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Peanut butter cookies date back to the 1910s and 1920s, not long after peanut butter itself became popularized in American kitchens. Though peanuts had been eaten for centuries, peanut butter—as a creamy, spreadable product—was first developed in the late 1800s and became more common thanks to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg who patented a version in 1895 as a protein source for people who couldn’t chew meat.
By the 1920s, peanut butter was appearing in recipes in magazines and promotional cookbooks. Among these was a version of a peanut butter cookie, although it was often more like a drop cookie or bar.
The first published recipe for a "modern-style" peanut butter cookie using creamy peanut butter appeared in 1932, in a recipe from The Schenectady Gazette, and shortly after in 1933, a Pillsbury cookbook included the now-iconic instruction: "press each cookie with a fork." Over time, the fork marks became a signature, almost like a seal of authenticity on a true peanut butter cookie.
At Ida’s, we hold true to the original recipe from the 1930’s with organic upgrades, as Grandma Ida’s notes are dated 1935.
