Peanut Butter Cookies

I have never met a cookie I didn’t like. If it has cookie in the name, I am going to like it. Granted, there are some cookies I like better than others, however, I will eat them all, given the chance. 🙂

I usually start doing all my baking for the church coffee cart on Wednesdays, so I can get everything ready without being rushed. This week was no different. This time I made peanut butter cookies. I LOVE peanut butter cookies, but then I also love peanut butter. I had more than I thought my recipe was going to make, so I just had to try one or two, you know for quality control and all. I was very pleasantly surprised at this, because usually it is the other way around. I usually get less than the recipe says I will. They came out so good! YUMMY!

The peanut butter cookie was invented in the 1910′s, when George Washington Carver of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute published a peanut cookbook in an effort to promote the crop.

Have you ever wondered why peanut butter cookies have the forked criss-cross on top? I know I have. Peanut butter is a pretty dense ingredient. When you add it to cookie dough the cookies will bake with this density. Adding the criss-cross pattern or “hash marks” to your cookies allows them to bake evenly. So there you go. Now we all know. 🙂

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter, either plain or with nuts

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped peanuts

Preheat the oven top 350* F or 190*C.

Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Chop the peanuts.

Mix the butter and sugars together until creamy, then add the eggs and vanilla, and beat in between each addition.

Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat. Then 1/2 of the peanut butter and beat, and repeat until everything is mixed together well.

When the dough is mixed, take about 1 TBSP of dough and roll it into a ball. Repeat until all the dough is used. Take a fork and press into a criss-cross on top of each cookie. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the tops of the pressed cookies and slightly press into the dough with your finger tips.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the cookies are set and have a light golden edge around them. You can rotate the cookies at about the half mark if they do not look like they are cooking evenly.

Let them cool then share with friends. I promise you, they will disappear quickly though, so get some while you can. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.