Yes, the Best Peanut Butter Cookie

I saw a few friend FB posts in the fall about stocking up on Costco peanut butter while supplies lasted due to the peanut shortage.  My son wakes up and makes his own peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, so as I saw the pallet of peanut butter shrinking and not being restocked, I grabbed enough to get us through the winter...and spring...and summer.

I noticed this recipe last week and saw the half dozen jars of peanut butter staring at me from the pantry and decided to go search my Google Reader list to try and figure out where I had seen the recipe to make peanut butter cookies.  They were the "best", after all.  I couldn't get anyone in the house excited about peanut butter cookies.  "How about chocolate chip instead?"  "Let's make sugar cookies.  I'll even help."  The recipe on Ladybird Lane was a double batch, so I cut everything in half (then added an extra 1/2 cup of flour for high altitude), nixed the salt, and added a splash of vanilla:

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

splash of vanilla extract

3 cups of flour

1 cup M&Ms.

Cream the shortening, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter and eggs.  Add the baking soda and powder and then a splash of vanilla extract.  Add the flour.  Stir in the M&Ms by hand (the mixer tends to chip the M&Ms).  Bake 350F 8-10 minutes.  Yields approximately 3 dozen cookies (using 1.5" balls of dough).

 The dough was very stiff and dry and probably didn't need the extra flour.  

The cookies didn't spread much from the balls of dough placed on the cookie sheet, but I pressed the cookies down once they were on the cooling rack to flatten them out a little.

I like a cookie that you can sink your teeth into and feel the sugar granules as you chew.  They are soft, yet slightly crumbly.  Great texture.

For nobody being very excited about peanut butter cookies, the batch has managed to disappear rather quickly.

I'm thinking requests for more peanut butter cookies may be coming in the next day or so.  Good thing I have all of that peanut butter on hand.