Peanut Butter Cookies

I’m starting off my December baking list with peanut butter cookies.  I know that they’re not traditional Christmas cookies but, with the price of peanut butter these days, they are considered a real treat our house. 

I know, too, that the world probably doesn’t need another peanut butter cookie recipe.  Nearly every home baker already has one.  This recipe, though, is beloved by my grandchildren and they are all old enough now to bake on their own.  I’m writing this post especially for them.

My friend Anna Genoe taught me how to make thee cookies nearly three decades ago.  She’s a very good baker and these are still, after all these years, quite the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted. 

To make them, you’ll need:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Begin by creaming the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together in a large mixing bowl.

Next crack your eggs into a small bowl, add in the vanilla and beat the two together until well combined.

Add the egg mixture into the peanut butter mixure and mix well.

Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a third bowl. 

When they are well combined, add them to the peanut butter mixture and stir them together until the flour is thoroughly incorporated.

Roll the cookie batter into 1-1/2  inch diameter balls and place them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  (I line mine with parchment for easier clean up but you can skip the paper if you want to.)

Flatten the cookies by pressing them crisscross with a fork or do as my friend Colleen Johnson taught me and flatten them with a lightly floured potato masher.

Bake the cookies on the middle rack of a 350F oven for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges.

The cookies will still be very soft when they come out of the oven.  Allow them to rest for at least 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a sheet of kraft paper (or a flattened paper grocery bag) to cool.  The paper will absorb any excess oil on the bottoms of the cookies, yielding a crisper finished biscuit.

Store your peanut butter cookies in an airtight container.  They freeze very well but rarely last long enough at our house to make it to the freezer.