What is a Peanut Butter Cookie and How to Craft This Special, Delish Dessert Recipe

Peanut butter is a western favorite that is eaten in combination with jelly, plain or bananas. The Americans love it so much that they put it in almost everything including cookies. While the dessert day doesn't have much history, it might have been some baker, marketer, or local chef who loved a certain dessert so much that they dedicated a whole day to it. 

Peanut Butter Cookie History 

It all goes back to Mexico, to the Incas of Peru, in South America who were using peanuts as sacrificial offerings, at least around 1500 BC. While no fossils have been unearthed that point to the existence of peanut plants, the local artwork from back then shows the existence of peanuts in their daily lives, it used to be put into the tombs with the mummies to help them ease into the afterlife. They were also consuming peanuts exactly like the Aztecs were consuming cacao, in the form of a drink. They were also making the world’s first peanut butter locally. 

Come European invaders, who went in search of resources down South, they discovered peanuts in Brazil. It took several years for peanuts to reach the US, the 1700s, brought in by the Africans to the country. By the 1800s in some form peanuts were present in the country’s bloodstream, but not as popular as chocolate. As mechanical prowess happened, peanuts were tamed and sold at games, circuses and fairs. In 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg invented peanut butter, however, it was still not as popular as it is today. 

A local physicist took it up a notch and developed a version as a protein substitute for his older patients who couldn't chew. Around 10 years rolled by peanut butter was formally introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair, 1904. There's a reason why the term peanuts is used to describe the salary of an entry-level job. Peanuts were eaten by the poor and used as livestock fodder before farming was mechanized because the crop refused to grow without intervention in the US. In fact, from thereon, as years passed and the two World Wars took place, back to back, peanut butter was used as rations for the soldiers. The soldiers seemed to love it because they were eating it between sandwiches along with jelly in between. 

It's likely peanut butter was added to cookies sometime when Dr Kellogg produced the first version of the US-made peanut butter. Paper trail of peanut butter cookies lead to Mrs Ellen Axson Wilson, the first wife of the 28th US President, Woodrow Wilson. She published her cookie recipes in 1913, among which peanut butter cookies was one of them. While the following might not be her published recipe, it definitely uses a lot of peanut butter in the batter. Try it and enjoy the taste of the cookies and celebrate the day with your loved ones.

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

(Makes 24 cookies)

Ingredients

• 200 gm all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder  
• ¾ tsp salt
• 115 gm unsalted butter, softened
• 100 gm granulated sugar
• 110 gm brown sugar (tightly packed)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 gm smooth peanut butter
• 100 gm Cadbury Gems

Instructions

1. Switch on the oven and set its temperature to 180°C and while it heats, grab a bowl. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and set aside. 
2. Take another bowl, this one will be larger, add the softened butter, white sugar and brown sugar and beat using an electric stand or hand mixer. It should become light and fluffy, which will take around 1 minute. 
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds until incorporated.
4. Add the peanut butter and beat for 30 more seconds to combine.
5. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet peanut butter mixture until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
6. Using a medium-sized cookie scoop, portion out dough balls onto baking sheets, making 24 total cookies across 2 sheets. Press a couple of Cadbury Gems to each cookie’s surface. 
7. Bake for 13 minutes. The edges should be a little browned but the middle is still soft.
8. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or serving warm.