Every time I think of peanut butter cookies, I cannot help but think of my late Grandpa Fred...sitting with him on the tailgate of his pickup or even at the yellow and worn counter at home, just eating cookies we dunked in his coffee. We grew up living with my grandparents and mom, aunts and some cousins. NINE people in a 5 bedroom home with ONE bathroom. Yep. My grandparents were retired and hung out with us most days, and through hanging out with Grandpa we gained an appreciation for simple things, like going up into the Entiat Valley to cut firewood for the winter. When we would all head up into the mountains, there were always thermoses full of coffee and hot cocoa, coolers filled with ham sandwiches on Poulsbo bread, and Archway cookies. Peanut Butter, Oatmeal with Raisin, and sugar. But I remember Grandpa sitting on the tailgate of his old white Ford, cup of coffee in one hand and a peanut butter cookie in the other, dunking it into the coffee and taking a bite, looking around at the grandkids as we horsed around, chasing each other with big carpenter ants we found in the felled logs, every now and then chatting with Uncle Randy about what the best way to load the bed of the truck with firewood would be. Those trips up the Mad River with my family are some of the fondest of my childhood and it instilled in me a love of nature.......and peanut butter cookies.
Now, you can no longer find Archway cookies as readily as you used to be able to (Buttrey's, anyone?), so I make due with making chewy and peanut buttery cookies of my own at home. There are many different ways to have them....with chocolate, crispy and buttery, thick and chewy, with a sugar crust or not, fork marks or just drop cookies. I like mine chewy and almost like peanut butter fudge in the middle....chewy and ooey gooey and bursting with peanut buttery goodness.
This recipe will make around 2 dozen, depending on cookie size, and I used my Kitchen-Aid mixer, since the batter is so thick.
PB Cookie Pertinents:
1/2 Cup Butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter (I used creamy)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups AP flour
PB Cookie Procedurals:
Preheat your oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt).
In mixer bowl, cream together butter and peanut butter with the sugars. Once fully combined, add egg and vanilla extract.
Begin to add in dry ingredients, 1/2 cup at a time, until just incorporated.
Once wet and dry ingredients are combined, roll into 1" balls and I like to put hash marks on mine with a fork, just like Archway used to.
Bake at 350 for 7 minutes (or less! you want a blinde cookie, not golden....more blonde=softer and chewier).
Allow to cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container. If there's any left!
