Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies

The other day I received a text from Y while he was in class: “What are 3 traits that describe me?” Little did I know, he had been given an assignment to write an essay regarding the subject.
I quickly took the first two I thought of and replied, “Loyal, valiant and …” I paused a second and instead of writing courageous, I finished with “funny”. I don’t think he’s more funny than courageous, but he thinks he’s funny, and I’m sure he appreciated the fact, that I would use funny as a word to describe him. :)
But truthfully, he is very courageous. Today he will do something requiring a lot of courage. He is trying out for the Varsity Basketball team. He has already been cut by the program 3 times. He’s been watching this coach long enough to know, he never picks a kid back up after he’s been cut, despite improvement. Nevertheless, Y wants to see how he can compete with 4A Varsity basketball players. And doing so in this format, takes a lot of courage.
So how does a mom even begin to show her support?
I need to make something out of the ordinary--something that shows how proud I am of his courage.
Y doesn’t like me to use the word “posh”. He tells me nobody knows what it means. I’ve told him -he knows what it means because I’ve told him what it means. So I use it, just to get the dimpled grin and head shake that always follows. Today, I’ll make posh peanut butter cookies. I’d love to take credit for the idea, but my sister has already made them. She has a design blog, not a food blog, so I’ll get the glory of posting this recipe and sharing it with you.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies

Make Peanut Butter Cookies -

1/2 cup shortening (Butter Flavored Crisco)
½ cup soft butter
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter, Crisco, and peanut butter with brown sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and fully incorporate. Roll into balls. Don’t criss- cross them with a fork or press them down before baking. You want them to puff up a bit. I put them on the pan as a ball and barely mold to make a thick disc. I like about a 1.5 inch ball that makes about 28-30 cookies per the recipe. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 min.

Immediately after you pull them from the oven, leave them on the pan (I recommend an aluminum baking sheet) and press a chilled Reese’s peanut butter cup in the center of each one. Once I have them all out of the oven, I gently heat 1/3 cup peanut butter in a quart size freezer strength Ziploc bag. Snip a hole in the corner, and drizzle each cookie with peanut butter. Follow that with drizzling each cookie with melted Hershey bars (2 of the 1.55 size). I let them set a bit and then remove them from the pans.

These are my new favorite cookies! I know Y will appreciate a bit of thoughtfulness his direction today as I cheer for him from my kitchen!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Friday, my daughter came home from school wearing a tiara. She sat at the bar eating a peanut butter and pretzel snack like nothing was out of the ordinary-- even though she was wearing a tiara. Y walked in and asked, "Where did you get that crown?"
"P.E." J replied.
Y having had the same teacher in sixth grade knew exactly why she was wearing a tiara. I was still incredibly confused. J was playing somewhat coy regarding her sparkly head piece. I asked Y to please explain the “bling” adorning my daughters head. He simply said, "She's the Dancing Queen!"
My thoughts raced: “The Dancing Queen?!? How could this be possible? How could someone who shares my DNA succeed at dancing?” J filled in the gaps of information and even did a little demo of her dance. My brain was still in a fog trying to process everything I was hearing. As J danced in the kitchen, my mind flashed to her successes. Fear overcame me as I wondered in my fog whether there had been a switch at the hospital. I shook off the fog and decided to enjoy the moment: my daughter -a Dancing Queen.
J's favorite cookie is rarely made - because I love it way too much and can't seem to use much will power toward the soft centered, gently crisp on the edges, full flavor of a peanut butter cookie.
This past fall, after returning home from the arduous task of taking B to college (in Hawaii), I began to experiment with my peanut butter cookie recipe. W and I had frequented Ted’s Bakery on Oahu nearly every day of our trip. We tried many of their menu selections, and loved them all. My first order was always a peanut butter cookie to go. Sometimes that extra large cookie was gone before my omelet was made, and sometimes I’d be smart enough to order two right away. I’d try and tuck at least a portion of that delicious cookie away to enjoy at the beach later in the day.
None of my at home experiments are as good as Ted’s peanut butter cookie. But in my baking defense, it’s hard to compete with a cookie enjoyed under blue skies near rhythmic crashing waves. However, I think you'll be delighted with the results of this cookie:


Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup shortening (Butter Flavored Crisco)
½ cup soft butter
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter, Crisco, and peanut butter with brown sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and fully incorporate. Roll into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 min.


Today, I wear the hat of “Proud mama bear.” And salute J- my Dancing Queen with her favorite cookie.
I’m feeling grateful for that, and a little jealous of my daughters groove:)