If you’re a peanut butter fan like me, you’ve eaten your fair share of Nutter Butter cookies. Crispy peanut butter wafers filled with a peanut butter creme center. Yes, please. I decided to make them when I opened BraveTart’s new book for the first time.
The pages fell open right to a picture of her Nutter Butters and I couldn’t get my mind off making them. And that’s after flipping through more than 300 glorious pages of her incredible book focusing on Iconic American Desserts. There’s so much yum to make. We’re talking tons of classic dessert recipes inside plus recipes (and their origin stories) to recreate your favorite American brands like Twinkies, Oreos, Cracker Jacks, Pop Tarts, Fig Newtons, Snickers, Thin Mints and so much more.
Bravetart: Iconic American Desserts is a classic itself from the seriously sweet-minded Stella Parks. Check out her book and if you’re on Twitter, I highly recommend following her there @bravetart. She is incredibly generous with her knowledge and she has the goodies to back it up, too!
Okay let’s get baking.
The cookie dough is quick to whip up with flour, butter, sugar, salt, peanut butter, egg whites and baking soda. Once you’ve formed a soft dough, you’ll knead it into two discs for rolling and cutting out cookies.
Stella recommends a bikini-shaped cookie cutter, but I didn’t have one. I did have this similar shape from Sweet Sugarbelle (above) that I made work though. I could have just stuck with the shape as is, but instead I made one cut and then rotated the cookie cutter 180 degrees and made a second cut right on top. The shape in the center then ends up being symmetrical and much more like a peanut. This method did leave me with a lot more scraps to use for re-rolling but I didn’t mind.
Once I had my cutouts made and transferred to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet it was time to make an impression. I found a plastic potato masher that coincidentally ended up being the exact size of my cut out cookies. The grid on the masher made the perfect design by gently pressing into the dough.
All lined up and ready for the oven.
Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes and let them cool completely before piping the middles with peanut butter cream.
Pipe swirls of peanut butter creme on half of the cookies filling in each domed end of the peanut.
Sandwich them together for a classic cookie treat.
Bravetart’s Homemade Nutter Butter® Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, creamy and soft about 68 degrees F
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (half as much if iodized)
- 2 large egg whites
Peanut Butter Creme
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, creamy and soft about 68 degrees F
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (half as much if iodized)
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
Prepare the dough:- Sift 2 cups flour into a medium bowl and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and adjust oven rack to middle position.
- Combine butter, peanut butter, sugar, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low to moisten, then increase to medium and cream until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Beat the egg whites with a fork until foamy and thin, then add to the butter and sugar in four additions, letting each incorporate before adding the next. Scrape the bowl and beater with a flexible spatula, then resume mixing on low.
- Sprinkle in the flour, and mix to form a soft dough.
- Knead dough against sides of the bowl to form a smooth ball. Divide in half and flatten into two discs.
- On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the dough until 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with flour, flip, sprinkle again, and roll just shy of 1/8 inch.
- Cut into peanuts with a 3-inch bikini cutter or simple 2 1/4 inch rounds. Gently lift with an offset spatula and arrange cutouts on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently score the cutouts in a criss-cross pattern. Gather scraps, re-roll and cut as before. Bake wafers until firm and dry, about 13-15 minutes. Cool completely on the baking sheet.
- Combine butter, peanut butter, honey, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to moisten, then sprinkle in the powdered sugar a little at a time. Once incorporated, increase to medium and beat until the creme is soft and light, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip. Pipe two teaspoons creme onto half of the cookies, filling each lobe of the peanut shape. Sandwich with remaining wafers.
- Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until the filling is set, about 15 minutes. Store up to one week at room temperature or a month in the fridge. Serve at room temperature.
Hope you enjoy these perfectly peanutty cookies!
Quick and easy recipe! Unfortunately, I could not find my potato masher so I resorted to using the edges of a fork and pinched somewhere in the middle. The result was not as pretty as yours was but still tasted amazing! Here’s an alternative peanut butter filling I tried as well:
1 cup butter, room temperature
2-3 tablespoons milk 1 cup creamy peanut butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
Cheers! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Angie!
Homemade nutter butter? Damn, I’m gonna have to make them myself. Must be so delicious!
How, in the world, do you measure the temperature of butter??? 68 degrees seems pretty specific.
Made my day ! Than you !
That is such a smart idea for putting the pattern onto them. I would never have thought of that in a million years lol. I love how kitchen gadgets can be used in a million ways if you’re imaginative enough.
These look amazing!!
I must make these!
You need to add cocoa to the filling :D but they look great :D
These look GREAT but how do they compare to the “real” ones?
This book is just perfect for me. The yellow cake is just the best. I’m on to the loft house sugar cookies next. I’ve got these nutter butters on my list too!
These are terrific and you’re brilliant!
How about the perfect potato masher for this project! I love your cookie cutter workaround. Looking forward to tasting one of these goodies…. :)
Too cute! I can’t believe I wasn’t following you on Twitter, but that situation is now TCO. More yummy recipes like this one and I might be tempted to work on my kitchen-phobia! :O)