Fun fact: these Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Filling were the first recipe we posted on our old blog, Our Superfood Kitchen! Although we absolutely love the recipe, we decided the photos needed a bit of a refresh before we brought it over to Crowded Kitchen. We've grown quite a bit from the time we first posted this (we probably only had about 7k followers on Instagram at the time!), but we've gotten some rave reviews from friends and family members that have tried the recipe. We hope you will, too!
The gluten-free peanut butter cookies are fantastic on their own. Of course, the vegan chocolate peanut butter filling really takes them over the top. We like to think of them as a much healthier Do-si-do® Girl Scout Cookie, which is perfect since we've seen quite a few girl scouts selling cookies around town this month. If you make the cookies on their own, we suggest drizzling them with melted dark chocolate and sea salt. See below if you need convincing.
If you're like me and can't stop yourself from eating the whole batch in one sitting, I suggest throwing them in the freezer after they cool. They're equally delicious cold, and as the old adage goes: out of sight, out of mind. (The more I think about it, though, these are pretty tough to forget about!) A few important notes about the filling:
1. Do not attempt the filling if you have not refrigerated your canned coconut cream/milk for at least 4 hours. It needs time to firm up in the fridge. If you skip this step it will start melting while you blend.
2. We've tried this chocolate peanut butter filling with a number of different sweeteners. As much as we prefer maple syrup or agave, it thins the frosting too much. Powdered sugar keeps it much firmer, and you really don't need too much of it to sweeten the whole batch.
3. Cool each sandwich cookie completely before filling! Otherwise, the chocolate frosting will immediately melt. To really firm them up, pop the filled cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes before eating.
Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Filling
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 1 dozen 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These peanut butter sandwich cookies are decadent, rich, and completely vegan and gluten free!
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies:
- ½ cup smooth peanut butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup gluten free all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp almond flour
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 tbsp almond milk
- ½ tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
Chocolate Coconut Buttercream Filling:
- ½ cup coconut cream (refrigerate can of full fat coconut milk overnight, and then without shaking the can, scoop out the layer of thick cream that forms on top)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
Instructions
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, cream the peanut butter and brown sugar at medium speed until no lumps are left.
- Add the vanilla and maple syrup and continue mixing at medium speed.
- Add the remaining cookie ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
- Scoop cookie dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Press lightly with a fork to flatten.
- Bake for 11-13 mins, or until lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 2 mins before transferring to cooling rack.
- Let cool completely before making cookie sandwiches!
Filling:
- While cookies are baking, whip chilled coconut cream in small mixing bowl until a whipped cream texture forms.
- Add the peanut butter, sugar and cocoa powder and whip until smooth.
- Transfer to a small plastic bag and cut a small hole in one corner of the bag.
- Pipe desired amount onto one cookie, and use other cookie to form a sandwich.
- Enjoy!
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Let us know what you think!