FROM THE FOUNDING TABLE TO YOUR KITCHEN
POTUSPLATETHE PRESIDENTIAL TABLEHISTORY IS SERVED.
Presidents/Jimmy Carter

AT THE TABLE WITH JIMMY CARTER

Peanut butter cookies

Use conventional smooth peanut butter for the most predictable dough.

Baking30 minMakes 18 cookies
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Peanut butter cookies — a little vintage colour
A little vintage colour · Serving illustration

THE STORY ON YOUR PLATE

The peanut farmer who especially liked eggplant

More about Jimmy Carter →

The thirty-ninth president came from Plains, Georgia, and had worked in the family peanut business.

Historical reconstruction

Peanuts connect these cookies with the Carter family’s Georgia farming background. The recipe is a regional interpretation, using peanut butter for a small, straightforward bake.

The president & the table

Peanuts are the obvious shorthand for Carter, but family interviews point to a more useful dinner idea. Rosalynn Carter described Jimmy’s enthusiasm for eggplant, and eggplant soufflé appears as a favourite. White House accounts place it within a broader Southern comfort-food kitchen.

Behind this story

Library of Congress discussion of Carter family food interviews; White House Historical Association.

APRON ON. HISTORY CAN WAIT.

Make it at home.

Our home adaptation · Makes 18 cookies · Not yet kitchen-tested

What you’ll need

Let’s make it

  1. Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F and line two trays. Beat peanut butter, butter and both sugars until smooth.

  2. Beat in egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.

  3. Roll into 18 balls, space apart on the trays and flatten gently with a fork in a crosshatch pattern.

  4. Bake for 10–12 minutes until edges set. Cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then on a rack.

About this home version

A modern home recipe with practical ingredients and measured quantities.

Metric and US measures are approximate equivalents. For baking, use weights when you can.

STAY FOR ANOTHER COURSE

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