An Ode to the Peanut Butter Cookie

Today is one of the best "holidays" of the year: National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!!!

I loathe the so-called Hallmark Holidays, where pressure is put upon people to buy flowers and diamonds and chocolates and greeting cards to avoid becoming a dreaded pariah. God forbid that how your loved ones treat you on a plain ol' weekday, rather than how much debt they incur to celebrate Valentine's Day or Mother's Day or Administrative Assistants' Day, should matter!

But a day to worship the beauty of the peanut butter cookie??? Oh, this is something I can support wholeheartedly! The simplicity, the richness, the crumbliness, the aroma, the luscious taste!!! There is little in life that satisfies and happifies like a peanut butter cookie ... :)

Because I love these treats so much, I have taken a few moments to write "An Ode to the Peanut Butter Cookie." It's actually a haiku, 'cause I'm a verbose blatherer but I ain't no poet and a haiku didn't take a whole lot of effort. But my heart is in it, nonetheless:

I should write an ode
to peanut butter cookies ...
after I eat one.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/3 cup honey roasted peanuts, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Mix in egg, peanut butter, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Stir in flour and peanuts.

Form 1" balls of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Using the back of a fork, press the dough to form indentations in the dough; then press the dough in the opposite direction to form a cross-hatch pattern.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden. Let cool on a rack.

Makes a lot of cookies, but it's still never enough!