What is the criss-cross pattern on top of peanut butter cookies used for?
I've been making peanut butter cookies, but skipping the step of pressing the top of the cookie down with a fork. What does this step do for the cookies?
Best Answer
Peanut butter cookies don't spread as they cook, so you have to flatten them before hand. This ensures that the middle will cook through before the outside burns.
As for the pattern created, it actually creates slightly more surface area, so you'll get more browning at the extra edges that you create. Think of it like a meringue, or the top of a shepherd's pie -- if it's too smooth, you won't get the little bits of browned crispy bits that you'd get if you rough up the surface.
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Quick Answer about "What is the criss-cross pattern on top of peanut butter cookies used for?"
Peanut butter cookie dough is denser than a lot of other cookie doughs. Putting the hash marks in the cookie dough balls actually flattens them for more even baking. Without being pressed, the cookies will not cook evenly.How do you keep fork from sticking to peanut butter cookies?
Dip the fork in sugar. To help keep the fork from sticking when you make a cross-hatch pattern on the cookies, dip the tines in a little granulated sugar between cookies.When was the first peanut butter cookie made?
The peanut butter cookie was invented in the 1910's, when George Washington Carver of Alabama's Tuskegee Institute published a peanut cookbook in an effort to promote the crop.More answers regarding what is the criss-cross pattern on top of peanut butter cookies used for?
Answer 2
I believe the main reason is to help the dough spread out. Peanut butter cookies recipes typically don't go for a lot of spread, and therefore you need to manually flatten the dough in order to get a proper cookie shape and allow the cookie to cook properly.
It's not clear to me whether the non-spreading recipe is a requirement for some aspect of the cookie, or if the reason that a non-spreading recipe is used is specifically to allow the fork-marks to remain, so you could experiment with some of the factors mentioned in this thread on cookie spreading if you'd prefer the cookies to spread on their own and skip the fork marks.
Answer 3
I actually just asked my wife about this! It turns out that the dough used for most peanut butter cookies is a little thicker than regular cookie dough. Pressing it can help it to cook more evenly. I don't know how much it helps, but she seemed to think it was pretty important!
Answer 4
The fork lines are so you can tell the difference between the peanut butter ones and the sugar cookies.
Answer 5
Nothing. It's just cosmetic. I didn't even know I was "supposed" to be doing that until I'd been making them for years.
Answer 6
It's not just there for cooking, it's to make the cookie look like the peanuts shell.
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