The back page of October Martha Stewart Living is Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint cookies. I like PBJ, but I’ve never really gotten into the idea of the flavor combos as a dessert. Teen Martha needed to bring food into a class party (yes, they’re still having them, senior year in high school!) and so she offered to make these cookies. These are a pretty basic peanut butter cookie, but you make them into balls and press the end of a wooden spoon in the middle to make a hole for the jelly. She got them in the oven and then realized she was late and had to go. Where to? Dance rehearsal. No, Teen Martha doesn’t take dance class.  Today is the pep rally for homecoming and apparently the senior girls “always” (always meaning as long as she’s been there, but it never happened when I went to that school) put on a dance routine in the pep rally.  This dance routine has necessitated hours and hours of rehearsal. It has also required the purchase of a pair of black sweatpants, stencils, and “cute” material to use to cut out the letters SKA (seniors kick a**), which needed to be sewn onto the pants (wonder who was supposed to do that? Me of course. I cheated and showed her how to use that fabric tape you iron between two things which becomes glue).

So, back to the cookies. Teen Martha got them in the oven then realized in a panic she was going to be late to the all important dance rehearsal. At this point, the cookies became my responsibility. They took a little longer to bake than Martha said. Once they’re out and cool, you heat up some jam to thin it a bit, then fill the cookies with it. As you can see, I didn’t have the best aim when I filled them.

The cookies were good, but I would rather have plain PBJ. The dough was to die for. Everyone in the house was sneaking it. The cookies were a hit at school – not even a crumb made it home.