Den Mother Alice saves the day with crackle top cookies (Kraft Ad 1967)
"When the “gang” troops in, don’t panic. Save the day with your Crackle Top Cookies. They’re guaranteed to turn out perfect every time. Because you make them yourself following a tested and proven recipe from Kraft Kitchens. With good things from your kitchen. And delicious Kraft Peanut Butter that keeps fresher in the jar than peanuts in the shell."
When I saw this Kraft advertisement floating around online, I instantly fell in love with the vintage colors and the adorable teddy bears on the jars. I had to memorialize it (or just create an excuse to fill the kitchen with the intoxicating aroma of peanut butter).
It probably comes as no surprise that I didn't use Kraft's PB in the recipe below. As far as I knew, Kraft never made peanut butter (I personally don't remember it at all). I did some research and found out that Kraft gave over the line to food giant, Mondolez in 2012. Five years later, Mondolez sold the peanut butter recipe to an Australian company by the name of Bega. I'm boring myself with those last few sentences. Anyways, on to the recipe...
I used my brand of choice - Jif. *I also made other modifications...
Ingredients
3/4 cup margarine 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 egg, slightly beaten 3/4 cup peanut butter 1 teaspoon vanilla 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt Granulated sugar
*Optional & not in the original recipe: 1/2 shot Skrewball (or other Peanut Butter Whiskey)
Directions
Cream margarine and sugars. Blend in egg, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add flour, sifted with soda and salt; mix well. Chill 20-30 minutes. Form rounded teaspoons of dough into balls, roll in sugar, and place on ungreased baking sheets, Bake at 375 F, 10-12 minutes. Makes five dozen cookies.
Review: Straight out of the oven these are crispy on the outside, chewy, and a little cakey on the inside. They aren't greasy at all and feel "light". They would be best after a night in the fridge or freezer and dunked in milk. They aren't overpowering - which could be good or bad depending on how you like your cookies.
If you are anything like me, you prefer your peanut butter cookies extremely peanut buttery. If that's the case, the above recipe can't compare to a peanut butter blossom recipe I made over the holidays and plan to make for many years to come (seen in the image below). Click here for that!
You'll want to add Skrewball to these as well - trust me.
This blog post was inspired by Retro Recipe on Wordpress. Check out her awesome page here: retrorecipe.wordpress.com.