Grama's Peanutbutter Cookies

For as long as I can remember my grama (dad's mom) has made these peanutbutter cookies for my dad. She passed away my junior year of high school (9/2005) and since then I've made them for him quite a few times but they never come out the way she made them. This is what they look like:

They're long and thin instead of round because they're meant to be eaten after dunking in milk, the shape allows them to fit into a cup better. I have no idea why they get the checker pattern, I think it's just how peanutbutter cookies get labeled. Here is the page from Grama's recipe book

Here is what goes into them:

I always leave out the salt, maybe thats whats wrong.. Start by Putting 1/2 C shortening into the mixer and getting it mixed, then add 1 C each B. sugar and W. sugar

Cream them together

Then add two beaten eggs

Mix that all together and it should look like this

Then add 1 C peanutbutter. Generally if I have an open jar of peanutbutter that is around half full and less than 3/4 I'll just use the whole thing

This was a little less than half but I didn't bother opening another

After mixing that all together add 3 t vanilla, I don't ever measure this part, I just pour in however much looks about right, this may be a little much but they tasted alright in the end so no worries.

In another bowl get 2 1/2 C flour and 1/2 t baking soda, I used a little more, about 1 t but again I didn't actually measure, I just pour it into my hand and gauge it by sight. 

Mix that in a little at a time

Roll out the dough like this, starting with little cookie balls then morphing them into cookie worms

Smoosh them horizontally using a fork

All the way across

Then smoosh vertically

All the way across, until they look like this

Then bake them at 325F for 15-18min. I still had a bunch of dough left after making two batches

So I'm trying something new..

And I'm using up some of the leftover chocolate chips I have floating around (theres been about 1/8 bag of chips sitting in my cabinet waiting to be put to use)

And since both of my cookie sheets are in the oven I'm using my mini muffin tin for these

I filled up the muffin tin

Now it's time to take out the cookies

They're done. I put the muffin tin in for 15-18mins also

But I still have all this dough left.. I've even eaten a bunch of it, not that thats a surprise or anything but I think I'll just freeze the rest.

That made a ball about 2x the size of my fist. 

Oops.. Please have patience with these, they need to cool before you start grabbing at them..

Hank wanted to show me the fox he killed... =]

There, thats better.

How neat! and yummy too, these won't be getting dunked in milk they'll simply be eaten, and I'll probably call them my lunch.. =] 

And for this recipe, as well as the many years of kitchen based teachings:

Thank you Grama!

Happy Baking!

Enjoy! =]