Soft and chewy peanut butter cookie cups are topped with creamy peanut butter and a spoonful of strawberry preserves, jam, or jelly. These PB&J Cookie Cups are easy to make and taste great plain or topped with chopped peanuts and a drizzle of peanut butter.

If you love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you are going to go nuts for this peanut butter and jelly cookie cup recipe.
Each mini cupcake-shaped peanut butter cookie is made using our Classic Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe, has a soft and chewy texture, and is packed with nutty flavor.
The cookie cups are filled with a spoonful of creamy peanut butter to give them a robust peanut butter flavor.

Then, to give them that classic PB&J taste, I've added a spoonful of strawberry preserves to each cookie. I love the combination of strawberry and peanut butter but you can use your favorite preserves, jam, or jelly. Grape, raspberry, or cherry would taste wonderful too!
You can make these cookies using a bowl and spoon or silicone spatula (which is what I like to use). There's no need to pull out your mixer.
So, let's get baking.
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Ingredients
- unsalted butter - Butter adds a rich flavor to these cookies. You can use margarine, but butter will make better-tasting cookies.
- creamy peanut butter - Use creamy peanut butter like Jif (my favorite), Skippy, Peter Pan, etc. We don't recommend using natural peanut butter because the oil tends to separate which can cause peanut butter cookies to spread too much. It may also give your cookies a gritty texture.
- light brown sugar - Brown sugar gives your peanut butter cookies a hint of molasses flavor and a nice chewy texture.
- granulated sugar - Adds sweetness to your cookies and enhances browning.
- eggs - One large egg will add stability and moisture to your cookies.
- all-purpose flour - Flour provides the structure for your cookies. I highly recommend weighing your flour as measuring it using cups won't give you an accurate measurement. You can end up with too little or too much flour in this recipe. If you don't have a scale, spoon the flour into your measuring cup then use a straight edge to scrape across the top to remove any excess flour.
- baking soda - When baking soda is combined with an acid like brown sugar, it creates carbon dioxide gas, providing lift, and making your cookies puff up so they aren't flat.
- baking powder - This will help to neutralize the acid and create lift.
- salt - Balances out the sweetness and enhances the peanut butter flavor.

Toppings
- creamy peanut butter - You'll pipe creamy peanut butter into the indentations in your peanut butter cookie cups. This gives your cookies a robust peanut butter flavor.
- strawberry preserves, jam, or jelly - Use something that you can spoon over a cookie. If you use jelly and it is really thick, you can warm it slightly so that you can easily spoon it over the cookies.
- peanuts - Adding chopped peanuts on top of your cookies is optional but they do add more peanut flavor and a nice bit of crunch.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Equipment
- a mixing bowl (I use a Pampered Chef Large Batter Bowl)
- a silicone spatula or wooden spoon (I love my sprinkles silicone spatulas)
- 2 mini muffin pans - I used a 24-cavity non-stick mini muffin pan.
- mini cookie scoop - You'll need to scoop out about a tablespoon-size ball of cookie dough for each cookie. I used a mini OXO cookie scoop.
Instructions

Heat the butter in the microwave for 45-60 seconds on high power. Remove and stir until melted.

Stir the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and peanut butter into the melted butter. Then, stir in the egg.

Stir together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt using a fork or whisk.

Combine the dry ingredients (flour mixture) with the wet ingredients (sugar and butter mixture).

Stir just until the cookie dough comes together.

Scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough into 40 mini muffin cups.

Roll the cookie scoops into balls.

Then flatten them into an even layer.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges turn golden brown. The centers will sink as the cookies cool.

Use the handle of a wooden spoon to create an indentation in each cookie cup.

Spoon creamy peanut butter into a zip-top bag and snip off the tip.

Pipe about ¾ - 1 teaspoon of peanut butter into each cookie.

Spoon strawberry preserves, jam, or softened jelly over the peanut butter.

You want each cookie to have about ¾ teaspoon of jelly on top.

Optional: Sprinkle some chopped peanuts over the jelly on each cookie and then drizzle peanut butter over top.

The cookies look and taste great either way but the peanuts add a nice crunch and robust peanut flavor.
Tips
- Be sure to lightly spray a non-stick mini muffin pan with baking spray before placing the cookie dough inside.
- Use a small cookie scoop to make evenly-sized cookies. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of cookie dough for each cookie.
- The dough will fill the mini muffin pan cavities about halfway.
- The cookie dough will puff up during baking but will sink slightly in the middle which is what you want.
- If you don't want a lot of peanut butter inside your cookies, do not press the wooden spoon handle into them. Just fill them with ¼ teaspoon of peanut butter then cover them with preserves, jam, or jelly.
- Jelly can be too firm to spoon into the cookie cups. You may need to warm it slightly.
- If you use preserves with large chunks of fruit, use kitchen shears to chop up the fruit into smaller pieces.
Substitutions
You can use dark brown sugar in place of light brown sugar if you prefer a stronger molasses flavor.
Margarine can be substituted for butter.
Use your favorite fruit preserves, jam, or jelly. Raspberry, grape, and cherry are great alternatives to the strawberry preserves that I used.

Variations
If you aren't a fan of PB&J, you can simply add a swirl of creamy peanut butter on top of your peanut butter cookie cups.
You can skip the step where you make an indentation in the cookies. The cookies are already concaved enough to hold the amount of peanut butter you'll want in each cookie.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large 1M open star tip with creamy peanut butter (I used Jif) or peanut butter frosting. Pipe a swirl of peanut butter on top of each cookie cup.

Add some crunch by sprinkling on a few Mini Chocolate Crispearls. They are tiny milk, dark, and white chocolate-coated rice crispies. Or use chopped peanuts.
Storage
Store your peanut butter and jelly cookie cups in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
If you need to keep these cookies longer, do not spoon the jelly on top until you are ready to serve them. That way you can keep the cookies at room temperature for up to 7 days. They will dry out as they age though.
Or you can freeze them in an airtight container or large zip-top bag for up to 3 months.
Related
Looking for more peanut butter cookie recipes?
Recipe
PB&J Cookie Cups

Soft and chewy peanut butter cookie cups are topped with creamy peanut butter and strawberry jelly (preserves or jam). Each peanut butter and jelly cookie cup can be topped with chopped peanuts and a drizzle of peanut butter for a more robust nut flavor.
Ingredients
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- ½ cup (114 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (120 grams) creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (106 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 192 grams (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour*
- ½ teaspoon (3 grams) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2.84 grams) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3.5 grams) table salt
- Toppings
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter
- ⅔ cup strawberry preserves, jam, or jelly
- Optional Toppings
- ½ cup peanuts, chopped
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- Make your peanut butter cookie cups.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Spray 40 cavities in 2 non-stick mini muffin pans with baking spray.
- Melt the butter in the microwave for 45-60 seconds on high power or on the stove over medium-low heat.
- Mix the peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar into the melted butter until smooth.
- Lightly beat the egg just to break up the yolk, then stir it into the peanut butter mixture.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together, then pour it into the mixing bowl. Mix just until the cookie dough comes together.
- Scoop out 40 1-tablespoon-size balls of dough.
- Roll the dough into balls then press one ball into each of the 40 mini muffin cups in the pans.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges of the cookie cups turn golden brown.
- Remove and let the cookies cool in the pan for 20 minutes.
- Then, carefully turn the pan upside down and allow the cookie cups to fall out.
- Press a handle of a wooden spoon into each cookie cup making a larger indentation.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely for about 40 more minutes.
- Add the toppings.
- Spoon the peanut butter into a zip-top bag and snip off a corner.
- Pipe about ¾ of a teaspoon of peanut butter into each of the cookie cups.
- Then spoon about ¾ teaspoon of strawberry preserves, jam, or jelly over top.
- If desired, add the optional toppings.
- Sprinkle some peanuts over each cookie.
- Then, spoon the peanut butter into a zip-top bag and snip off a small corner from the bag. Pipe a thin drizzle of peanut butter over each cookie.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Weigh your flour.
When baking, it is always best to weigh your flour. You'll get the most accurate measurement that way. If you don't have a scale, spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup. Then, scrape across the top of the cup removing any excess flour.
I recommend weighing all your ingredients if possible but I have included cup measurements as well as weights.
Jelly, Preserves, or Jam
You can use any of your favorite fruit spreads. If your jelly is too thick, stir it until smooth or warm it slightly until you can spoon it over your cookies easily. If your preserves have large chunks of fruit it it, use kitchen scissors to cut the fruit into smaller pieces.
Storage
Store your peanut butter and jelly cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or place them in a zip-top bag, then freeze them for up to 3 months.
Calories
The calories are calculated for the cookie cups topped with peanut butter and jelly. The chopped peanuts and peanut butter drizzle are not included in the total calories.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
40Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 122Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 98mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 1gSugar: 9gProtein: 2g
HowToMakeEasyCookies.com offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you use to create this recipe.
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