Credit: Andy Brumbaugh

When I was little, my favorite snack was carrots dipped in peanut butter. My mother doesn’t like peanut butter, so these were always a real treat.

When I was about 5, I decided to make some peanut butter-carrot cookies. I plopped dollops of peanut butter onto a baking sheet and shoved a carrot in each one. Luckily, my grandmother (with whom we lived) caught me before I got this concoction into the oven and made a horrific mess.

She showed me a basic cookie recipe in a cookbook and taught me to start baking — and to experiment with it. Some of my creations were good; others not so much. I stubbornly ate them all.

Still, I never got around to making the peanut butter-carrot cookies that had sparked my imagination as a child. So, as an homage to my early baking trials, I tried making simple peanut butter cookies with a candied carrot-peanut butter filling. Turns out they’ll make a wonderful back-to-school treat.

Candying the carrots dries them out so they don’t seep over everything. It also increases their sweetness.

A peanut butter cookie, by its nature, is one of the simplest things to make. My iteration consists of three ingredients — one cup peanut butter, one cup sugar, one egg. Simply mix this together, roll it into balls, press down with a fork to get the traditional pattern and bake.

I bet I could have made these cookies at 5, maybe even without my grandmother’s supervision. Ask your kids to help you make them. They’ll feel like they’ve accomplished something in the kitchen, and who knows — it might even ignite a spark.

Peanut Butter-Carrot Sandwich Cookies

Makes 32 cookies or 18 sandwich cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies:

  • 1 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg

For the carrot filling:

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon for coating carrots
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Make the cookies:

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Combine peanut butter, sugar and egg in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon or stand mixer until a smooth dough forms.
  3. Scoop tablespoon-size balls and set them about one inch apart on the lined cookie sheets.
  4. Using a fork, flatten the balls, making a cross-hatch pattern.
  5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown.
  6. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

Candy the carrots:

  1. Preheat the oven to 225° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a small saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Add the shredded carrots and simmer for 5 minutes.
  3. Drain the carrots, then spread them evenly on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, until they feel dry.
  4. Sprinkle the carrots with the tablespoon of sugar and cool completely before adding to the filling.

Make the filling:

  1. In a medium bowl, use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to whip together the cream cheese, peanut butter, butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt until smooth.
  2. Stir in the cooled candied carrots.
  3. To finish the cookies, spread about 1 tablespoon of filling on one cookie, then sandwich it with a second.
  4. Repeat until all the cookies are filled.
  5. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week. Enjoy!

This article appears in Kids VT Back to School • 2026.