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Health & Fitness

Fat and Happy

Butter's back! Use these free recipes for delicious cookies to celebrate National Peanut Butter Cookie Day!

 

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I have nothing healthy to say about National Peanut Butter Cookie Day, since I make mine complete with fat and sugar. Or at least that’s what I thought. But it turns out I’m only half right! Last March the New York Times announced that “butter is back,” citing 72 studies showing no proof exists that the saturated fat found in butter leads to heart disease. Rather, processed sugar was named the real health culprit.

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I’ve watched health information create fads that millions follow until new research indicates they should not ever since my late mom underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery in 1973 when it was still considered an iffy proposition. Butter and lots of other yummy things were banned from our fridge and we committed ourselves whole-heartedly (pun intended) to oleo. Which is now, according to the current research, another major health no-no.

 

So I’ve adopted that attitude that Grandma and Benjamin Franklin knew best with the “all things in moderation” approach. And I figure butter is probably not all that good for the body, but a little bit of it and a little processed sugar once in awhile can’t hurt too much.

 

But back to peanut butter cookies, which next to chocolate ones are my most favorite sweet treat. Peanuts and peanut butter are one of America’s favorite flavors. And unless you have a peanut allergy you should enjoy it with some peanut butter cookies for this month’s best national food holiday.

 

Lots of recipes exist for this simple pleasure. Most of them adhere to the basic old-fashioned one I learned in Home Ec class back before supermarket refrigerator cases carried packages of premade dough on white paper microwavable trays.

 

If you’re in a hurry and you want freshly made cookies, tubes or trays of premade dough will yield a reasonable result. Alternatively many grocery stores make delicious peanut butter cookies in their on-site bakeries. Publix and Albertsons make especially yummy ones.

 

If you’ve got the time and prefer to make your own cookies from scratch try this recipe. It yields 3 dozen cookies.

 

Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Ingredients

 

·      1/2 C Butter

 

·      1/2 C Peanut Butter

 

·      1/2 C Granulated Sugar

 

·      1/2 C Brown Sugar

 

·      1 Egg

 

·      1 tsp Vanilla Extract

 

·      1-1/4 C Flour

 

·      1 tsp Baking Soda

 

·      1/4 tsp Salt

 

Preparation

 

·      Preheat oven to 375°.

 

·      Cream first 6 ingredients in sturdy mixing bowl.

 

·      Sift remaining ingredients together and blend into creamed mix.

 

·      Roll into 1” balls and place them about 1-1/2” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

 

·      Use a fork to make a criss-cross design on each ball, pressing down to flatten.

 

·      Bake 12 minutes and remove from oven.

 

·      Cook 1 minute and then remove from cookie sheet and serve.

 

And go nuts with peanut butter cookies this month.

 

Butter Photo Courtesy of SOMMAI / Free Digital Photos

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