My Peanut Butter Cookie

These are textbook American peanut butter cookies with the criss-cross fork-marked tops that have stayed on family cookie plates since the 1930s. The combination of butter and shortening is doing two jobs at once: shortening keeps them holding their shape, butter delivers the toasty flavor.

Don’t skip the chill. Two hours in the fridge does more than firm the dough. It hydrates the flour, deepens the peanut butter flavor, and stops the cookies from spreading into thin sad pucks on the sheet.

The fork-press isn’t just decoration. It flattens the dough balls so they bake evenly through the center while leaving raised ridges that crisp up like little roof tiles.

Flour the fork between presses. A sticky fork drags the dough up and tears the surface, ruining the crosshatch.

Pull them at 9 minutes if you want chewy centers. Push to 10 if you like crisp throughout. They look underdone when they come out of the oven and firm up as they cool on the sheet.

Pro Tips

• Use regular brand-name creamy peanut butter, not natural. The stabilizers in the brand-name kind are what give the dough its smooth, scoopable texture.
• Roll the balls between your palms until completely smooth before pressing. Cracked dough balls bake into ragged cookies.
• Let cookies cool 2 minutes on the sheet before transferring. They tear if moved hot.
• Store in an airtight container with a slice of bread to keep them soft for up to a week.

Variations

• Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before pressing for a sparkly, crackled finish.
• Press a chocolate kiss into the center the moment they come out of the oven for peanut butter blossoms.
• Stir in ½ cup of chopped roasted peanuts for extra crunch and a more intense peanut hit.