Healthy Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Ok, put your hands up if peanut butter and jelly (jam – if you’re British!) sandwiches were a staple in your childhood diet. Uh huh, thought so. So what if I told you that you could combine it with another childhood favourite… cookies? But better yet, what if I told you that you can enjoy this as a healthy snack? Ok, ok I must be your best friend now, right? 

Yup, these peanut butter & jelly cookies are healthy, delicious and ridiculously easy to make – all within 20 minutes too. The cookie itself can be altered to your preferences. So whether you like them gooey, thick or cakey then you can alter the cooking time to make it just right – either way be prepared for peanut butter heaven.

For the jelly (jam) part, well I hope you’ll be pretty amazed. The combination of chia seeds and fruit is not only a much healthier option but the resemblance of jelly is pretty much bang on. Thick, fruity and sweet.

Ingredients

1 cup oats
2 heaped tbsp Pip&Nut crunchy peanut butter and maple syrup
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1 tsp Sweet Freedom fruit syrup

Jelly Ingredients

2 tbsp chia seeds
half cup frozen fruits
2 tbsp water
1 tsp Sweet Freedom fruit syrup

Method

Begin by pre-heating your oven to gas mark 4. In a pan heat your frozen berries on low until they’ve defrosted. After this, add the water and mash together the fruits until they’re blended together. Add the chia seeds and fruit syrup and continue to heat on low until a thick gel has formed.

In a mixing bowl mix together the oats, egg and almond milk. Once this has combined add together the peanut butter, baking powder and vanilla essence. Mix once again until you have a combined mixture.

Roll a together a rough (heater) tbsp of the mixture together in the palm of your hands and flatten to a fat cookie. With your thumb, make an indent in the middle of the cookie. This needs to be deep enough so the jelly can sit in the middle. Continue to do this for the rest of your mixture. Place all your cookies on a lined baking tray and place in the oven to bake for 7-10 minutes. The less time you bake the cookies, the more of a ‘dough’ like texture you’ll have (my favourite preference).

Once your cookies are done, remove them from the oven, leave to cool and then finally spoon the jelly filling into the cookie holes.

You can keep these in the fridge for a couple of days – if they haven’t been demolished by then! I don’t know about you but peanut butter and jelly cookies are a favourite in my family. Better hide them now!

PS, if you love the sound of these then you’ll love my Chilli Carrot Cake Cookies!

Enjoy,

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