June 12th is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day #NationalPeanutButterCookieDay and I must tell you I wouldn’t mind having Peanut Butter Cookies. I think I have a Betty Crocker mix at home and once we get back from watching the movies I think I will make Peanut Butter Cookies for my snack the rest of the week. Would you like to make Peanut Butter Cookies with me and we can make Cookies for your family as well.
Cookie lovers and Peanut Butter lovers unite to celebrate National Peanut Butter Cookie Day on June 12th! I’m sure you know the key ingredients of Peanut Butter Cookies are Peanut Butter, Sugar, and Eggs and that’s all that you’ll need. Peanut Butter Cookies are incredibly easy to make, and if you’re a Peanut Butter Lover, like me Peanut Butter Cookies always hit the spot.
I would like to let you know people don’t know for sure when Peanuts were first harvested, but evidence dating back 3,500 years ago indicates that ancient Incans of Peru used Peanuts as sacrificial offerings. Peanut likely originated somewhere around modern-day Peru or Brazil, potentially growing as far North as Mexico, and was spread by European explorers. These Europeans likely brought Peanuts to Africa and Asia, and it was eventually Africans who brought Peanuts to North America in the 1700s.
In America, and particularly the South, Peanut production took off and it was around the 1800s that Peanuts became a commercial crop in the U.S., and demand for the product was high. Not only were Peanuts a great food, but they could also be used as Oil or as a Cocoa substitute. Peanuts were, however, challenging to raise and harvest, and mostly were only consumed by farm animals or those in poverty. That is until Union soldiers decided they liked Peanuts and found they were high in protein.
The early 1900s saw the destruction of cotton crops at the hands of the boll Weevil, which threatened the livelihood of many farmers. Dr. George Washington Carver, a well-known scientist at the time, suggested many plantations switch to planting Peanuts, which caused Peanuts to be almost as popular of a crop as cotton in the South.
Determining who invented Peanut Butter, however, is a different beast. There’s evidence that the ancient Incas ground Peanuts to make a primitive sort of Peanut Butter, though Dr. John Harvey Kellog is credited with creating the first Peanut Butter in the United States in 1895. There’s also some credit given for the invention of Peanut Butter to a physician from Saint Louis, who needed a way for his patients who were too old or sick to chew meat to get protein. After Peanut Butter’s introduction at the World’s Fair in 1904, however, Peanut Butter took off.
Dr. George Washington Carver included a recipe for Peanut Butter in his 1916 book on growing Peanuts and preparing them to be eaten, and in 1922 Joseph Rosefield improved on the recipe by developing a way to prevent Peanut Oil from separating from the solids. Peanut Butter had hit stores in 1920, and already Peanut Butter Cookies were being made in homes across America. In 1932, the first recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies that featured the decoration with forks on top was printed in “The Schenectady Gazette,” and Peanut Butter Cookies had become the classic treat we know today.
NATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DAY
- Recipes for Peanut Butter Cookies range from being classified as ‘health foods’ to being mostly Sugar and Butter. No matter what you’re looking for, there’s a recipe for that! Take some time in the kitchen and surprise your family or friends with a fresh-out-of-the-oven batch of Peanut Butter Cookies.
- Purchase Peanut Butter Cookies from Nutter Butter to Keebler to Grandma’s, because there is many baked goods brands that create Peanut Butter Cookies.
- Today is the perfect day to pass on a cherished family recipe to your kids, or just rounding up your roommates so you aren’t baking alone, joy in the kitchen is always best shared so take the time today to invite those you love to help you bake Peanut Butter Cookies which taste so much better and it’s fun to make Cookies to share with those we love.
FACTS ABOUT PEANUT BUTTER
- Astronauts eat Peanut Butter with Tortillas because Bread has too many crumbs for a zero-gravity environment.
- Girl Scout Cookies‘ known as Tagalongs’ or ‘Peanut Butter Patties’ are usually the runner-up or third-bestselling Cookie for Girl Scouts.
- $800 million is spent yearly in America just on Peanut Butter!
- According to one survey, it’s estimated that ¾ of the houses in America have at least one jar of Peanut Butter in their home.
- According to Skippy Peanut Butter, over 30 celebrities including Jerry Seinfeld and Madonna are part of their Adult Peanut Butter Lovers Fan Club. Sounds like something I should look into. How about you?
WHY PEOPLE LOVE NATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DAY
- Peanut Butter Cookies hit the perfect note of sweet and salty, nutty, and creamy. We couldn’t ask for more in a Cookie, and we won’t.
- We’re here to break the good news: Peanut Butter is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and premature death. It sounds to us like Peanut Butter Cookies may just help you live a little longer! However, you do want to make sure that your Peanut Butter isn’t heavily processed or full of trans fats if you want to reap the benefits.
- Once childhood is over, work and school take up a significant amount of time. How many of us have the extra time to bake Cookies from scratch? We promise, three-ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies are super easy and reminiscent of mom’s fresh-out-of-the-oven batch from childhood. You can even recruit your kids to help you!
Recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies
NGREDIENTS
- 3/4 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1/2 cup shortening or butter
- 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- DIRECTIONS
- Step 1HEAT oven to 375ºF. Combine peanut butter, shortening or butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
- Step 2COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Drop by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls of dough 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with tines of fork.
- Step 3BAKE one baking sheet at a time for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
