This old fashioned peanut butter cookies recipe comes from one of my grandmother's vintage Christmas recipe cards, and it is exactly the kind of recipe I want to preserve with this project.
The ingredient list immediately tells you its age. The card calls for Armour's Star Peanut Butter, Star Lard, and one Cloverbloom Egg, along with brown sugar, white sugar, flour, and “soda.” The cookies are rolled into tiny balls, pressed flat with a fork, and baked at 350°F.
What surprised me most is how small they are supposed to be. The original instructions use only ½ teaspoon of dough per cookie, which is why a single batch makes 50–60 little peanut butter cookies.
About My Vintage Recipe Project
This recipe is part of the vintage recipe project I've been working on to preserve old family recipes and classic American baking.
A lot of the recipes come directly from my family, including recipes passed down from my great-grandmother and grandmother. I'm baking them again, photographing them, and documenting the recipes while I still have the original cards and clippings to work from.
I try not to modernize these recipes just for the sake of making them feel current. If the original recipe uses lard, I want to make note of that. If it tells you to roll exactly half a teaspoon of dough, I want to keep that too.
You can see the rest of the collection in my Vintage Recipes archive.
Why These Are Truly Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
A lot of recipes online are called “old fashioned” because they are meant to taste nostalgic.
This one actually comes from an old recipe card.
Even the ingredient names are a snapshot of how recipes used to be written. Instead of simply listing peanut butter, lard, and an egg, the card specifically calls for Armour's Star Peanut Butter, Star Lard, and a Cloverbloom Egg.
The directions are just as brief:
Cream the peanut butter, sugar, and shortening. Add the egg. Add flour and soda. Roll into balls. Press with a fork. Bake.
There is no discussion of room-temperature ingredients, chilling time, mixers, or cookie scoops. It assumes the person making the cookies already knows what “cream” means and what the dough should look like.
That is one reason I enjoy working through these recipes. There is usually a lot more hidden in a few lines of instructions than you would expect.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
A real family recipe: This is not a modern cookie written to imitate something vintage.
Classic fork marks: Each small ball of peanut butter dough gets pressed flat with a fork before baking.
Lard instead of butter: The original recipe specifically calls for Star Lard.
Brown and white sugar: The cookies use equal amounts of each.
No chilling: The original recipe goes directly from mixing to rolling and baking.
Perfect for a Christmas cookie tray: The batch makes 50–60 small cookies, which makes sense for a holiday assortment where you want several different kinds of cookies on one plate.
Ingredients
- ½ cup Armour's Star Peanut Butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup Star Lard
- 1 Cloverbloom Egg
- 1 teaspoon soda
- 1 cup flour, unsifted
A Note About the Original Ingredient Names
This is one of those recipes where I think the original wording is part of the recipe.
Armour's Star Peanut Butter
The card specifically names Armour's Star Peanut Butter.
For the recipe itself, the important measurement is ½ cup peanut butter. I like keeping the original brand name in the transcription because that is what was actually printed on the card.
Star Lard
The ingredient list calls for ¼ cup Star Lard.
Interestingly, the directions then tell you to cream the peanut butter, sugars, and “shortening.” In this recipe, that appears to be referring back to the lard listed in the ingredients.
I would not quietly rewrite this as butter. Lard is part of the original recipe.
Cloverbloom Egg
The card says 1 Cloverbloom Egg rather than simply “1 egg.”
For a modern ingredient list, that translates to one egg, but I am preserving the original wording here because these branded ingredients are part of what makes the card so interesting.
“Soda”
Older recipes often simply say “soda” where modern recipes would write baking soda.
The original measurement is 1 teaspoon soda.
Unsifted Flour
The card specifically calls for 1 cup flour, unsifted, and then tells you to sift the flour and soda together before adding them to the dough.
In other words, measure the cup of flour first and then sift it with the soda.
How to Make Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
1. Cream the Peanut Butter, Sugars, and Lard
Add the peanut butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and lard to a mixing bowl.
Cream them together until evenly combined.
The original recipe calls the lard “shortening” in this step, but the ingredient list specifically identifies it as Star Lard.
2. Add the Egg
Add the egg and mix it into the peanut butter mixture.
3. Add the Flour and Soda
Sift the flour and soda together.
Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and mix until a cookie dough forms.
There is no chilling step in the original recipe.
4. Make Very Small Cookies
This part matters.
The original card says to use only ½ teaspoon of dough for each cookie.
Roll that small amount of dough between your hands to form a ball, then place it on the baking pan.
These are supposed to be small cookies, not the oversized peanut butter cookies we tend to make today.
5. Press With a Fork
Press each dough ball flat with a fork.
That gives you the familiar old-fashioned peanut butter cookie look while also flattening such a small ball of dough before it goes into the oven.
(PHOTO HERE — fork-pressed peanut butter cookie dough before baking)
6. Bake
Bake at 350°F for 10–12 minutes.
The original recipe makes 50–60 small cookies.
Let them cool before serving or adding them to a holiday cookie tray.
Why Do Peanut Butter Cookies Have Fork Marks?
The fork marks are probably the most recognizable part of a classic peanut butter cookie.
Peanut butter cookie dough tends to hold its shape more than some other cookie doughs, so pressing the ball before baking helps flatten it.
In this recipe, the original instructions do not specify a decorative crisscross pattern. They simply say:
“Press flat with fork.”
I would keep it that simple.
You can press once or make the familiar crossed pattern, but the important part is flattening those little dough balls before they bake.
Why This Recipe Uses Lard
This is one of the details I would not remove from the recipe.
Modern peanut butter cookies are often made with butter or vegetable shortening, but this vintage recipe specifically calls for lard.
Lard was a normal baking fat in older American recipes, and here it is used as the shortening that gets creamed with the peanut butter and sugars.
I have not rewritten the recipe with butter because that would be a different version.
If the point of this project is to preserve these recipes, I think ingredients like this are worth keeping rather than automatically replacing.
Tips for Making This Vintage Recipe
Measure the Flour Before Sifting
The card says 1 cup flour, unsifted.
Measure the flour first, then sift it with the baking soda.
Keep the Cookies Small
Half a teaspoon sounds tiny because it is tiny.
But the original yield is 50–60 cookies, so the size is intentional.
If you make substantially larger cookies, the original 10–12 minute baking time may no longer apply.
Do Not Add a Chilling Step
The original recipe does not chill the dough.
Mix it, roll it, press it, and bake it.
Use the Fork Before Baking
Do not leave the dough in round balls.
The recipe specifically tells you to press them flat.
Watch the First Batch
Vintage recipes often give you a time range without describing exactly what “done” should look like.
Start checking the cookies around the 10-minute mark and use that first tray to judge how your particular oven handles these very small cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are These the Same as Modern Peanut Butter Cookies?
The basic idea is very similar, but the proportions and ingredients are distinctly old-fashioned.
This version uses lard, equal parts brown and white sugar, and very small ½-teaspoon portions.
Do I Need to Chill the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough?
No.
There is no chilling step on the original recipe card.
Can I Make the Cookies Larger?
You could experiment with larger cookies, but then you would no longer be following the original yield or necessarily the original bake time.
For the vintage version, I would keep them small.
Can I Substitute Butter for the Lard?
I have not tested that substitution in this recipe.
Because lard is specifically part of the original formula, I would make the recipe as written if your goal is to recreate these old-fashioned peanut butter cookies.
Why Does the Recipe Say “Soda”?
That is the terminology used on the original card. It refers to the leavening ingredient commonly written as baking soda in modern recipes.
Why Does the Card Say Unsifted Flour if You Sift It Later?
Because the flour is measured before sifting.
Measure one cup of flour first, then sift it together with the soda as directed.
Storage
Let the cookies cool completely before putting them into an airtight container.
They are a natural fit for holiday baking because the recipe makes such a large number of small cookies.
If you are building a Christmas cookie tray, you can pair them with other old family recipes like Grandmas Gumdrop Cookies or Grandmas Sand Tarts Pa Dutch Style.
You Might Also Like
For another genuinely old-fashioned cookie recipe, try Old Fashioned Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies Original Style.
You may also like:
- Vintage Sour Cream Cutout Cookies The Ultimate Soft Holiday Cookie
- Old Fashioned Pineapple Drop Cookies
- Vintage Hedgehog Cookies
You can browse all of the recipes I have documented so far in my Vintage Recipes archive.
Final Thoughts
This recipe is a good example of why I wanted to start preserving these old cards in the first place.
It would be easy to look at it and just rewrite everything in modern terms: peanut butter, shortening, egg, baking soda.
But then you lose the Armour's Star Peanut Butter, the Star Lard, the Cloverbloom Egg, the tiny ½-teaspoon cookies, and all the details that tell you where the recipe came from.
Those are the parts I want to keep.
Holiday Peanut Butter Cookies (Old Fashioned Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Armour's Star Peanut Butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup Star Lard
- 1 Cloverbloom Egg
- 1 teaspoon soda
- 1 cup flour unsifted
Equipment
Method
- Cream together the peanut butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and lard.
- Add the egg and mix until combined.
- Sift the flour and soda together, then add them to the peanut butter mixture.
- Roll about 1/2 teaspoon of dough in your hand to form a small ball.
- Place the dough balls on a baking sheet and press each cookie flat with a fork.
- Bake at 350°F for 10–12 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool before serving.
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Mention or tag @bakedlean!Related Posts
One response to “Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe”
I appreciate the old fashion charm but think a substitution section in BakeLean style would be great. Primarily I'm thinking ghee (to get rid of the water in butter as a shortening) and to substitute the lard. Avoiding the vegetable shortning should be a health plus. Not certain of your opinion on these cookies adding whey/casinen protein possibly degrading the cookie appeal?
Leave a Reply