Peanut Butter & Jelly Mitten Cookies

Are you looking for an easy wintertime project or perhaps something to do with your kids on a snowy day? These mitten cookies are the perfect project for you! The best part is that the kids get to eat their creations. YUM!

What You Need:

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough (use your favorite recipe or one is provided below)

Vanilla and Chocolate Icing

Asst. Colors of Paste Food Coloring

Small Candies for Decorating

Colored Sugars and Sprinkles

Mitten Cookie Cutter

Peanut Butter

Favorite Jelly or Jam

Sm. Plastic Baggies

Scissors

Dixie Cups or Small Bowls


What You Do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare your favorite Peanut Butter cookie dough recipe or use the one listed below. On a lightly floured surface, roll cookies dough out to 3/8 in. thickness. Make sure to cut out an even numbered amount of cookies so that they can be paired together. When laying cookies on a baking sheet, be sure to flip over every other cookie so that one mitten thumb is facing left and one is facing right, to make pairing easy. Bake as directed. It is important to make sure that these cookies are completely cooled before icing.

Time to Decorate:

Preparation:

An adult should prepare the icing ahead of time for easier handling. To color the Vanilla icing, add a small amount of icing into a bowl -one bowl per each color that you will be using- and stir in a small amount of paste food coloring. Make icing bags by filling a plastic baggie with one of the colored icings and squeezing the icing into one corner of the bag. Carefully snip off the very end of the corner of each bag.

Separate candies into individual bowls or Dixie cups.

Decorating Cookies:
Pair the cookies so that each child has two cookies, forming one mitten. Allow the kids to decorate the top cookie with icing, candy, etc. Set this cookie aside to dry. On the topside of the bottom cookie, spread a thin layer of peanut butter, topping with a thin layer of jelly. Finish by placing their decorated cookie on top of the jelly.

Serve alongside a glass of milk and enjoy!

For best quality and taste, these cookies are meant to be decorated and eaten immediately; not frozen for later use.


Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies
1 C. Butter or Butter-Flavored Crisco

2/3 C. Creamy Peanut Butter

2/3 C. Light Brown Sugar, packed

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

2 1/2 C. All-Purpose Flour

1/4 C. Cornstarch

Combine the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in vanilla. Slowly beat or stir in the flour and cornstarch until mixture starts sticking together. At this point, I use my hands to mix the cookie dough until thoroughly mixed together. Roll out on a lightly floured board to about 3/8-inch thickness, cut with cookie cutters and place on an un-greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cookies are set and light brown. Cool on the pan for 5-7 minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.