The Adventures of Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm back. School started for the students on Wednesday and since then there hasn't been time to cook so I am going to make up for it this weekend!

When I was in school, there were a few grades that I wasn't as "focused" as I should have been. Hiding report cards, saying I did my homework when I really didn't, and reading the cliff notes instead of doing the assigned readings were some of the strategies in my slacker repertoire. I think this is why when I graduated from grade school with a 4.0, my parents were in utter shock and disbelief. One of the most infamous stories from my wayward school days involved Mary, Tom Sawyer, and myself.

Reading. I dreaded it for a long time, especially the classics like Tom Sawyer. I spent many weekends at Mary's, so often times I would have to do a few homework assignments in her presence. Around the age of 10 or so, I was assigned to read Tom Sawyer...ugh.  To try and get me through it, Mary read it to me out loud on the sun porch while I reclined on the sofa listening (tough life). Not one chapter in and BUSTED! My cousins, who were A students their entire lives, walked right into Mary's house in the middle of our reading session. To this day, I cannot recommend a book title or discuss a recent read without being asked if someone read it aloud to me or reminded of the Tom Sawyer incident.

The lesson of the day: Kids, just do your reading yourself. Not only will you learn a lot, it will be one less piece of evidence that your family can use against you!

Now for baking. Last weeks recipes were not able to be distributed to all of the family members (sorry Alison), so I am going to make sure that today's cookies find their way to their house. Mary made two different kinds of peanut butter cookies with two different names: "Peanut Butter Cookies" and "Dubes" (to be made at a different time).  Today, I am going to whip up:


Peanut Butter Cookies
(written on a recipe card with an embellishment of an antique stove)

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350. Cream shortening and sugar. Add peanut butter and beaten egg. Sift flour with salt and soda. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. Makes a very stiff dough. Form into 2 rolls, roll in waxed paper and refrigerated. Cut into slices and place on a well greased cookie sheet. With the prongs of a fork, flatten out out pressing across both ways (This sentence makes no sense, but I remember her making a cross like design on the cookie with the fork). Bake for 12-15 minutes.

I don't remember Mary chilling the cookies to often when I made these with her. She would scoop a teaspoon of cookie dough onto a baking sheet and flatten it with the fork prongs. If you chose to make them this way, you only need to bake them for 10 minutes.