Last week I shared a new to me recipe from my great-grandmother's kitchen. This week I'd like to introduce you to Dot's Peanut Butter Cookies.
Peanut Butter
Cookies from the Kitchen of Marie Reyer
Cream ½ cup peanut butter, ¼ cup of butter, 1 cup of sugar
Add one egg
About 1½ cup of flour and ½ teaspoon of soda
Break off small amount
Roll between fingers put in pan press with fork tines.
You might notice that there's some information missing from the recipe, namely time and temperature. The current theory is since these were probably originally baked in a wood or coal oven, there was no temperature dial, and they were done when they looked done. I went with 350 degrees and they needed about 16 minutes to be completely cooked.
I have to tell you also, I was missing an ingredient. I usually set out all of my ingredients before I get started, so I don't get halfway through and realize I'm without something integral, but I was so excited to make these, and I absolutely knew I had it all...cue the realization that the peanut butter jar in the cupboard was completely empty. After we ran around for awhile rounding up some peanut butter, I was finally able to get started.
These were really super crumbly when I followed the directions, so I added two eggs (one at a time), along with 2 TB pb – and it was still pretty crumbly. I looked up some suggestions for making them again, and they included using more butter, and/or brown sugar instead of white.
They were crumbly, and they did fall apart pretty easily, but they were so very good. The flavor was wonderful, and they were soft and melt-in-your-mouth good.
This is the third time I've retyped this addition because I keep forgetting to update it before I get distracted.
First batch 2021 - I tweaked some stuff but forgot to write it down, and I made peanut butter bars by just flattening the dough into the pan and cutting squares after it baked.
Second batch 2021 - I forgot to crosshatch the first pan but remembered on the second. I doubled the recipe and tweaked a little.
Cream 1 cup plus about 1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup of butter AND
1/2 cup of margarine
1 cup of granulated sugar AND
1 cup of brown sugar
Add three eggs
Mix dry ingredients separately and add to wet -
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
Roll between fingers put in pan press with fork tines.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes
The first batch went 12 and they were turning brown on the bottom.