Welcome to one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories! Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies.
These cookies have it all going on at once. Chocolate, creamy peanut butter, and crunchy buttery salty crackers. Very simply put, they’re an awesome homemade candy bar!
And you won’t believe how easy they are to make. With just 3 ingredients and no time in the oven, our youngest daughter helped me crank out a batch in about half an hour. Tessa was an awesome helper who took charge of laying out the bottom cracker layer and then sandwiching the PB with another cracker on top. She was also pretty darn good in the final testing department. 
I know there are many variations to this recipe. My friend Robyn at Add a Pinch stirs a little honey into the peanut butter layer, something I will definitely try next time. Others add Christmasy sprinkles or drizzles of colored candy coating. And some use expensive top-notch chocolate, shunning the chocolate bark used in the recipe of my childhood. While I’m known to tweak almost every recipe that crosses my counter top, I just couldn’t make these cookies with anything but chocolate bark. It’s about nostalgia.
Howeverrrrrrr…I did experiment with adding a sprinkling of sea salt this time around, an ingredient unfamiliar to the cookies I made as a kid. It’s just a little something to up the salt quantity and please my grown-up taste buds. So that addition would make this a 4 ingredient recipe. I only salted half the batch, as I wasn’t sure what the rest of my family would prefer. Turns out, both versions disappeared at about the same rate. FAST!!!
Ingredients
- 100 round buttery salted crackers, such as Ritz
- 1-1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
- 24 oz. chocolate bark
- flaky sea salt or Christmas sprinkles, optional
Preparation
If you are in a hurry, lay some wax paper on two baking sheets. This will allow you to place the chocolate dipped cookies in the refrigerator for a quick set. If you have a little more time, simply lay some wax paper on the counter and allow the cookies to set up there, which really only takes about 20 minutes.
Place a 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter into the center of half the crackers. No need to spread the peanut butter. Place the cracker with peanut butter on the counter and center another cracker on top. With one finger at the center of the top cracker, gently press the cracker down a bit. This will spread the peanut butter out in between the two crackers. Repeat until you have 50 sandwich cookies made.
In a medium sized bowl, melt the chocolate bark in the microwave (or use a double boiler on the stove top) on a low setting, stirring regularly. Take care to not let it scorch. When it is mostly melted, with just a few small lumps, stir the chocolate bark until it is completely smooth. Let it sit for a minute or so to cool just slightly. Then drop a sandwich cookie into the chocolate. Using a fork, quickly dunk the cookie to completely cover it with chocolate. Lift the cookie out with the fork and tap the fork handle lightly on the side of the bowl to force excess chocolate down through the fork’s tines. Bring the fork outward, dragging the bottom of the tines along the rim of the bowl, letting any other excess chocolate drip down the inside of the bowl. Place chocolate dipped cookie on the wax paper. Repeat until all cookies are dipped. If the chocolate becomes thick and difficult to work with, simply warm it up a bit in the microwave.
If you wish to top the cookies with sea salt or sprinkles, be sure to sprinkle the cookies before the chocolate bark sets up.
These freeze really well. Keep layers separated with wax paper.
Source
From Mom's recipe box.
I’m linking up with the following this week:
- Cheryl at TidyMom for I’m Lovin’ It (Printable Holiday Gift Bags)
- Allison at Alli ‘n Son for Sweet Tooth Friday (Candy Cane Chocolate-Covered Pretzels)
- Chris Ann & Kristin at LoveFeast Table for their Cookie Exchange (Pazookie in a Jar
- Robyn at Add a Pinch for Mingle Monday (Christmas Crafts for Kids)
Making today!
Yay!!
What a fun, easy recipe! I love it! I am co-hosting the #cookielove blog hop on my site all month long and I think these would be a perfect addition if you’d like to link them. They are great!
Laura @ The Art of Cooking Real Food recently posted..Cookie Blog Hop – Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies
Thank you, Laura – Great to hear from you!
Always a hit during the holidays! Love these little cookies!
Maria recently posted..Honey Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas
Thanks, Maria!
Love the idea of the sea salt. Want to give that a try this year.
You’ll love the sea salt, Mom! xo
I just stopped by your blog and thought I would say hello. I like your site design. Looking forward to reading more down the road.
My husband does not have a large sweet tooth but he does love peanut butter. I’m betting he would love these with your updated version that contains a little bit of the sea salt. Great looking cookie…your Mom’s recipe box certainly does contain some delightful treasures.
Yes, so many delightful treasures. I hope you and your husband likes these, Paula! xo
I love these cookies and the chocolate/peanut butter combination. Thanks for simplifying the process for us!
Couldn’t be much simpler!!
Nice to hear from you again, Katie.
I forgot all about these! These are so yummy and I made a batch right away after reading your post. I always sweeten up the peanut butter by adding confectioners sugar. It also firms it up a bit.
Cee recently posted..Fleece Navidad
Another interesting variation – I’ll be sure to try that one out, thanks!
Thank you! I’ve always wanted to make these cookies, but never took the time to figure out how they’re made. these look delicious and I’m definitely going to make this this Christmas season!
You’re welcome, Lisa – enjoy!!
Wow, so simple and they look fantastic. Now I’m really craving some Ritz crackers
becca recently posted..Frozen Computers and Cute Penguin Cookies
Thanks, Becca!
I stir in a little powdered sugar to the peanut butter, just to help ‘set it.’ But I’m guessing that’s because of the type of pb I use… honey, or nothing at all, I freaking love these little things!
Guess I need to try the powdered sugar bit, too – you’re the second person who’s said that! Nice to hear from you again, Julia!
These sound SO delicious. What a PERFECT Christmas treat!
Amanda recently posted..Comment on Starbucks Cake {Giveaway} by Gisele Oakes
Delicious, indeed. I dare you to eat just one!
Wow these look immense! I’m a big big fan of peanut butter although I have to ration it as if I could I’d eat it every day and get really fat!
Harriet recently posted..Nokia Lumia 800
Yum! We make these with Wheat Thins sometimes, too. They’re so easy and so good.
Shaina recently posted..Le Creuset Crêpe Pan Giveaway
Now that’s a version I haven’t heard of – we love Wheat Thins, too – will have to try that out! Thanks, Shaina!
love love LOVE these… one of my favorites!!
kisses
heather
Thank you, Heather!
these look wonderful!!!
Diane {Created by Diane} recently posted..Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies with Peppermint Icing
Thanks, Diane!
Oh my goodness, these are just the best things ever!! I could not stop eating them.
Yaaaayyy!! So glad you liked them, Sylvie!
Hubby and I are making these right this very minute
. Yummmmm….peanut buttery chocolately salty crunchy delight 
Jen {The Wholehearted Life} recently posted..i’m rather down in the dumps this week
Hi Jen!! Love it!! xoxo
These look so delicious and way too easy! Saw this posted on Tasty Kitchen. Very nice blog!
So nice to hear from you, Tricia – thanks!!
These are the best! My mom always made them too. Must be a Minnesotan thing!
Or at least a “Midwest” sort of recipe, as I grew up in SD. But I’ll eat them in any state, for sure!! Nice to hear from you, Julie!
My grandma used to make these too…lol….from Iowa!
Thanks, April!
Wow these look good!! I love that they are no bake too! Perfect!
Beth Michelle recently posted..Roasted Eggplant with Yogurt Sauce
Hello! They really couldn’t be much easier! Or addictive!
For something so simple I have to admit that these look pretty fancy! I bet they’d make a great holiday gift!
That’s exactly what’s so spectacular about them, Erika – their simplicity! And I remember them being gifted as a kid, and they always made people happy.
Thank you is all I can say! This blog post saved me from throwing everything away. I don’t do desserts well, and I figured this would be easy..until…the chocolate. I hate dipping and melting chocolate, hate hate hate, and I was using spoons. Then I was getting all crazy and came to foodgawer and saw your post and your detailed instructions on using the fork and tapping it on the bowl is what saved me. Simple things like this is what makes or breaks someone like me LOL. THank you again!!
So glad I could help, Dan. Enjoy!!
ouch…it’s not human to show that
sab recently posted..ça un gâteau aux pommes ??? non, ça c’est la quintessence du summum de l’émerveillement gustatif …
I made these cookies when I was little too but we use the vanilla bark but I love the chocolate ones too!
I haven’t made them that way, but I’m sure my family would love those, too – they love anything dipped in vanilla bark!
love these! we make them every year at christmas time. my great grandfather found the recipe on a box of ritz years ago and he’s been making them ever since. until this past year…in which he passed down the coveted “cookie dipping fork” to me and my sister. now (97 years old) he just enjoys eating the ones we make for him and our great grandmother!
Thanks, Chelsea. I’ve never heard of this originating from the Ritz box – awesome to know! And I love that you have a coveted cookie dipping fork – AND a great grandpa who is 97 & is still enjoying them. WOW!!
My family makes a couple hundred of these for our annual cookie bake every Christmas. These are by far the most popular cookie though my sister-in-law always says, “But these aren’t a cookie!” Ours are a little different in that we spread one cracker with the pb and the other cracker with marshmallow fluff before sandwiching them together.
Wow, that’s alotta sandwich cookies! I LOVE the idea of marshmallow fluff…will def be giving that a try, thank you!!
These are ridiculously good! Did you know that peanut butter and chocolate are my favorite??? Can you say Merry Christmas?
Why, yes, I do remember that. I think of you every time we make these. I’ll bring some home for Christmas.
xo
Can not thank you enough for this recipe!! Ritz crackers should be giving you a kick back from all the crackers I bought over the holiday. My family loved these. I wrapped mine in festive green foil and my kids/grandkids/sisters/brothers/mother/husband all thought I bought them. I decided to kick it up tad Christmas Eve ( nothing like cooking right up to the time you are walking out the door). I used Club crackers, made them triple layered and dipped them in white candy coating and added Christmas sprinkles on top. WONDERFUL!!! Thank you again!!
Ahhhhh…triple decker sandwich cookies…love it!!!!