No, I am not obsessed with PB&J, but, as an interesting segue from my last post, my mother just happened to send us a recipe for oatmeal peanut butter and jelly cookies. This recipe was a finalist in the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest many years ago. It was developed by Mrs. Jacqueline Concannon from my hometown of Kirkwood, Missouri. She called it “Children’s Choice Cookies” and they are currently my favorite cookie!
Oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly cookies
Blackberry, peach and strawberry preserves
Children’s Choice Cookies
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup shortening
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup applesauce
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup rolled oats
Preserves or jelly for topping
Heat oven to 350°F
In large bowl, combine ¼ cup of flour and all other ingredients except oats and jelly or preserves. Mix well. Stir in reserved cup of flour and oats. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dipped in sugar. (I recommend doing this a little bit differently. See the note below the next image.) Place a little dollop of preserves in the center of each cookie. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Yield: about 50-60 cookies.
Preparing the cookies for baking
NOTE: Instead of making a crisscross pattern with a fork, I just use a small spoon or my finger and make a little hole for the preserves. I find that, if you use the fork and then add the preserves, the cookies will get too flat and the preserves will not remain in the center.
Oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly cookies
Awesome pictures. What a great idea to use the round spoon to make the spot for the jam. I remember making “thumbprint” cookies with my mother as a kid. That measuring spoon makes a much prettier “print” than my thumb!
What a clever innovation, Anne! I’m going to send you all my favorite recipes so you can put a twist on them to make them even better.
I have been making these same cookies for years. I took the recipe off the bag the year it won as a blue ribbon recipe. The only difference is that my recipe has 2 1/4 cup flour. I make these every year at Christmas (usually have to double the recipe). They are always that big a hit! I’ve always done the crisscross with fork, but next time I’m going to try the spoon trick. What a good idea!
I must have rolled the dough balls too big, I had to bake for 15 minutes. When I doubled the recipe, I only got 72 cookies. They tasted good, but I would have liked them just a little sweeter.