By Andy Bedwell
Most of these cookie recipes are simple from the old days. Do you remember when peanut butter cookies were in our school lunchrooms? Word got around fast when the lunch ladies were making them. Cookies are a great snack for children and grown-ups alike. They can be stored in zipper-lock bags in the freezer. Don’t you just love to see cookies sealed in a cookie jar on the counter? Let’s bake some cookies this week.
Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
1 stick butter
½ cup shortening (Crisco)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
¾ white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
In a mixer, beat butter, shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, sugar and eggs. Then gradually add the dry ingredients to the mixer. Mix well. Refrigerate for a few hours. Roll into balls and place on parchment paper. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes and then increase temperature to 350 degrees for five minutes or until they get as brown as you like.
Andy’s Note: My daughter, Mary Virginia, loves anything that has peanut butter in the ingredients. I have been on a mission to find the perfect peanut butter cookie for years. The cookie had to be a large flat cookie, crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. I think I have completed my mission. I was so excited that I could hardly wait for them to cool. Please try and let me know what you think.
M & M Almond Cookie
I white Duncan Heinz cake mix
1 egg
2/3 cup Crisco oil
1 teaspoon almond flavoring
M & Ms (as many as you like)
Sift the cake mix and add all the ingredients except the M & Ms. After mixing well, add as many candies as you like. Roll in to balls and place on parchment paper. Bake at 325 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.
Andy’s Note: Cake mix cookies are so good and so easy.
Cream Cheese Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Candied cherries or pecan halves
Cream butter and cream cheese. Slowly add sugar, beating until fluffy. Beat in egg yolk. Add flour and vanilla. Mix well. Chill dough at least one hour. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on greased cookie sheet. Gently press a cherry or pecan into each cookie. Bake at 325 degrees for 12 –15 minutes.
Andy’s Note: These are the cutest little cookies that you will ever bake. Be sure and make them into small little balls.
Happy Spring Cooking!
“Southern Cooking with Andy Bedwell” can be purchased at Alabama Gift Company in downtown Gadsden and The Messenger on Rainbow Drive.