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Peanut butter cookies made with shortening.

I remember back in the day when my grandmother bought huge buckets of shortening for all her “baking and frying needs.”

Then we used them for berry picking when they were empty. Just loop your belt through the handle, and you’re ready to go.

Using shortening in baking gives cookies a little different texture: lighter & fluffier with a crispier exterior.

Shortening has a higher melting point than butter, so cookie dough spreads less creating a fluffier cookie (unless you chill the butter dough before baking)
Shortening is 100% fat (where butter is around 80% fat and 20% water), so there is no increase in gluten production during baking, which makes cookies more tender
Shortening has now removed artificial trans fats to be 0g trans fat per serving. It was reformulated to a blend of soybean oil, palm oil, and fully hydrogenated palm oil.

Best Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe with Shortening

Recipe by Teresa McEachern @ Confetti u0026 Cocoa

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Snacks

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Calories

120

kcal

Shortening in this recipe makes lighter, fluffier, crispier cookies.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on while cooking

US Metric

Preheat oven to 375°F
Mix sugars, shortening, peanut butter, egg and vanilla in a large bowl on high speed until smooth and fluffy.
Stir together in separate bowl flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add to creamed mixture, beating until blended.
Shape into ¾” balls and place 2″ apart on cookie sheet. Press peanut into center of each ball, flattening it slightly.
Bake until set but not hard, with outer edge slightly browned, about 10 minutes.
Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes (won’t be as crumbly) then transfer to rack to cool completely.

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