Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies for the Whole Family

posted by Ashton on
Jump to Recipe

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

Okay you guys, can we talk about Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies for a second?! These soft cookies sandwiched around sweet creme filling and a dollop of strawberry-flavored jelly, all coated in milk chocolate — be still my heart. I am absolutely obsessed, and this copycat version is so easy to make at home that you’ll wonder why you ever bothered buying the box. Whether you love dessert in its most nostalgic form or you’re just looking for something a little extra on a long day, this recipe is totally worth sharing with everyone you know! 🍓🍫

The jelly filling oozes out just like it would in an actual jelly creme pie. Those who are wary of the jelly/jam filling being too “tangy” should have no fear — jelly was used because it’s not as tart as jam. The result is this dreamy, gooey, creamy center that’s basically impossible to resist.

If you loved Little Debbie Jelly Crème Pies as a kid, you are going to love this delicious dupe made with cream cheese filling, strawberry jam, white cake cookies, and milk chocolate on top. It’s all the same flavors you loved when you were a child, but in a more grown-up homemade form.

This post has been sponsored by Dixie Crystals, but all opinions are 100% my own. This post may contain affiliate links.

Copycat Jelly Creme Pies Recipe
Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

Copycat Little Debbie Desserts

So many of my favorite copycat recipes have been Back-to-School themed, and honestly they’re some of the best limited edition snacks of the year when it comes to nostalgic baking inspiration! If you haven’t already, these Copycat Oatmeal Cream Pies are a MUST try. I loved them so much, I made them in bar form too!

But if chocolate is more your thing, I’ve got you. These Copycat Hostess Cupcakes were so epic that I also made them in layer cake form (see my Hostess Cupcake Cake Recipe). I literally can’t even choose a favorite between those and these jelly creme pies — they’re both SO good!

Another one for the chocolate lovers: Copycat Cosmic Brownies. These were my personal favorites as a kid. Those rainbow chips on top always won me over! If you’re into unique junk food flavors and unexpected junk food pairings, these copycat recipes are genuinely the most fun little baking projects I’ve ever done. 🌈

Back to School Copycat Desserts

Why Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Are the Best

Okay, real talk — the best Little Debbie snack is absolutely up for debate, but I will go to the mat for jelly creme pies every single time. The combination of those pillow-soft cookies, that sweet creme filling, and the jammy strawberry center is just SO dreamy. They’re one of those favorite flavors that lives in your memory forever, you know? And when you recreate them at home with real cream cheese and good-quality jam, they honestly taste even better than the original. I’m not even sorry for saying that. 😇

These are also one of the most fun summer adventure baking projects — imagine whipping up a batch for a picnic or a backyard hangout! They travel surprisingly well and they’re just pretty enough to make people think you spent way more time on them than you actually did. And if you love all things junk food and snack-inspired baking, you’d probably also go wild for my Watermelon Rice Krispie Treats — they’re peak summer vibes all the way. 🍉

Ingredients Needed for This Recipe

Super simple, right?! No weird specialty ingredients, no crazy techniques — just pantry staples and a little love. The white cake mix is the real secret here because it gives you those perfectly soft cookies with a tender crumb that holds up to all that gooey filling. 🙌

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

How do I Make the Jelly Creme Filling?

The jelly creme filling is really much simpler than you might think! There are two components:

➊ First, the “creme” portion of the filling. If you are a stickler for authenticity, then I highly recommend using the cream filling recipe in my Hostess Cupcakes post. For these little debbie jelly creme pies, I decided to stray just a bit and make a cream cheese filling that would be slightly less sweet to offset the cookies, chocolate, and jam. Think of it as a grown-up sweet creme — silky, tangy, and absolutely perfect as the main filling layer.

➋ I used a little bit of Smuckers strawberry jam for the jelly filling — just a dollop of strawberry-flavored jelly nestled right in the center of that cream cheese dam. Feel free to use whatever strawberry spread you like the best! The combination of that sweet creme and the fruity jelly center is exactly what makes these so irresistibly good.

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

Easy Instructions

➀ Mix and bake a batch of simple cake mix cookies.

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

➁ Make the cream cheese frosting.

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

➂ Pipe a dam of frosting around the edges of half of the cookies. Fill the centers with jam.

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

➃ Finish off the cookie sandwiches with another cookie, and spoon melted chocolate on top.

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

What People Are Saying About Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies

You guys, people are PASSIONATE about these little guys online! If you’ve ever gone down a rabbit hole on the reddit app, you already know that the heart of the internet has a lot of feelings about Little Debbie snacks. Scroll through the answers section of any snack-related thread and you’ll find dedicated fans posting international junk food hauls featuring jelly creme pies, debating them against other favorite flavors, and sharing lists of the best limited edition snacks of the year. The world of communities over there is wild and I am here for every second of it. 😂

It’s genuinely worth sharing how much love these cookies get in the snack community. People hunt them down at every store, they show up in reddit home feeds constantly during Back-to-School season, and they pop up in comparisons with everything from Hostess Cupcakes to homemade sandwich cookies. If you open menu after menu on snack review sites, you’ll keep seeing jelly creme pies near the top. They’ve absolutely earned that spot!

Tips for Making Perfect Copycat Jelly Creme Pies

A few quick tips so yours turn out absolutely ah-mazing every single time! First — don’t overbake those soft cookies. Pull them out when they look just barely set in the center; they’ll firm up as they cool and you want that pillowy, tender crumb that makes the original so good. Second, make sure your cream cheese is fully softened before you whip up the filling, or you’ll end up with lumps and nobody wants that situation in real life. 😬

Also, when you’re adding the jam, keep it to a small, neat dollop — you want it contained inside that frosting dam so it doesn’t squish out everywhere when you sandwich the cookies together. And for the chocolate on top, I love using melting wafers because they set up smooth and glossy without needing any special technique. The finished product looks totally professional, I promise! This is seriously one of the most foolproof copycat recipes I’ve ever shared, and if you love baking nostalgic treats, you’ll also want to bookmark my No Bake Deep Dish Cookies & Milk Pie for your next craving. 🍪

More Copycat Recipes

Copycat Mallomars® Recipe

Copycat Hostess Cucpakes Recipe

Copycat Cosmic Brownies Recipe

Panera Copycat: Kitchen Sink Cookies Recipe

BoBerry Biscuits Copycat Recipe

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies Copycat Recipe

Cowboy Bark {Trader Joe's Copycat} Recipe

Coldstone Founder's Favorite Copycat Recipe

Heavenly Hash Donuts {Gourdoughs Copycat Recipe}

Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappuccino Copycat Recipe

Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip Copycat Recipe

Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake Copycat Recipe

Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Honey Butter Copycat Recipe

Maple Blondie with Maple Butter Cream Sauce {applebee's copycat} Recipe

Monkey Bread French Toast (Kneaders Chunky French Toast Copycat) Recipe

Jelly Creme Pie FAQ

Got questions? I’ve got answers! Here are the ones I get asked the most about this recipe. And if you’re ever browsing product details, item images, or nutritional information on the actual Little Debbie packaging — whether you’re using the zoom button on the main image, checking product information from the large image on the box, or using a screen reader to keep track of thumbnails in a compatible form — just know the homemade version uses real, recognizable ingredients that you can actually pronounce. Win! When you open settings menu options on the Little Debbie site or pull up the user menu to find your local store’s phone number and check if they’re in stock, just make sure you scroll down to the main content section for the most up-to-date availability info. 😄

How long do jelly creme pies last in the fridge?

Jelly creme pies last about five days in the fridge and two weeks in the freezer. They won’t separate if refrigerated.

How long can you leave jelly creme pies out?

Jelly creme pies are good for 24 hours on the counter, at least I think. They won’t last that long so I truly have no idea. Good luck not eating them all!

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

Copycat Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies Recipe

Yield: 8 cookies
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

If you loved Little Debbie Jelly Creme Pies as a kid, you are going to love this delicious dupe made with cream cheese filling, strawberry jam, white cake cookies, and milk chocolate on top.

It’s all the same flavors you loved when you were a child, but in a more grown-up homemade form.

Ingredients

  • 1 box cake mix, white
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 c vegetable oil
  • 1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 3 1/2 c powdered sugar
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 4 T strawberry jam
  • 10 ounces milk chocolate melting candy wafers

Instructions

  1. For cookies, preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil. Scoop out heaping tablespoons and roll them into balls. Slightly flatten dough with your palms and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  3. Bake for 8-10 minutes until slightly golden on bottoms. Let cool completely.
  4. For cream cheese filling, mix butter and cream cheese using an electric mixer.
  5. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition. Scrape down sides as needed.
  6. Mix in vanilla.
  7. Transfer filling to a piping bag and set aside.
  8. To assemble, using cream cheese filling, pipe a dam around top of a cookie. Spoon about 1/2 tablespoon of jam into center. Place another cookie, upside down (flat side up) onto top of filling.
  9. Repeat with remaining cookies. Freeze all of assembled cookies for 10 minutes.
  10. Melt chocolate melting candy according to directions on package.
  11. Place cookies on a cooling rack, and place rack over a silicone mat or parchment paper.
  12. Spoon 2 tablespoons of melted chocolate over each cookie and let chocolate run over sides. It should cool and harden quickly.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 386Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 526mgCarbohydrates: 75gFiber: 1gSugar: 47gProtein: 4g
© Ashton
Skip to Recipe