Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Finding the perfect peanut butter cookie is darn near impossible.  To do this you need a slightly crunchy exterior with a sweet creamy center that melts in your mouth.  These cookies are the closest thing to perfect I have baked up in my kitchen.  My husband does not care for peanut butter so these cookies went straight into work for my co-workers to enjoy.  The co-workers sure are loving all the sweets that I have been taking in for them  lately.  I got nothing but rave reviews on these cookies.    

Something that I have become quite fond of lately is using sea salt in my cookie recipes.  The slightly larger granules provide small little flavor bursts of salt when biting into the cookie.  I enjoy taking a bite and really getting to experience all of the flavors that the cookie has to offer.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup supermarket-style smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons water

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2. Beat together the shortening, sugars, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter till smooth.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the peanut-butter mixture, beating gently till everything is well combined. Add enough water to make a cohesive dough.
4. Drop the cookie dough by tablepoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here), leaving 2″ between them.
5. Use a fork to flatten each cookie to about 1/2″ thick, making a cross-hatch design.
6. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, till they’re barely beginning to brown around the edges; the tops won’t have browned. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

-makes about 2 dozen cookies-

Recipe from King Arthur Flour

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