I loved these cookies as a young girl, enjoying them fresh in my mother’s kitchen. One of my all-time favorite cookies. Why are they called “fingers”? I don’t know. I do know that Mother always cut these into rectangles rather than squares. Maybe that made them finger-like.

Peanut Butter Fingers

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 12-ounce package chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup canned milk (you can use fresh milk if you wish; in the 1950s, canned milk was quite common)

Cream the margarine and add the white and brown sugars, mixing well. Blend in the egg,  1/3 cup peanut butter, and vanilla. Stir together the baking soda, salt, flour, and oatmeal, then add to the blended mixture.

Spread in a greased 13″x9″ pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the baked cookies with the chocolate chips and let stand for 5 minutes, until the chips melt. Then, spread the melted chocolate chips evenly over the cookies.

Combine the powdered sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter, and milk. Drizzle this peanut butter mixture over the melted chocolate. Cool.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

This recipe introduced me to the convenience of online access. Online access to recipes, my own recipes. I was at work, thinking of which cookie recipes to make for an upcoming TA meeting. I thought: “I want to make those brownies with York Peppermint Patties. Oh, but I don’t have any peppermint patties at home, how many do I need to buy?” And I remembered that I had uploaded that recipe to my cookie web page (my “1990s blog”). Yay! How convenient to have my recipes online.

And perhaps, just perhaps, that is what this whole cooking blog is about. A way to access my own recipes. (Although right now, I also use Dropbox and Pages to access my recipes on my devices, but I digress…)

These rich brownies are really good, and a little unusual. They were always a hit at TA meetings, and with any coworkers who happened by.

York Sensational Brownie Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups margarine, melted
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 24 small (1 1/2″) York Peppermint Patties®, unwrapped

Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs until well blended; add vanilla. Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, then add to the butter-sugar-egg mixture and blend well. (Note that these are made with melted butter. I think I usually just melted the butter in a largish sauce pan, then added the rest of the ingredients and stirred by hand. No need to get out the stand mixer for this recipe.)

Grease a 13x9x2″ pan. Turn oven to 350˚.

Reserve 2 cups of the batter; set aside. Spread the remaining batter in prepared pan. Arrange peppermint patties in a single layer over batter, about 1/2″ apart. Spread reserved 2 cups batter over patties.

Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. (Do not overcook.) Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

Bananas are ubiquitous to most American kitchens. But often they ripen faster than they can be peeled and enjoyed as a snack, or on cereal, or in a fruit salad. Their blackening skins cause guilt feelings: We should not waste food! So they go into breads and sometimes, cookies. I used to make these Banana Bars a lot when the kids were around to gobble them up.

Now, about mashing bananas. So many contemporary recipes call for “mashed bananas” to be added to a batter being mixed in a stand mixer. It’s my opinion that that mixer is going to do a heck of a better job of mashing the bananas than I am. Therefore, I only mash bananas enough to get an estimate of how many cups there are, then I let the mixer do the work.

Banana Bars

• 3/4 cup margarine
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup lightly mashed bananas (about 2 or 3, this recipe is forgiving if you are not exact)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 oz. package mini chocolate chips
• powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

Cream the margarine and the sugars, add the vanilla and egg, then add the bananas. Mix well, until all big chunks of bananas are gone.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to the creamed mixture. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

Bake in a greased 15 1/2″x 10 1/2″ pan at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Cool, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

1990s note: These are absolutely deadly. Make them for someone who loves Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!

Chocolate Peanut-Butter-Cup Cookies

• 1 cup margarine
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 2-oz. pkgs peanut butter cups, each cup cut into 8 pieces*
• 6 oz. chocolate chips (1 cup)

Beat margarine, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low and add mixed dry ingredients. Stir in peanut-butter-cup pieces and chocolate chips. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes until dry and slightly firm to touch.

Makes about 4 dozen.

*You can miniature peanut butter cups. I used these once, and unwrapped them, and weighed out 10 oz. Then, I cut each one in half.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

1990s note: This recipe came from my college roommate way back when. It is one of the few cookies that I like that do not contain chocolate!

2012: I haven’t made these for awhile, but if I was to make a non-chocolate cookie, this or a ginger cookie would be my choice. Ooh, that’s what makes these so good, all brown sugar! And nuts, raisins, and spices.

And the simple recipe title, “Drop Cookies”, makes me smile. I ranted a bit about long recipe titles in my discussion of The New Pasta Cookbook. If I were pretentious, I would re-name these cookies “Brown Sugar and Spice Cookies with Nuts and Raisins”.

Drop Cookies

• 1 cup Crisco
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup nuts
• 1 cup raisins

Cream Crisco, add brown sugar and then eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts and raisins.

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

The title says it all. A good basic peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips and peanuts. Wish I could eat them all day! When making these to give away, I would probably buy creamy peanut butter, but for home use, I always just use chunky peanut butter. And Skippy or a similar brand, not a “health food store” or fresh ground peanut butter.

World’s Best Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped, roasted peanuts

Cream margarine and peanut butter, the add the sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until creamy. Add the baking soda to the flour and stir to mix, then add this dry mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and peanuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets and flatten slightly with the back of a fork (this both flattens and decorates the cookies).

Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Makes 6-7 dozen.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

1990s note: I’ve made these about a zillion times. The original recipe is from my Mother. Try using 2 cups of M&M’s, too!

2012 note: These are the cookies I have made more than any of my other recipes. I must have made them in college, since one of my college roommates mentioned on Facebook that she calls them “Patty’s Cookies”! I have slightly nudged the original recipe, using a couple tablespoons more flour and more chocolate chips than is written on the recipe card that reflects my mother’s original recipe.

Oatmeal Chip Cookies

• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups oats (quick)
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 12-oz. package chocolate chips (about 2 cups)

Cream margarine, gradually add white and brown sugars, creaming well. Blend in eggs, then add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Stir in oats, nuts, and chocolate chips.

Bake on ungreased sheets (or use parchment-lined baking sheets) at 375° for 9-12 minutes.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

This is a recipe that my mother made for us when we were kids and then I made for my own kids. They are chocolate-nut cookies, rolled in powdered sugar before baking to make them pretty. A good old standby.

Chocolate Chews

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1-oz. squares unsweetened baking chocolate
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup nuts
• powdered sugar (to roll the cookies in)

Cream Crisco, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs and chocolate. Combine dry ingredients, then add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in nuts. Chill dough 2 hours.

Form in balls about 3/4-inch in diameter and roll in powdered sugar.

Bake at 350° about 10 minutes.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.

1990s note: This recipe was on a can of sweetened condensed milk, ages ago. These are great! No one will know that they are low-fat.

Today: This is (still) my “go-to” recipe when I want something very chocolatey but also calorie controlled. For instance, on a Valentine’s Day, I baked these in small heart-shaped pans (lined with parchment). To serve, I drizzled each plate with chocolate syrup, added the heart-shaped brownie, dusted with powdered sugar, spooned on a little low-fat topping, and garnished with fresh sliced strawberries and mint leaves. Elegant, chocolatey, and not too many calories.

Irresistible Low-Fat Chocolate Brownies

• 1 14 oz. can low-fat sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (can use bittersweet for extra chocolate punch)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the low-fat sweetened condensed milk, cocoa, and chips and microwave until the chips melt. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Bake in 13×9″ pan, which has been sprayed with non-stick spray, for 20 minutes at 375˚ or until center is set.

Makes 18, 120 calories and 3 g fat each.

Please refer to my Cookie Recipe Basics to make sure your cookies turn out!
Read the introduction to my 1990s cooking blog for background information.