Peanut Butter Cookie

This recipe is a Ruby original! I LOVE peanut butter cookies but could never get them chewy. They were always crispy or crumbly. After experimenting I found that the salt added in most recipes dries up the cookie. Think of what salt does to a snail. The salt draws out all the moisture. Peanut butter is SALTY! There is no need to add salt to the cookie. Also, in most cookie recipes I use half butter and half shortening. Why? because that's what Mother always did. The science behind it? Butter has good flavor and shortening holds its molecular shape better when under heat, thus making a puffier cookie! When I use all butter the cookie tends to be more transparent and flatter and crispier.

Cream the following for 2 minutes:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1, 1/4 cup brown sugar
1, 1/4 cup white sugar

Now add the following one at a time:

2 eggs (one at a time)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter (I just use Walmart brand)

Now add the following and mix on high for just a few seconds. Don't over mix:

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

bake at 375 for 9 minutes. Now don't get caught up in how long the cookie needs to cook. What really matters is how the cookie looks. This picture was taken right as the cookies were being taken out of the oven. They are soft, doughy, puffy, with miniature "ant holes" punctured all over. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to the cold counter top.

Enjoy!