Mom’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies – what a dreamy cookie, this time I’m adding Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – she would love it! Plus, her recipe lends very well to making 2-3 six-inch skillet cookies in her old cast iron skillet.
Sharing these Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies today is like going back in a dream…to the days of running up the driveway and into the house after a day at school…smelling Mom’s wonderful homemade cookies as the screen door slammed. “Don’t slam that door!” She would yell it from whatever room she was cleaning. But, the main thing on our minds was getting our grubby little hands on those soft and outwardly crispy peanut butter cookies. “Wash your hands first!” is the next thing she would yell, knowing full well that we were probably already invading her large plastic tub of cookies. Then, back out the door to play. Outlining the crisscross hashmarks on the cookies with our little fingers as we climbed into the swings, we would fly as high as we could go, thoroughly wrapped up in the flavorful heights of our golden-brown little prizes. These skillet cookies don’t have any crisscross markings because the extra chips and peanut butter cups cover almost the entire top of the cookie.
Mom made a variety of cookies over the years, but her Peanut Butter Cookies ranked right up there near the top as our favorites…for her kids AND grandkids. When I asked the grandkids which were their favorites from Grandma, her Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies came out on top…especially when she added extras to either recipe. She was not afraid to add more peanuts, more chocolate chips, crispy cereals and chopped up candy bars to her mixtures. Every single cookie was a prized mouthful, as we thoroughly experienced her creativity in baking.
This recipe makes two to three 6” cast iron skillet cookies.
Prep your cast iron skillets:
Line the skillets with parchment paper to help keep cleanup to a minimum. Using the skillet, cut one circle for each skillet from the parchment paper, leaving a 4-5” wing on two opposite sides. Lay the two wings over the edge of the skillet so you can use them to lift each large baked cookie out after they have cooled completely.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees a few minutes before you’re ready to bake.
Gather up the Ingredients:
½ C Butter, softened
½ C Shortening
1 C Peanut butter, creamy
1 C Sugar
1 C Brown sugar
2 Eggs
2 ½ - 2 ¾ C Flour
1 t Baking soda
½ t Salt
Stuffing:
8 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, small white or chocolate coated
Garnish:
8 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, small white or chocolate coated
½ C Peanuts, rough chopped, optional
Make and bake the cookies:
-With an electric mixer, cream the butter, shortening and sugars together so the mixture is smooth.
-Beat in the eggs, one at a time, thoroughly incorporating and scraping down the sides.
-Sift in 2 and 1/2 cups of flour, baking soda and salt, beating slow to keep the cloud of flour to a minimum. Increase the speed and beat just to thoroughly incorporate. Don’t overmix. If the dough seems a little too wet, add more flour a tablespoon at a time. As the mixer is beating, when the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, I know it’s ready to chill.
-Cover and chill the cookie dough for 1-2 hours.
-Form the cookie dough into 2-3 large balls.
-Cut one dough ball in half. Flatten half of the dough ball to fit in bottom of the 6” cast iron skillet. Press down lightly so it reaches around to all edges. Lay the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup on top, leaving about ¾” around the entire edge of the cookie dough. If you want to chop up the cups and spread them out, that’s works. Form the other half of the cookie dough ball into a circle to fit on top of the peanut butter cups. Press firmly all around the edge to seal all the edges.
-Repeat with the other two balls of dough in other 6” skillets. You can bake them all at the same time. (I like to double wrap them and freeze for baking at another time.)
-Bake at 350F degrees for 15-18 minutes. I check them at the 10-minute to rotate the skillets since my oven bakes a little off on one side. Check again at 15 minutes. It should be golden brown all over the top. Don’t overbake or it may be too dry inside.
-Take the skillets of cookies out of the oven and let the cookies continue baking ten more minutes.
-Use the parchment paper wings to lift the large cookies out of the skillets to a cooling rack.
-Garnish lavishly!
Add some extras goodies on top!
-To give your cookies even more peanut buttery flavor, add small unwrapped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to the still warm skillet cookies a couple minutes after they come out of the oven.
-While the baked skillet cookies are still warm but not hot, lightly press some Reese’s Pieces chips onto their tops.
-Press a few peanut halves onto the top of the warm cookies after they’ve been baked, or even before they go in the oven.
-Drizzle melted candy wafers or caramel in zigzag lines on top after the cookies have cooled.
Storage:
-The cookie dough lends well to being frozen before baking. I like to freeze them in a sealable plastic bag or another airtight container. When I double bag them, they will last for a month or more in the freezer. To bake, first thaw the dough in the container overnight in the refrigerator or on the baking pan for 30 minutes at room temperature. Then bake according to the directions above.
-To freeze the baked skillet cookies, double bag them in sealable plastic bags or store them in another type of airtight container. I have frozen them for up to up to a month. You can thaw them in the unopened container at room temperature for 60 minutes. Enjoy!!
These cookies certainly do take us back to the days when Mom had peanut butter cookies ready for us after school. It’s been fun to add all the extras to her recipe. Peanut butter was one of her favorite foods, and I think she’d enjoy this version. Whoever you share my Mom’s updated Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Skillet Cookie with, “Bake your own Memories!”