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.
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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
These salty/sweet nutella peanut butter sandwich cookies are the absolute best flavor combination you will find!
- 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}
- 1 cup Nutella
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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.
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In a separate small bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda. Mix into wet ingredients.
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Scrape down from sides of bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
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Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Line cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
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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.
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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.
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Spread 2 or so tsp of Nutella on the bottom of one cookie. Top with another cookie. Smoosh. Eat.
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
Renee
Made them. Big hit!
Denise
Awesome!! I’m so glad you liked them, Renee!
Stefanie
These look delish! I’m going to try them tomorrow. Can this recipe be doubled?
Denise
Hi Stefani, While I haven’t doubled it myself, I’m sure the recipe doubles just fine 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!
Becky
Just made the dough and put it in the refrigerator, can’t wait to try them!
Denise
Hope you liked them, Becky! Nutella and PB is pretty much my heaven 😉
Carly
Wow! These look incredible — can’t wait to try! Question: HOW did you get the nutella to swirl so beautifully?! That is SO impressive, and I’d love to try and recreate!
Denise
Thanks so much, Carly! I have to tell you, I piped the nutella onto the cookies using an icing bag and a wilton #21 tip…and it was so messy, there was nutella everywhere! If I weren’t taking photos of the cookies, I think I would just stick to a plain old knife! But if you decide to pipe it, good luck!
Sarah @ Running On Brie
Peanut butter and nutella?! Sounds amazing! I have a Costco size jar of nutella in the pantry right now…I think I might give these babies a try.
Denise
These cookies could help you put a serious dent in your nutella jar 😉 Hope you like them!
sue/the view from great island
This might be the best looking cookie I’ve seen all year!!
Denise
Wow, Sue, what a huge compliment! Thank-you 🙂
Averie @ Averie Cooks
These are my perfect cookie – PB & Nutella in one and those Nutella swirls, you don’t miss a beat with your attention to EVERY detail. Love that! Pinned
Denise
I’m glad the cookies ended up looking good, because it was messy trying to get it into the piping bag, it was everywhere 😉
Krystle(Baking Beauty)
I love cookie sandwiches (built in excuse to have 2 am i right!). 🙂
That is such a bummer about your original post. I like to do my posts in google docs as it saves things automatically ever minute or so. Something to consider! 🙂
Denise
Thanks, Krystle, I’ve never heard of Google docs before. And that’s totally what I always say about sandwich cookies: 2 cookies, but it only counts as one…yay!! 🙂
Denise
Yes! Back-up your computer! I am the worst at that stuff, I always assume the best. At least it was just a post and not a hard drive. Thanks, Gintare 🙂
Denise
That is the nicest comment ever, Mary Frances, thank-you 🙂 Salted peanut butter cookies are just so amazing on their own, even without the Nutella. I wonder if I should start putting sea salt on my peanut butter toast LOL!
Denise
Thanks, Jessica! Peanut butter + chocolate is a can’t-go-wrong kind of situation 🙂
Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice
I hate it when something goes wrong with publishing a post! Happened to me several times before too, so I know how you feel. But I’m sure these cookies made you feel better. They look amazing! Anything with peanut butter and nutella, sign me up! Pinned!
Denise
Thanks, Gayle! I have been having the worst writers block lately so I was pretty mad.
Jessica @ Portuguese Girl Cooks
Losing an entire post is the worst thing ever, but these cookies look like they could remedy the situation 🙂
Denise
Yes, these cookies helped a lot 🙂
dina
they look yummy!
Denise
Thank-you, Dina!
Kathi @ Deliciously Yum!
These look absolutely beautiful, Denise. Peanut Butter & Nutella – it doesn’t get much better than that :). I could probably devour that entire stack in no time. Yummy!
Denise
I definitely ate my fair share of these guys 😀
Andj
I feel for you, that is the worst!! Peanut butter cookies are one of my all time favorites. Now I need to try them with nutella! Yummm
Denise
Andj, peanut butter + nutella is a match made in heaven!
Alanna
Ugh, technology fails are the worst! But these cookies are stunning and so worth the re-write – thanks for powering through! I bet the sea salt takes it over the top. Beautiful photos.
Denise
Thanks, Alanna! I have been pressing ‘save draft’ a lot more now 🙂