American Cookie #9: {1961 School Lunch Peanut Butter Cookies}

Each week, I'm going to be highlighting a new American Cookie and sharing its history, as well as my results. This is the ninth week of baking with American Cookie by Anne Bryn, and I'm sharing School Lunch Peanut Butter Cookies with a recipe from 1961!

The History of the School Lunch Peanut Butter Cookies: Peanut butter cookies didn't happen overnight. Peanut butter was invented in the 1890's and George Washington Carver spent the 1920's sharing the benefits of both peanuts and peanut butter. However, it took hard times, the war years and the Depression, for peanut butter to catch on as a source of protein and B vitamins.

In the 1930's farmers faced very hard times, financial ruin and the prices on commodities were collapsing. Parents were out of work and their children were hungry. The US Government stepped in to help through a federally supported lunch program. The government purchased surplus crops to feed the kids a hot meal, but they also employed thousands of women to cook in the lunchrooms.

These peanut butter cookies were perfect for the lunch program because they used lower cost vegetable shortening instead of butter and they could be baked in bulk. They could also be stored at room temperature. They became a staple at public school lunchrooms as well as private. 

In 1961, the Chicago Tribune featured the cafeteria manager of the Catholic Marquette Park School and they found a favorite peanut butter cookie recipe being baked for 1,300 girls by Sister Mary Trinita. The recipe shared here is that very recipe! 

My Results: The cookies were easy to make and the good news is, I had all the ingredients on hand and I bet you do too! The cookies have a subtle peanut butter flavor and aren't too sweet so I can see why they would be perfect for a school lunch. The cross hatch pattern allows the cookies to spread out to be thin and flat, making for a crisper cookie than what I typically like. I did enjoy these and they are quite good, but with their subtle peanut butter flavor they weren't my favorite all-time peanut butter recipe.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5! Good, solid recipe, perfect for the masses. Keeps well for days and stores well, subtle, good recipe. Nothing wrong, but could have a more pronounced peanut butter flavor and a chewier texture.

I'm going to be rating all the cookies with the five-star format, one-star being the lowest and five-star being the highest!

School Lunch Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from American Cookie

by Anne Bryn

Makes about 4 dozen

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus about 2 tablespoons for pressing into the top of cookies

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.

Place the peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla and egg, and beat on medium-low until the mixture is smooth, about 45 seconds. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Whisk together the sifted flour, soda, and salt in a medium-size bowl and turn this into the peanut butter mixture. Beat with the mixer on low speed until the dry ingredients are just incorporated, 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Drop the dough in 1" pieces spaced about 3" apart on the pans. Press the top of each ball twice with a fork dipped in the remaining granulated sugar, creating a crosshatch pattern. Place one pan at a time in the oven.

Bake the cookies until lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies rest on the pan for 1 minute, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.