A shortbread cookie (small sweet cake with a crisp exterior), the main ingredient of which is peanut butter,  traditionally marked with a hash-mark design made by pressing the back of a fork’s tines into the ball of dough of each cookie before baking.  The purpose of the design is to flatten the dense dough for even baking and to give it a "foot" (anchoring the dough to the baking sheet to enable the cookie to rise slightly) and provide a pleasing texture to the sandy exterior.  Many variants of this perennial American classic abound, including peanut butter and chocolate. 

Country:  United States