Salted Nutella and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

These salty/sweet nutella peanut butter sandwich cookies are the absolute best flavor combination you will find! 

Technology and I, we are not very good friends right now. Last night I had this entire post written & edited. The recipe written up. The photos all posted. All I had to do was press ‘publish’

Then poof! It disappeared. I thought I had a back-up. I did not. Technology fail. Ugh.

It’s incidents like this that remind me to get out that old external hard drive and back up my computer! I always assume my trusty old MacBook Pro is invincible, but it really is not.

So. I have learned my lesson. You actually cannot hit ‘save draft’ enough times.

You know what makes learning hard lessons like this {on a Monday, no less!} a little easier to stomach? Peanut butter. Nutella. Sea salt. These cookies.

Confession…I am a total peanut butter addict. I love it on my toast…or on a spoon…but best of all in cookie form.

Looking at my recipe index, you wouldn’t have a clue of my peanut butter love…there isn’t a single peanut butter recipe. Well. Clearly, this situation  needed to be remedied.

For these nutella peanut butter sandwich cookies, I started out with the Better Homes and Gardens classic peanut butter cookie recipe, but for me, they were far too crispy and thin. So I increased the flour and added some cornstarch to up the chewy factor and reduce the spreading. I sprinkled the tops with coarse sea salt.

The resulting cookie retains the awesome peanut buttery flavor of the BHG cookie, but is a touch more chewy. And perfect for Nutella smooshing!

These peanut butter sandwich cookies are so yummy, they {almost} make me forget about my technology mishap. This is heaven in a cookie: gooey, chocolatey, hazelnutty Nutella, squished between two layers of sweet and salty {and chewy} peanut butter cookies.

And. When you get a big old grain of sea salt, wow. It is like peanut butter and Nutella X 1000!

Some Notes for Perfect {Chewy} Peanut Butter Cookies:

• Don’t exceed 1 tbsp-sized balls
• Chill your dough for at least 2 hours
• Remove from the oven when *bottoms* are golden brown, not sides {when the sides were brown for me, the cookies were too crispy}. They will look puffy and under-baked but they firm up while cooling on the cookie sheet.

More cookies for us!

• these Butterscotch Brown Sugar Cashew Cookies are perfect with a glass of milk
• or go for a lighter sandwich cookie with these Coffee Nutella Meringue Cookies
• and these Pretzel Toffee Rolo Cookies are another great salty/sweet cookie

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5 from 1 vote

Salted Nutella and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 16

These salty/sweet nutella peanut butter sandwich cookies are the absolute best flavor combination you will find!

Prep Time2 hrs 30 mins

Cook Time9 mins

Total Time2 hrs 39 mins

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter {113g; unsalted; at room temperature}
• 1/2 cup peanut butter {at room temperature or 20 seconds in the microwave}
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar {100g}
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar {110g}
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour {188g; or fluffed spooned and leveled}
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• granulated sugar {for rolling}
• coarse sea salt {for sprinkling}

Assembly

• 1 cup Nutella

Instructions

Cookies

• In a large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until well combined. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla.
• In a separate small bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda. Mix into wet ingredients.
• Scrape down from sides of bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Line cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
• Roll dough into 1 tbsp sized balls, roll in the granulated sugar to coat. Place on baking mat and press down slightly with a fork. Sprinkle with sea salt.
• Bake for 7-9 minutes until bottoms are golden brown. Cookies will look under-baked when removed from the oven but will set up on baking sheet. Cool for 5 minutes, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembly

• Spread 2 or so tsp of Nutella on the bottom of one cookie. Top with another cookie. Smoosh. Eat.

Notes

I tested this recipe with both creamy and crunchy Kraft peanut butter; both worked.
Chilling is an essential step for this recipe to reduce spreading.
Cookies will look under-baked but will set up on the cookie sheet while cooling.
Assemble cookie sandwiches just prior to eating.

• Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens