I cannot believe it is snowing AGAIN!

So, rather than show you yet another picture of my house being buried in snow (I had a concrete walkway and driveway yesterday, seriously!), I decided to bake! These are just tried and true peanut butter recipes that I used to make with my mom when I was little. I've tried other recipes, but none seem quite as good (or easy), so I always go back to my old stand-by. It has never let me down. This recipe will always give you the perfect peanut butter cookie. You want crisp cookies? Cook them the full ten minutes. You like chewy? Pull them out as soon as the edges begin to brown. They are always, always awesome.

I did a little experiment with one of the batches this time, because I'd always been curious about the whole smashing-with-a-floured-fork procedure, so I cooked one batch without smashing them. Quite the risk-taker, aren't I? (Okay, not really...I forgot the whole flatten-with-fork step for one batch.) Well, low and behold, they became cookies anyway, just without the quintessential peanut butter checkerboard. So, if you forget to smoosh the cookies, you'll be fine!

Peanut Butter Cookies – 10 min @ 350°


Cream: 1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla*

Then add in:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Roll into large, walnut-sized balls and place on ungreased cookies sheet. (I used my Pampered Chef cookie scoop - I think it is the medium one. I don't roll them anymore, just plop them on the cookie sheet.) Flatten with flour-dipped fork and cook at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Recipe note: I always cook with butter, but my mom was a margarine girl. This recipe turns out well either way.

* Disclaimer: I have never in my life only put in one teaspoon of vanilla, so I just wrote what the recipe calls for. We always use closer to a tablespoon of vanilla, but this is up to you.

Happy Baking!