The cookie originated in the United States, its development dating back to the 1910s.

George Washington Carver (1864–1943), an American agricultural extension educator, from Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, was the most well known promoter of the peanut as a replacement for the cotton crop, which had been heavily damaged by the boll weevil.

Early peanut butter cookies were either rolled thin and cut into shapes, or else they were dropped and made into balls; they did not have fork marks.

The first reference to the famous criss-cross marks created with fork tines was published in the Schenectady Gazette on July 1, 1932.

Using a fork to press the dough is a convenience of tool; bakers can also use a cookie shovel (spatula).