Preheat the oven to 400°F. Remove both pie crusts from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature per the package instructions. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside; place the 1 cup granulated sugar in a shallow bowl for coating and sprinkling.

Work with one pie crust at a time. Unroll one pie crust onto a clean piece of parchment or a lightly floured surface. Lightly roll the crust with a rolling pin so it is just a bit thinner than it comes (about 1/16–1/8 inch).

Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter (or the rim of a glass/jar) to cut as many circles as you can from that crust. Re-gather scraps and keep them to reroll later.

Place half of the cut rounds on your work surface as bottoms. On each bottom round, spoon 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter into the center.

Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar directly on top of the peanut butter for each cookie, keeping the sugar centered on the peanut butter so it does not reach the edges of the crust.

Place a second round over each filled bottom to form a sandwich. Press the edges together firmly with your fingers to seal; if desired, crimp the edges with the tines of a fork for a tighter seal.

Gently roll or dip each sealed cookie in the shallow bowl of granulated sugar to coat the outside, then place the coated cookies on the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between them.

Reroll the saved scraps from that crust, cut additional rounds, and repeat steps 4–7 until you have used the first crust.

Bake the cookies on the baking sheet for 12 minutes, or until the pastry is just beginning to brown. Do not overbake.

While the first baking sheet is in the oven, prepare the second pie crust following steps 2–8. Bake the second batch after the first finishes, using the same temperature and time.

When a batch comes out of the oven, let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes. Be careful—the peanut butter center will be very hot and in a “lava” state while warm.

After 2 minutes, transfer the cookies to a wire rack or plate to finish cooling. The peanut butter will firm up as the cookies cool.