If you love peanut butter sandwich cookies, you have to try these. Made with Jenkins Hell Fire Pepper Jelly, a spicy pepper jelly I brought home from Santa Monica, this recipe gives you cookies with a crisp and light shell, a creamy peanut butter filling and a lingering kick of sweet hot peppers.
But since I got this recipe from Jenkins, it’s only fair that I tell you a little bit more about it, right? And it has an interesting story. Founded by Hillary Danner (Gwyneth’s cousin) and her friend Maria Newman, the pepper jelly was inspired by the abundance of fruit trees growing on Hillary’s historic California property and the vegetables in her new garden. Made with a blend of seven fresh peppers, organic sugar, vinegar and pectin, it’s great paired with cheese, used as a marinade or glaze for meat, and addition to sandwiches, and most likely a very nice add-in for one of our family’s favorites, Texas Jalapeno Cranberry Bread. And since it’s hand crafted and comes with a cute little spoon, it would make a great gift.
UPDATE: Congratulations to Amie who won the free sample!
Can you think of another use? For a chance at a free jar of Jenkins Hell Fire Pepper Jelly? Leave a comment here anytime between today and Sunday at midnight and I’ll send one random commenter a jar. If you’re interested in buying some now, here’s the order page.
Now onto this excellent cookie recipe. The dough was easy to work with and loved how it baked up into crispy, light, sandwich cookies. The pepper jelly makes a truly unique addition, but you could fill these with anything, including Nutella and peanut butter, marshmallow cream, or chocolate ganache.
As mentioned, this recipe is adapted from Hell Fire’s Facebook page, but I did change it up a bit by adding vanilla, adding regular peanut butter to the inside of the sandwich cookie and skipping the part where you put a dab of Hell Fire on the outside of the cookie, and I cut the bake time to about 12-15 minutes (because that’s when the cookies were done).
- 1/2 cup regular or butter flavored shortening (I used butter flavored)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy okay)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup (4.5 oz) all-purpose flour
- Some Hell Fire Pepper Jelly
- Extra peanut butter for filling sandwiches
- Preheat the oven to 325F and have ready a large, ungreased baking sheet.
- With an electric mixer, beat the shortening, salt, baking soda and peanut butter together. Beat in both of the sugars and the vanilla. Beat in the egg.
- By hand or using the lowest speed of the mixer, stir in the flour. Using a rounded ½ teaspoon measure, scoop up dough and shape into small balls. Arrange the small balls on the baking sheet spacing about 1 1 ½ cinches apart. Using a damp fork, press the balls down and make criss-crosses. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes or until edges are brown and cookies appear done. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
- When cookies are completely cool, sandwich a little peanut butter and some Hell Fire Pepper Jelly between two cookies. Repeat until you’ve made about 45 or 50 little sandwiches.
Baked with brie in pastry
Make thumbprints using a typical southern cheddar cheese cookie recipe and fill with Hell Fire.
Different! Would like to try it
I LOVE hot pepper jelly…now have another good excuse to use it! Thank you!
My sister has a recipe for sweet and sour meatballs that uses sauerkraut and grape jelly. This might make a good substitute.
The jelly would probably be good as a marinade or glaze for meats.
with Cream Cheese & Crackers and/or veggies
How interesting! I’d love to try this on my own!
I think it would be go great with a pork loin. Either coat the pork loin with it or use it as a sauce!
I’d drop a teaspoon or so into a corn bread muffin before baking.
It would be great on brie!
Sounds like a pairing made in heaven!
pepper jelly as a marinade on the Thanksgiving turkey for a lively holiday dinner!
My first thought was serving it with cream cheese and crackers, but the pretzel dip sounds really good too!
This would be great as a [VERY] light glaze over veggies — or maybe in a peanut sauce.
Mix with horseradish for a dip for New Orleans fried catfish.
I’d put it over cream cheese and serve with crackers.
Question: in the recipe you state to use a rounded 1/2 tsp for each cookie. Is that correct? It sounds like it would make a very small cookie.
Jelly over some cream cheese
These cookies look delicious! I’d make chocolate truffles and swirl the jelly and peanut butter as the filling inside.
i’d eat it with ice cream.
I’d spread the jelly on cornbread and serve it alongside a cheese and veggie omelet.
Those cookies look really good!
Maybe pepper jelly would be good on an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on hearty toast.
I’d eat it with cream cheese on crackers.
I sometimes top my cheesecake pie with a cooked jam/jelly mixture…pepper jelly would add an interesting kick!
Cream cheese and Wheat Thins would be great. Thanks!
I think I could use it with my breakfast toast. And of course it would make an awsome sause with the cocktail franks.
I would put it on a ham sandwich panini. Oh yum.
Anna, I think the Hell Fire Jelly would be great paired with some sweet grape jelly as a sauce for some little appetizer meatballs! Delicious! Makes my mouth water just thinking about them! 🙂
I;m thinking would be awesome on grilled pork chops!
My first thought was a glaze for chicken. So many choices.
simple appetizer- pour a jar of jelly over a block of cream cheese and serve will crackers
I can honestly never say I thought of peanut butter and peppers together…but your pictures look delicious!
Hmmm? BBQ sauce immediately comes to mind. But maybe in a chocolate cookie like those Tex Mex Chocolate Cookies.
I think this would be delicious with cream cheese and crackers … or cream cheese and a spoon!
I could see me using this as a topping on a pork loin roast………maybe in the crock pot………….got my mouth watering just thinking of it.
As a glaze over chicken. yum!
Great over cream cheese with crackers!
I think it would be awesome dolloped over a tray of homemade nachos instead of salsa.
I forgot to add that I’ve made Ina Garten’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars with pepper jelly.
Multi-grain bread, cream cheese, and pepper jelly makes an awesome sandwich. I live close to James Weaver’s Meadow View Farm. He’s a Mennonite farmer know for his heirloom tomatoes, hundreds of varieties of chili peppers, and a big variety of pepper jellies. http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=331051 Gourmet Magazine had an article on him several years ago.
Looks like it would be great as a pretzel dip.
Goat cheese and pepper jelly sandwiches!
Pepper jellies are good in a number of appetizers
I’m always looking for interesting jellies/chutney to serve as an appetizer over cream cheese.
These cookies sounds delicious! I bet the jelly would be good in a thumbprint cookie too. 🙂