I love baking and especially enjoy baking cookies. I have also recently been experimenting with using unsweetened applesauce in my cookie recipes to lower the sugar content. During the holidays, I love making thumbprint cookies and peanut butter Kiss cookies. Last weekend I combined parts of the two recipes to make some delicious peanut butter and jelly cookies that my family absolutely loved. Plus, instead of white sugar, I used unsweetened applesauce to lower the sugar content of the entire batch by almost a third!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- jam or jelly
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375º.
- Cream together the butter and brown sugar.
- Add the unsweetened applesauce, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla to the butter mixture.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- Shape the cookie dough into 1-inch balls.
- Place the cookie dough balls about 1-inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Press a thumb firmly in the center of each ball to form in indent.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven.
- Immediately fill the thumbprint indent with jelly or jam.
- Remove the filled cookies from the cookie sheet.
- Allow the cookies to cool.
- Store the peanut butter and jelly cookies in an airtight container.
Image Credits
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies Recipe © 2018 Heather Johnson
Butter for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Brown Sugar for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Unsweetened Applesauce for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Egg for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Peanut Butter for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Vanilla for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Dry Ingredients for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Dough for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Baking the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Baked Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Putting Jam on the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies © 2018 Heather Johnson