Peanut Butter Cookies 1/3 cup vegetable shortening 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 cup supermarket-style smooth peanut butter 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. Beat together the shortening, sugars, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the peanut-butter mixture, beating gently until everything is well combined. It may take awhile for this rather dry dough to come together; and when it does, it'll be quite stiff. Only if necessary, drizzle in enough water to make the dough cohesive. Drop the cookie dough by tablepoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here), leaving 2" between them. Use a fork to flatten each cookie to about 1/2" thick, making a cross-hatch design. Bake the cookies for 12 to 16 minutes, until they're barely beginning to brown around the edges; the tops won't have browned. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack. Yield: about 2 dozen cookies. Tips You can also use crunch peanut butter and/or add roasted peanuts to the cookie dough - yum! Back to Baking