I think these are the official cookie of Christmas. Everyone makes them. Hershey’s puts a recipe for them on the back of their bag. That was until last year. I took a plate of cookies into work a couple days before the holiday and one of my coworkers asked what the peanut butter cookies with chocolate in the middle were called. Really? Have you been living in a cave? I’m still flabbergasted that someone had never encountered a peanut butter blossom in 40+ years of life but we aren’t here to talk about that we are here to talk about cookies.
After years of making them I have come up with a couple tricks to ensure a good soft cookie. First, use butter. I have seen so many blossom recipes with shortening. Vegetable shortening is not food. It’s plastic. Don’t use it in food. Second, the quality of cookie is directly proportional to the quality of peanut butter you use. Do not use mass-produced, off brand peanut butter. Find fresh peanut butter. If you can watch them grind it even better. Be aware that fresh peanut butter has no preservatives so it has to be used more quickly than your standard grocery store brand. Third, the peanut butter to butter ratio should be 3:2. You should always use more peanut butter. Finally,it’s all about the cream. I know I keep harping on this point but if you do not have a good cream of your butter and sugar you will not have a good cookie.
Peanut Butter Blossoms:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar (divided use)
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- Herhsey’s kisses (about 4 dozen unwrapped and uneaten)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream the butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in peanut butter until it is fully incorporated into the cream. Beat mix for a minute to return the mix to a light texture. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl mix your dry ingredients. Mix them into the wet ingredients in 2 additions.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls, roll in 1/4 cup sugar, and place on cookie sheet leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake 8-9 minutes rotating the cookie sheet once after about 4 minutes. Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven place a Hershey’s kiss in the center of the cookies. Allow cookies to cool completely on a rack.
A couple of trouble shooting notes: As peanut butters vary in their oil content sometimes it becomes necessary to increase dry or liquid components to make up for the difference in oil. This dough is in general on the dry side but it does hold together well. If your dough is not holding together, it is too dry. Add milk by the tablespoon until dough becomes cohesive. If the dough is sticky and feels damp, the dough is too wet and needs more flour. Add flour by the 1/4 cup until the dough is only slightly tacky.
A cute variation on these cookies sure to impress any peanut butter nut is to replace the Hershey’s kiss with a Reese’s peanut butter cup. These cookies are super versatile and can be made with any nut butter in place of peanut butter. Consider almond or hazelnut. I love the hazelnut butter cookie with Nutella
