# Peanut Butter Cookies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-cookies/125469>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 25, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-cookies/125469 "2002-08-25T07:01:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![brownie74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@brownie74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie74)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-cookies/125469/1 "2002-08-25T07:01:27Z")

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As I was baking last night, I had a thought…why do we put fork marks in peanut butter cookies? I say it’s to differentiate between like cookies. My wife says it’s to flatten out the cookies because they don’t settle like other cookies. Does anyone have the right answer?😕

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**Author:** ![jaybee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@jaybee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaybee)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-cookies/125469/2 "2002-08-25T07:34:57Z")

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Mmmm… Peanut Butter cookies. yum yum…

Perhaps because peanut butter is loaded with oils and fat from the peanut the fork marks help break down the swelling caused by them coming to a boil. Just a thought.

Enjoy.

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**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-cookies/125469/3 "2002-08-25T07:56:33Z")

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Have you ever seen those peanut butter cookies that have a chocolate kiss in the middle? Those are baked without flattening (the kiss is added when the cookies are removed from the oven). So clearly you _can_ bake them as plain old drop cookies. I would guess that the marking is just traditional. Without the markings, they look a lot like a number of other drop cookies. On a plate of assorted cookies, like you might find on the table at Christmastime, you always know which ones are the peanut butter!