dessert | SWEET SIMPLE STUFF

It is no secret that peanut butter is a favorite in my home … after all, I married The Peanut Butter Addict … he is also a cookie monster, but not blue and furry … and we have three cookie monster sons. I have baked a lot of cookies over the years … and I mean a lot! This recipe is one that I grew up with … my mom used it when I was a little girl (about 100 years ago). These cookies are one of my family’s favorites. They are just plain old-fashioned peanut butter cookies … nothing fancy. I have tried other recipes … and always come back to this one. Last month I shared a different peanut butter cookie recipe with you … it too is good … but this is the family favorite.

Let me show you how “well used” this recipe has been over the years. When I got married and moved out, my sister wrote this copy for me … it has obviously had a hard life … the measuring spoons and cups are from the 1970’s also …

Considering that this started as one piece of paper … I think it’s time to make a new copy!

This can be done by hand … back in 1973 I did not own a stand mixer … just a large bowl and a wooden spoon. Using a large bowl, add shortening, white sugar and brown sugar … cream until very soft …

Add eggs and vanilla … beat until well blended …

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt …

If your bowl cannot accommodate all of the flour (without causing a flour explosion) … add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the wet mixture … mix … then add the remaining flour mixture … mix well …

Roll dough into balls … about the size of a walnut … place on a parchment lined or greased baking sheet … use a fork to flatten cookie slightly in a criss-cross pattern … dipping the fork in water helps prevent sticking …

Bake … cool … consume …

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup shortening (Crisco)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups flour (I use unbleached)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream shortening and sugars until very soft. Add vanilla and eggs, beat well. Add peanut butter and mix well. In a medium bowl whisk or sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and mix until well blended. Roll dough into balls about the size of a walnut and place on a parchment lined or greased baking sheet. Using a fork dipped in water, slightly flatten dough ball in a criss-cross pattern. Bake at 350º for 11-13 minutes. Let cookies set on baking sheet for a few minutes for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Makes about 4 dozen.

Easter baskets, jelly beans, egg hunts, picnics, family gatherings … just some of the things that make up Easter. I usually bring a sugar filled treat to our family events … maybe it will be cupcakes this Easter. These were very simple to make … easy enough for kids to make!

The directions are for the supplies that I had or chose to use. If you don’t have something that I used, improvise! The handles are made with marshmallow poles that I found at Dollar Tree, but other candies (Sour Punch Straws?) would work well. The chick is a mini version (substitute a large marshmallow for the jumbo one) of my “Mallow Yellow Chick” that I posted a few weeks ago. Jelly beans come in so many different colors, it was hard to choose! (I chose ones that I don’t like the flavor of, so that I don’t eat them.) Sprinkles of all types are available at so many grocery and craft stores. Let’s get started …

First, bake your favorite cupcakes and let them cool completely. Make buttercream icing and color it green (start with a drop or 2, you can always add more if necessary).

Some other things that you will need are a decorating bag, a small spatula or butter knife, a round tip (#12), a multi-strand tip (Ateco #133) and a coupler (if you want to change tips). I think it is easier to use a glass to hold the bag as I fill it with icing …

To cover the cupcake in sprinkles … frost the cupcake using the round tip or a spatula … then dip it in the sprinkles …

To make grass … frost the cupcake … then with the multi-strand tip (grass tip) close to the cupcake, squeeze the icing, stop squeezing and pull your hand away. So … squeeze, pull … squeeze, pull …

Prepare the handles … I inserted small pretzels sticks into the ends of the marshmallow handles and stabbed them into the cupcakes … you may need to shorten the pretzel a little if it is too long for your cupcake … NOTE: You may want to insert the handles at the last-minute if you are planning to take the cupcakes to a party or make them a day ahead. (The handles flopped around during transportation … it was not a pretty site!)