Peanut Butter Cookies for Breakfast

We woke up one recent morning to the smell of peanut butter cookies. My mother knows these are one of my husband's favorites, and so she whipped up a batch and started popping them in the oven even before the first pot of coffee finished brewing. She's quite the baker and can't resist the urge to make our favorites when we're home.

This recipe comes Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book - Souvenir Edition (1965), which holds a permanent position on the kitchen counter. Snuggled between the flour container and the stove it sits ready for its daily perusal as our meals come to life. The signature gold cover of this edition (usually they're a snappy red and white plaid) is a bit dusty with flour and its pages are absolutely stuffed with clipped recipes and marked with notes.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

1 cup shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour*

2 teaspoons soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Thoroughly cream the shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the peanut butter. Sift the dry ingredients together, and add to the creamed mixture. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press with the back of floured fork to make crisscross pattern. Bake in moderate oven about 10 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

*For a richer cookie, use 2 cups of flour.