I like peanut butter cookies, but the recipe I usually use came from my 7th grade home ec class! I like my cookies slightly chewy, but also slightly crunchy. A tall order, I know. For a few weeks, I’ve been meaning to make some cookies as a thank you for a friend and his favorite is peanut butter. I finally got around to it and decided I would use Martha’s recipe from her cookie cookbook.

The dough was quite sticky (and I’m surprised Martha did not say to refrigerate it since it seems she ALWAYS says to refrigerate cookie dough!). The cookie method making was quite different than what I am used to. I usually roll mine, dip the top in sugar then cross hatch with a fork. Martha says to drop the dough on the sheet, press it with the bottom of a glass, then crosshatch. This did not go smoothly! I had to dip the glass in flour after each one. Then the fork was getting mushed up, so I ended up having to dip the fork in flour each time as well, so it was time-consuming. The cookies were very sandy, but had a good flavor. The recipe was for creamy PB but then had you add in some chopped peanuts. I prefer to just use crunchy PB in my cookies. I would definitely stick with my own home ec PB cookie recipe, which has stood the test of time (thanks Mrs. Belmondo!):

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter, sugars and peanut butter. Add egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Roll into balls, dip in sugar, and crosshatch with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes.

At the bottom of my original home ec recipe is handwritten this (in a handwriting that is still familiar to me):

“Take out of oven and put in bag. Take them to school and give to Beth.” My best friend through much of jr high and high school, Beth Creighton wrote that and this recipe always makes me think of her. We’ve lost touch over the years, but I still have fond feelings for her and hope she has a happy life.