grilled cheese cookies

Hi everyone- Today I am so excited to share these grilled cheese cookies! Yes you read this right! I am showing off my grilled cheese cookies! I previously made the PB&J sandwiches HERE. And, when they turned out sooo cute, I knew I had to try the other classic sandwich: the grilled cheese (cookie).

Here is the key part of these cookies: the loaf shaped dough. I rolled these into the shape of a log and then I pinched the length of the top to give it the shape of a loaf of bread. The details of what to do with the dough is below in the recipe box. FYI.. my dough logs looked nothing like a loaf of bread, but they surprisingly turned out to look like slices of bread.

Here are the finished grilled cheese sandwiches! I had to convince my boys these were not made with a real cheese slice!

Here is the recipe for the cookies and the secret ingredient for the toasted edges of the cookies: vodka and brown food coloring. Don’t worry the vodka evaporates, but it prevents the “crust” from getting soggy!

PB&J and Grilled Cheese Sandwich Cookies

Recipe type: Cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies;
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup + 2 TBSP sugar
¼ cup + 2 TBSP brown sugar
1 egg
2½ TBSP milk
½ tsp. vanilla
1¼ cups flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
For the Crust:
2 TBSP vodka
drops of brown food coloring
Filling:
Jelly for the "J"
Tinted orange frosting for the cheese

Instructions

Beat peanut butter and sugars. Add egg, milk and vanilla.
In a separate bowl: combine flour, baking powder, baking soda. Slowly add to sugar mixture.
Divide dough in ½ and roll into the shape of logs. With your fingers, pinch along the middle of the top and along the two sides to form indentations along the length of the dough log. The goal is to make it look like a loaf of bread. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least a minimum of one hour or overnight.
When dough is chilled, unwrap the dough and use a sharp knife to cut slices of "bread" in ¼" thickness. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place 1" apart on parchment paper and bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To paint the crusts onto the baked cookies, combine vodka and brown food coloring. Use a clean paint brush to brush mixture on the sides of all the cookies. Using vodka instead of water will prevent the cookies from getting soggy since the alcohol will evaporate.
To make the sandwiches take one cookie slice and spread with jelly (or tinted frosting). Match cookie with another slice of similar size to make your sandwiches!