shell shape.
There are only a handful of store bought cookies that I buy occasionally, usually Oreos and Nutter Butter peanut butter sandwich cookies. Recently I bought a package of Nutter Butter Cookies and while my husband was munching on one he said I should try making them at home.
Homemade Nutter Butter Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
- Flour: all purpose flour is used here, easy and you always have it on hand
- Butter: use real butter and unsalted for this recipe, you’ll use it in the cookies and in the frosting
- Brown sugar: this is the sweetened for the cookies and lends to a nice color
- Egg: this helps find the cookies together
- Peanut butter: you can use chunky or smooth peanut butter here. Just be sure you are using a kind like Jif or Skippy and not a natural peanut butter where the oil separates and you need to stir it. That kind doesn’t have the right texture for this recipe.
- Powdered sugar: you’ll use this in the center frosting
- Milk: just a little bit goes in the frosting to help it be spreadable
Recipe Instructions:
- These couldn’t be easier! Mix up the ingredients for the cookies like you do any cookies recipe.
- Shape the cookies by rolling some of the dough into a log and flattening it with a fork. Pinch the centers of your oblong oval so that it has that classic peanut or Nutter Butter cookie shape.
- Bake and cool.
- Mix up your peanut butter frosting and spread it between two cookies. Enjoy!
Shaping the cookies:
At first I thought I’d have to use a cookie cutter and it would be time-consuming to make them, but he said he thought we could just pinch them in the middle. So a few days later I decided to give them a try. I searched to see if anyone else had made homemade nutter butters. There were lots of homemade nutter butter posts, and most of them just pinched the dough in the middle.
So I just used my husband favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and adapted it to make nutter butters pinched in the middle.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is a homemade peanut butter frosting made with butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, a little milk, and vanilla. Then it is spread between too cookies and is SO good!
It’s a crispy peanut butter sandwich cookie with a layer of peanut butter icing in the middle.
My homemade peanut butter sandwich cookies are softer than the store bought cookies, because I like a softer cookie. If you like your cookies crisp, cook them a little longer. They were also larger than a packaged Nutter Butter cookie, so just one cookie should satisfy your peanut butter cookie craving.
More cookie recipes you might like:
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Skookie
- Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Cups
- Chunky Peanut Butter Cookies
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’ve tried this Nutter Butter Cookie recipe or any other recipe on Barbara Bakes, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories.
Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup peanut butter chunky or creamy
- Additional sugar for coating cookies
Filling
- 4 tablespoon butter room temperature
- ½ cup peanut butter chunky or creamy
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the peanut butter and mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.
- Form dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar. Shape into a log. Roll log in sugar. Place logs on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Using the tines of a fork, make a criss-cross pattern in the dough. Pinch the middle of the cookie to make a peanut shape.
- Bake 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned on the edges and still soft in center. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Filling
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in peanut butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, the milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar until smooth.
- To assemble when the cookies have cooled completely, add a scant tablespoon of icing to the bottom side of one cookie and spread it out. Add a second cookie to the icing so that the two bottom sides are facing the frosting. Repeat with remaining cookies.
Notes
- You can use creamy peanut butter for this recipe. I love it with creamy and my husband loves it with chunky. Just be sure to use a peanut butter like Jif or Skippy and not a natural kind that the oil separates. The natural peanut butter doesn’t have the right texture for this recipe.
Nutrition
You’ll love how rich and creamy these peanut butter cookies are and they are just so fun to eat. Enjoy!
Rita
GOOD good cookie easy to follow recipe. I would suggest making thinner cookies so it’s not like a ice cream sandwich thickness
Lynn
What’s the best way to store these delicious cookies? I wasn’t sure if they needed to be refrigerated.
Melissa Griffiths
They don’t need to be, just at room temperature in an airtight container if you are going to eat them within a few days. They freeze great too for longer storage.
Dave
OMG! I could eat a million of these! I made my first batch at noon and i am on my 4th batch now at 3PM and there are non left! These cookies are going to be the number 1 cookie for the holidays!
Is there a way to make them soft and goo-ie like chocolate chips?
And what would it be like to have chocolate and peanut butter in the middle? Can you come out with a recipe with chocolate too? Thanks! Thank you for the best cookie recipe!
Judy
Excellent recipe. Much better then the store bought ones. I used natural peanut butter which worked well as I like the cookies less sweet.
Liz
It’s been a while since I’ve had a store-bought Nutter Butter, but these are even better than I remember store-bought being! They are soft and sweet and a little bit salty, and I absolutely cannot get over how cute the shape came out! The instructions make these super easy and they are so perfect!
Barbara Schieving
I’m glad they were a big hit – thanks Liz!
Jezenia Martinez
Can I use natural peanut butter??
Barbara Schieving
Probably not without changing the amount of sugar and flour as well.
Christina
would this work with creamy or smooth peanut butter??
Barbara Schieving
Hi Christina – yes, you could substitute smooth peanut butter if you prefer.
Jodi
I need a keto version of this! I didn’t know it till now!
Majeedah Murad
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Do you think these cookies will hold up well if mailed? Do you have any recommendations on what I can do to ensure they arrive intact?
Barbara Schieving
I haven’t tried mailing them, but I think wrapping them individually like in this post https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/heres-the-best-way-to-ship-cookies/ and putting them in a metal tin would work well.
Majeedah Murad
Thank you! I’ll let you know how it worked.
Kathleen Marten
These cookies are fantastic! I am making them for a Baby Shower and I’m going to dip the “bottom” in blue (boy) chocolate and putting eyes on them – This recipe is just so good! Thank you!
Barbara Schieving
Such a fun idea – thanks for sharing Kathleen!
Sean
Should I let the cookie dough cool in the refrigerator before shaping into a log and pinching the middle?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Sean – no you don’t need to refrigerate the dough before shaping it. Enjoy!
Jeri Bullock
They were awesome my god children said best cookie ever!
Thanks for the recipe..
Barbara Schieving
That’s so fun – thanks Jeri!