Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

If there’s one thing that reminds me of my childhood – and I’ve been thinking more about my childhood since my mother passed away recently – it’s peanut butter cookies. The ultimate comfort food, this cookie is simple, sweet and captures the essence of every kid’s favorite spread – the next best thing to scooping peanut butter out of a jar and eating it outright. (And don’t tell me you never did that!)

As far as I’m concerned, a cookie can only be called a peanut butter cookie if it has the crosshatch pattern on top, made by flattening the ball of cookie dough with the tines of a fork. Whoever came up with that idea met two practical needs at once: providing a way to shape the cookies easily and giving them a distinctive identity.

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Ode to Crunchy

By Marilyn Hunter

People often ask me what my favorite food is. Truth is, I don’t have one. I have a thousand. I’ve known very few people who loved one food so much they couldn’t get enough of it. My uncle was one of those people. He loved crunchy peanut butter so much he ate it straight out of the jar with a spoon.

Uncle Gerald was a bit of a connoisseur of peanut butter. In just one bite, he could tell you the type of peanuts and where the crop came from. He was a man of true grit and true love…a pillar of strength and calm. He lived life passionately. And when I think of him, I remember a happy blur of celebrations, storytelling, guitar playing and good food.

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