Easy Peanut Butter Cookies My Husband Made

My husband, Bill, who always has a sweet tooth and recently took up cooking and baking, asked me how to make peanut butter cookies. I knew it had to be a simple recipe that required no refrigerating before baking because he wouldn’t want to wait for the dough to chill. I found a recipe in an old community cookbook that made six dozen or more and it was a simple drop cookie recipe. I cut the measures in half to make putting it together easier for him.

I said, “Here’s a simple recipe you should be able to do”.

“Read it off to me step by step,” was his reply.

He takes a small mixing bowl from the cupboard and asks, “Will this work?”

I said, “No, get a bigger one.”

He sets a rather large bowl on the table.

“Okay I said now you will need to put a cup of margarine in the bowl.”

He takes out the sticks from the package and tries to figure a cup.

I said, “You’ll need two sticks”.

“But this says eight tablespoons on the wrapper. Are you sure?”

“Trust me, you’ll need two sticks to make a cup.”

“Now what?” he ask.

“Now add one cup brown sugar and one cup white sugar,” I told him.

He gets a big coffee mug out to measure it with. Trying not to laugh at him I said, “Get a measuring cup.” Seeing he was having problems finding one I found one for him. I really don’t think he knew what he was looking for. He manages to measure the sugar into the bowl.

“Now add two eggs and mix it together,” I said. “But it takes more stuff than that doesn’t it? What about flour?” he says.

“Trust me mix up what you got in the bowl first so it won’t be so hard to mix.”

“It sounds like you’ve done this before,” he chuckles.

“Now add 1 cup of peanut butter, three cups of flour and a teaspoon of baking soda,” I told him.

He puts the flour into the bowl and looks in the cupboard for the baking soda. He brings out a can of baking powder. “No, baking soda not powder, soda comes in a box,” I said. I had to get that for him as well. He mixes it together. “This is way too thick,” he says.

“It’s supposed to be thick it’s not cake batter,” I joked.

“Okay, now what?”

“Add a teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon of salt,” I said.

“Now I drop it on the cookie sheet with a spoon?” he asked.

“Yes, now you can drop it on the cookie sheet with a spoon.”

He drops big mounds of dough onto the cookie sheet.

”Make them smaller or they’ll be the size of pancakes.” I warned him.

“Well I like big cookies,” he explained, but he did make them smaller.

I already had the oven preheated at 350 degrees. He put his masterpiece into the oven.

“How long they need to bake?” he asked.

“Ten minutes, but you’ll need to keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.”

I began laying wax paper out on the table.

“What’s that for?” he ask.

“For the cookies to cool on,” I told him.

“I was going to put them in the cookie jar,” he said.

“They need to cool first or they’ll stick together in the cookie jar,” I explained.

The first sheet is done baking and he lays them on the wax paper.

“They look good and smell good,” he says being amazed that they turned out right.

He fills the sheet again with mounds of dough and places it back in the oven. He repeats this for another three or four times before his bowl is empty. In between each baking sheet of cookies, he devours half of them. So needless to say they tasted good, too.

Bill’s Peanut Butter Drop Cookies

1 cup margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

Mix together well then add 1 cup peanut butter, 3 cups flour,1 teaspoon baking soda,1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well again. Drop by spoonful on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees.