Peanut Butter Cookies

There's not much in this world better than a well-made peanut butter cookie, unless it's delicious peanut butter cookie dough. And I love peanut butter cookie dough. It's one of my comfort foods. I know it sounds gross to many, but I love it! When I actually do make the dough with the intention of baking them, I've gotten lots of compliments on my peanut butter cookies. This cookie is also one of the staple items in my yearly Christmas baking for family, friends, neighbors and coworkers, and it is always a hit. Unfortunately, I'm not even sure where I got my recipe from. It was handwritten by me when I was about 11 years old. I know I got it somewhere - maybe from my wonderful downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Brown, in Wildflecken, Germany, but I can't be sure... and of course, as with most of my recipes, I've tweaked it over the years to make it my own.


1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and a dash of cinnamon, and set aside. Cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until smooth. Add vanilla and egg and mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well. I actually chill my dough for 30 minutes to an hour because I find it makes the dough easier to roll and helps the cookies maintain a nice round shape. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Line of baking tray. Dip a fork in the sugar used for rolling and cross section each cookie. I do two cookies and then dip in the sugar again.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. I pull them out of the oven before they start darkening. Let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before removing to cooling wrack. When they are finished cooling, they should be a beautiful golden color.

Hope you enjoy them (or just the dough) as much as I do!