Grandpa Jack's Peanut Butter Cookies!!

One of my childhood memories that I will always and forever cherish is helping my Grandpa bake.  He loved cooking and was always willing to let us help.  When he passed away, I was lucky enough to be given all of his recipes and cookbooks, and more recently my grandma gave me his old apron!

Of all the times that I helped him in the kitchen, the most fun was had making peanut butter cookies.  They were easy enough that I could remember the recipe and I got to help make the crosshatch marks on the top!  To this day I still regularly make these delightful little cookies.  Sometimes I make them the super simple way and sometimes I get creative with them.  You'll learn that I'm a huge fan of recipes that allow for a lot of personal tweaks and additions so that you never get tired of fixing them.

So treat your home to the smell of fresh baked peanut butter cookies and let me know what you like to add to your recipe!

Love,
Ali Kay

Grandpa Jack's Peanut Butter Cookies 


Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.  Mix all the ingredients together until well blended.  Place small scoops of the dough on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (for easy clean up and a greased cookie sheet causes the bottoms of the cookies to cook too fast). I use a tablespoon measuring scoop to make perfect sized cookies. Then using a fork, mash down the tops of the scoops forming a criss/cross design.  Bake for 8-12 minutes.  Poor a glass of milk and enjoy!

Ali Kay Suggests... I like a slightly richer cookie so I add...

1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour

... before putting them in the oven, I sprinkle a touch of sea salt on the top of each cookie.  This creates a really wonderful sweet/salty taste and really brings out the peanut taste! I adore it, my dad hates it, so I leave the salt off the top of half of them just for him!

You can also add...

• a little bit of Nutella to the cup of peanut butter in the original recipe for a really wonderful chocolaty, hazelnut peanut butter cookie! 
• your choice of chocolate or peanut butter chips for a little surprise gooiness!
• a Hershey's kiss to the middle of each scoop of dough instead of the crosshatch for a delightful Reverse Peanut Butter Cup Cookie
• crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth adds those great little bits of peanut!