Spectacular Eats

Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies

I know that the New Year Resolutions almost always include a desire to lose weight.  And, believe me, that is on my list this year too.  But the trainer at the gym says to eat protein after a workout.  And peanut butter does have protein, right?

I love to buy the fundraising kind of cookbooks – you know, the ones that are made up from people who submit their favorite recipes to combine into a cookbook to be sold to raise funds.  These cookbooks are my most used cookbooks hands down.  Need to find my favorites – just flip through and look for the many pages that are stained and spotted well loved.  Here is one that I originally tried only because it did not use butter, which I was out of at the time.  My previous peanut butter cookie favorite WAS from the Joy of Cooking but was quickly replaced once these made it into my mouth!

These are rich and fudgy, full of a great peanut butter flavor.

Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies

adapted from “Classy Cooking, a cookbook by the classy cooks of St. James Parish”

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 to 1 1/2 cups flour (I hardly ever need the full amt. so start with 1 cup at first)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.  Beat shortening until fluffy.  Gradually add sugars and beat until creamy.  Beat in everything else with the exception of the flour.  Starting with just one cup, stir in the flour.  You want a consistency that will allow you to roll them into balls (somewhere between being too sticky to handle and too dry).  Roll the dough into balls.  Place on a greased cookie sheet.  Press criss-cross patterns into the tops with a fork, being careful to not flatten to cookie too much.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Cool on a rack.