Peanut Butter & Jelly Oatmeal Cookies
These peanut butter and jelly oatmeal cookies are a fun and wholesome treat for all ages! They’re also vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, and refined sugar-free!
I know today means back to school for a lot of little ones out there so I thought it would be fun to share cookies inspired by a classic childhood favorite: peanut butter and jelly!
I remember the first day of school was always filled with nervous excitement but no matter how things went, it never hurt to come home to cookies and a glass of cold milk.
However, the cookies I ate as a kid might have looked slightly different than these.
They probably sat on the shelf for at least 8 months before making their way into my mouth but hey, I didn’t care! As long as there was sugar and chocolate to make me bounce off all the walls, all was right in the world.
But that was a different time and I think now that most of us are becoming more aware of the dangers of processed foods, things are changing. We’re taking the time to read labels and look for things made with wholesome ingredients.
Of course, it’s still more convenient to pick up whatever organic cookies you can find at the store but there’s something to be said for making your own at home. You can make them with ingredients that actually offer some nutritional benefits like whole grain oats, ground almonds, and pure maple syrup.
I did take a shortcut with the jelly because um, hello, blackberry pomegranate sounded ah-mazing. But you can always make your own if you’re feeling frisky.
So the idea for these adorable little discs of love popped into my head after I made my Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies. I imagined a chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookie filled with sweet jelly in the center and my inner child instantly screamed with glee.
To make them all you have to do is combine oats, oat flour (ground-up oats) and almond meal (ground-up almonds) in one bowl; peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract in another; then stir the two together to form a dough.
After that you roll the dough into balls then use your finger or a teaspoon and press down the center. Then you bake those for about 10 minutes, fill the center with a teaspoon of jelly and they’re ready to serve!
Then if you want to get even more creative, you can try doing a ying and yang of PB&J in the center.
I personally prefer the regular jelly version because I think the cookies have enough peanut butter flavor on their own but I thought it looked cool.
Whether you have kiddos or just crave a tasty cookie, these are sure to be a hit! The thick chewy base is filled with delicious peanut butter flavor and the sweet jelly makes the whole thing taste like heaven. Trust me, both kids and adults will go crazy over them!
Ingredients
1 cup almond meal*
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup oat flour**
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter***
1/2 cup pure maple syrup****
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
14 teaspoons jelly of choice (approx. 1/4 cup)
Instructions
- Begin by preheating the oven to 350°F and then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the almond meal, oats, oat flour, baking powder and sea salt in a medium size bowl. Sift everything together then set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet and stir together until is everything is well combined and a dough forms.
- Using your hands, roll the dough into large tablespoon-size balls and place onto the cookie sheet. Use a teaspoon to press the center down by approx. 1/2 inch. Bake the cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Scoop roughly one teaspoon of jelly into the center of each cookie. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
*to make almond meal you can grind 1 cup almonds in a food processor until a fine crumb forms.
**to make oat flour you can grind 1/2 cup rolled oats in a food processor until a fine crumb forms.
***can substitute almond butter or cashew butter for peanut allergies
****can substitute honey or agave nectar
I mean, shoot…I’m tempted to enroll in a class today so that I can bring these with me as a back-to-school treat! Seriously, these PB&J cookies look so tasty – fun to prepare and fun to pop in your mouth. My nieces and nephews would go wild over these… if I didn’t eat the whole batch before they could get their hot little hands on them. ;)
These are so cute! This would be such a fun afterschool snack :) I bet my little nephews would love them!
These are adorable!!! And I don’t need to school to scarf them up! :)
Love these, Sarah! Great work! I would love to have these with a glass of cold milk. :)
There really is no better school snack or lunch than PBJ!
Thumbprint cookies have always been a favorite of mine! And with peanut butter and jelly??? Even better! These look fantastic Sarah!! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!!
I love how simple and easy these are!! Maple syrup and peanut butter and oats are some of my favorite flavors when mixed together.
These look so perfect! PB&J never gets old. I always get so excited this time of year. Even though I’m not in school anymore, I work at a school so I love seeing all the students come back to campus. I also still get weirdly excited when I got into office supply stores. I just want to buy all the notebooks and pens haha.
Okay, I think I may have to scream at my mother for packing me PB and J’s when I could have these- I mean, the cookie is pretty much a sandwich right? Also that jelly/jam (sorry American lingo still confuses me) sounds delicious- I’ll need to hunt it down!
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You know what’s sad? I grew up without PB&J. Or any kind of nut butter & jelly. My parents told me that I was allergic to ALL nuts when I was little so that I wouldn’t get confused and actually eat a peanut, and I guess they forgot to tell me the truth when I got older :lol: But now I’m making up for lost time, and I’d totally scarf down an almond butter version of these. Pinned!
Aw, that is sad but I totally understand why your parents did it. At least you get to eat all the AB you want now! :)
I used to hate jelly, so I was definitely a PB only sandwich kid. But now I love the combo and I LOVE that these cookies are vegan and gluten free :) Pinning!
OMG this would be the BOMBBBBBBB packed lunch! Imagine whipping out your lunch box in grade school with PB & J cookies! Um – you’d be the most popular kid in school FOR SURE!
Haha! Thanks Gigi! :)
Ah, the childhood classics for sure. My husband and I still lament the fact that our kids never got to experience the ol’ PB sandwiches in their lunchboxes (how many peanut butter sandwiches did I bring to school in my youth…virtually every day :D ). These cookies sound delish — so much goodness going on in them and I love how the nut butter acts as a binder too. Blackberry pomegranate jelly does sound pretty awesome.
Hello! I am making these right now. I noticed in the ingredients that it calls for baking powder but the directions say baking soda! I am going to guess it’s baking soda?!?! We will do it this time with soda. Is this right? Thanks, Melinda
I’m so sorry for the confusion, Melinda! It’s baking powder. I will fix the directions now. Hopefully they still turned out okay with baking soda!
Has anyone calculated calories for these?
Would almond flour wor for almond meal? These look great!
Yes! Almond flour will definitely work. I hope you enjoy them!