Dad’s Famous Cookies
Adventures in Baking!
While we’ve passed the traditional December holiday season for cookies, there are some cookie flavors that work year round. The recipe below has a delicious peanut butter flavor that fits right in with the cozy, warming mug of tea or coffee that is still needed on these brisk spring days:
The peanut butter cookie.
Don’t run away yet! I know, I know- a majority of peanut butter cookie recipes turn out dry. You’ve had them before at picnics and holiday parties- Delicious, but dry as a bone, and cough-inducing as they choke you with their good intentions. Those poor, tongue-shriveling, “thank-you-it’s-so-good-no-I-don’t-need-another,” crumbling baked goods. They want to be good cookies. But they need some help.
That’s where this recipe comes in. These peanut butter cookies knock it out of the park and may just change your mind about what this variety of dessert can be. The cookies turn out moist and just the right amount of chewy/crumbly.
This recipe also has a special place in my heart: It is a recipe that was handed down through generations of my family. My Dad made tons of these cookies when I was growing up (and still does!), and we kids helped as well (lots of licking of the -unplugged- beaters at the end, before the scrumptious tradition of eating raw dough fell out of fashion). I remember Dad sending them with me in my school lunch as a child, and getting requests from my friends for any “extras”.
There’s a reason my Dad makes batches and batches of these at the holiday time, given as gifts to grateful recipients who know from past years exactly what deliciousness they’re receiving. They’re fantastic. I may be biased, but I’ve eaten *plenty* of cookies in my lifetime, so I think I can give a fair assessment.
I was tentative asking to use this recipe for my blog — I wasn’t sure if Dad regarded the recipe as a family secret or not. To my delight he was happy to give his stamp of approval, and so below are the directions for this sweet treat.
This was actually my first time making these cookies (gasp!), and I was more shocked than I should have been that things went well. It is a clear recipe and was fun to explore.
I’m not 100% sure that my finished product tasted exactly like Dad’s: perhaps I had rolled them too small, or missed the cooking time by a minute. But when all was said and done, everything turned out well — and they sure did taste like home.
TIPS FROM DAD:
Makes 5+ batches
-Bake them one tray at a time, even though it takes longer.
-Roll the dough into balls to get a nice shape
-After 3 batches, check earlier, at 7 minutes, because the oven will be getting steadily warmer over time.
-If they have turned brown to the eye they’re definitely done, take them out!
-You can substitute 1/2 cup regular Splenda for ½ cup of the total 1 cup white sugar, but the recipe needs regular brown sugar instead of brown Splenda to work properly.
PEANUT BUTTER CRISS CROSS COOKIE RECIPE:
1 c shortening
1 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 c peanut butter
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
Cream shortening, sugars, eggs & vanilla. My Dad uses a stand mixer. I don’t have one (it would only encourage me to eat more cookies), so I used a sturdy hand mixer. If your hand mixer is lightweight, consider mixing by hand with only a wooden spoon as this becomes a very heavy, wet dough.
2. Stir in peanut butter.
3. Add Dry Ingredients and stir.
4. Roll teaspoon (kitchen teaspoon, not measuring teaspoon) sized balls and put on baking tray. (No cooking spray is needed if the pan is nonstick). Our pans have clearly seen better days but are still technically nonstick.
5. Dip a fork into flour and press into cookie. Press again perpendicular to the first press. The flour is very important to keep the cookies from sticking to the fork.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F, for 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.
