While rummaging through my parents’ kitchen cupboards, I stumbled upon something intriguing: two tin boxes stuffed with handwritten recipes and yellowed newspaper recipe clippings. This, I realized, was my great grandmother Rene’s recipe collection, all sorted into mini files. After quick inspection, I noticed that some of the recipes were written by her while others were written and given to her by friends.
I present to you Grandma Rene’s peanut butter cookie recipe! Peanut butter cookies have never been my absolute favorite type of cookie, but these turned out to be the most perfect, crumbly yet soft cookies that I’ve had in a long time. They are incredibly simple to make and have a quick bake time: perfect for the busy baker. Since her recipe provides little direction, I have written a step by step rendition of how I made these delicious morsels.
Ingredients:
½ Cup Butter
½ Cup Peanut Butter
½ Cup Sugar
½ Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 ½ Cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
½ tsp Vanilla
(This recipe yields about 24-34 cookies. Bake time 7-10 minutes at 400°)
Instructions:
1. Cream room temperature butter with the peanut butter.
2. Add white sugar and brown sugar to the butter mixture. Cream until thoroughly mixed.
3. Crack and mix in the egg.
4. Add the baking soda, salt and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
5. Sift the flour and to the mixture. Stir until completely mixed.
6. Roll the mixture into one inch (in diameter) balls.
7. Flatten the balls with a fork to create the crosstitch print on top of the cookies.
*Warning: these cookies will spread when baking, so make sure you leave enough space between the cookies on the pan. I underestimated how much they would stretch and ended up with square instead of round cookies. If you want smaller cookies, make smaller balls.*
8. Bake at 400° for 7-10 minutes or until the bottom is slightly browned.