Throwback Thursday Great, Great, Great Aunt Amy’s Peanut Butter Cookies

 

It’s Throwback Thursday again!!!! I am having a good time writing these recipes.  My Great Great Great Aunt Amy (we just called her aunt Amy)  was a very important part of my life. First of all I get my name from her and I named my daughter after her. That always made her extra special to me.  She was one of those people that was a strong believer; believer of God, of me, of life and love.  No matter what I did she said it would be okay anyway. I could have gone to her and said “I drank and smoked last night” and she’d say “nope, not my Amy”.

She is the reason I am a believer of Jesus. Without her I would not know God, she took me to church with her when I was small. When she aged, she helped arrange me rides. I was the only one in my household to go to church. She showed me how important God is in our lives.

As a little girl she was ancient and I always worried she would die. She promised me she would see me turn 16 and get my license.  I turned 16 and she died 11 days later. She ALWAYS kept her promises to me.

She was born in 1902 as a preemie. Her parents were told she would never survive. They kept her in a dresser drawer because she was too little for the cradle. They also fed her whiskey and every time the doctor came he said not much longer.  As a toddler they said she wouldn’t live to see her childhood. At childhood, you won’t see puberty and so on.

She ended up out living her entire family. Her son died long before her, I never knew him personally. He died around Christmas and my family always spent extra time with Aunt Amy at Christmas. She outlived most of her grandchildren too. She was 87 when she died.  I had a preemie born at 24 weeks, she didn’t make it and we named her after my Aunt Amy.  I like to believe that my Aunt Amy is still up there believing in me and loving my Amy.

So here is her cookie recipe, it’s an old one that is best made with using a wooden spoon. I prefer the beaten butter method as it makes a nice soft cookie.

 

Aunt Amy’s Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Ingredients:

 

The Dry

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

 

The Wet

1 cup shortening

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

 

Colored sugar  http://myworldsimplified.com/2013/05/recipe-colored-sugar/

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Measure all the dry ingredients into a bowl, stir with a fork to fluff the flour (works just like a sifter). Set aside.

With a mixer (or work with a wooden spoon extra fast) whip together shortening and peanut butter.  Beat in sugar’s (both white and brown) until fluffy.

Now add eggs and vanilla. Beat again until combined.   Scoop small amounts of the dry into the wet until combined. Continue adding until all the flour is combined.

Roll into 1 inch balls

  smash with a fork (dipped in colored sugar) in a criss-cross pattern.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until slightly golden