At our Easter dinner back in April, there was discussion around the table over what everyone’s preferred “J” is in a PB&J. My sister-in-law Tara had a very hot take (to me), which was that she loves a PB&J with grape jelly. I was immediately hit with a wave of nostalgia for toasted English Muffins with butter and Welch’s grape jelly, but I couldn’t remember ever having a PB&J with it! I lean strong in the direction of (homemade) strawberry jam, or raspberry jam in a pinch.

Anyway, a few weeks later Claire posted a video for her Peanut Butter Cookies, and in it, she shows three ways to form the cookies: 1) Classic, with the cross hatch marks from a fork on the top 2) Thumbprint, filled with jam (now you see where I’m going with this) 3) Linzer, sandwiched together with jam. I immediately knew I would make these for Tara with grape jelly inside as a tribute to her fave combo.

I decided to go with the thumbprint-style over the linzer-style (although Claire does show a cool way of forming your own slice-and-bake log of dough for making linzers), and it reminded me why I typically avoid thumbprint cookies at all costs. No matter what I do, they always crack, or spread, or I have some type of problem with them, and these were no exception. The cracks annoyed me, and you can see it a bit in the picture. My other tip is that you must (even though Claire says you don’t have to) heat the jam/jelly before filling the thumbprints. I didn’t at first and the jelly just stayed in a very unattractive clump, but if you heat it and whisk it up before adding it, it will look like the smooth glossy puddles you see above. I did half with grape and half with strawberry and both were delicious.

You can find the ingredient listing + directions in Claire’s video here!

More Planet Byn x Dessert Person posts here!

Note: I ordered a gigantic 3lb box of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt online, but if you don’t have it, just use regular salt and cut the measurement in half for these recipes.