Peanut butter cookies have been on my mind a lot lately. They are a source of comfort, nourishment, distraction, and connection — especially when we’re living a digital life during a pandemic. So, I’m sharing my recipe in case you are also looking for some of these things.
More Than Nourishment
Orders to stay at home unless necessary mean we have less to talk about online. We’re not going to in-person plays and concerts. We’re not browsing at the mall. (Although, we are picking up staple groceries, sometimes including peanut butter.) We’re not traveling to faraway places. We’re not volunteering in our communities. And, frankly, you can only have so many conversations about COVID-19.
To fill the conversational void, some of us turn to food. I think cooking and baking are about more than nourishment. Food is about community — even when we have to be physically distant. It’s about the connections and interactions that happen when we talk about food: something so universal.
Recipe Connections
Baking nurtures all sorts of connections online. My Facebook feed is filled with friends baking sourdough bread and tips to get the perfect crust. My Instagram feed offers a steady diet of cinnamon buns baked by my friends and connections. I’ve been baking lots of things, too, and sharing photos of bread, scones, and peanut butter cookies. I imagine you’ve had some online conversations about food, too.
One beautiful thing about the internet is we can find a recipe for almost anything instantly. Unfortunately, the internet is also unreliable. Too often, a newly-discovered recipe fails. The ingredient list might be incomplete or there could be a key instruction missing. This is why we rely on recipes from friends and family, even in the digital age.
While I have a robust cookbook collection, my baking recipes come from people I’ve known. My former colleague Tanya shared her banana bread recipe with me. My long-time friend Moira shared her recipe for scones. My grandmother’s molasses brown bread recipe was given to me by my aunt. And, with this blog post, I’m sharing my mom’s peanut butter cookie recipe with you.
These kinds of recipe connections give you confidence in the recipe, and you get to think fondly of the person who gave it to you every time you bake it.
Peanut Butter Cookies
So, here it is, from me, for you. My mom’s delicious peanut butter cookie recipe:
- 1 ¼ cups brown sugar
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup butter or shortening
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
Yields 3 dozen
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Place racks (or foil) on the counter for cooling.
- Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add egg. Beat again just until blended.
- Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to the creamed mixture at low speed. Mix until blended. Do not overmix.
- Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of a fork.
- Bake (one baking sheet at a time) for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and beginning to brown. Do not overbake.
- Cool for two minutes on the cookie sheet. Remove cookies to racks (or foil) to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up two weeks. Cookies freeze well for up to a month.
Please be sure to practice safe food handling. Perishable ingredients such as eggs, butter, and milk need to be stored properly. And raw cookie dough includes raw egg which can contain nasty things like salmonella. Please be safe, even if you are tempted to taste the peanut butter cookie dough. I know it’s delicious. (Do what I say, not what I do!)
Giving Credit
I got this recipe from my Mum and it’s been a joyful part of my life for more than 40 years. My slightly stained recipe card is well used but it doesn’t tell me if my mom invented this recipe. I doubt it as she wasn’t one to develop recipes from scratch. Maybe it was on a jar of peanut butter or in one of her favorite magazines: Canadian Living or Chatelaine? I don’t know. If you know, please get in touch. I’d like to give credit to the chef who developed the recipe.
What I do know is that I share it here with love. Peanut-butter-cookie-filled love. Enjoy!