These peanut butter kiss cookies are my go to when I’m needing a sweet, salty, and chocolatey fix:). They've been around forever!
Actually, they’ve been around since 1957. As the story goes... Freda Smith intended to make a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies then realized she was out of chocolate chips. I hate when that happens. It’s usually because my kids have just gone in the pantry and eaten them all, except for maybe 10 left in the bottom of the bag. I went in the other day and there were three bags, each left with about 10 chips. Go figure?! I caught one of them sitting on the flour bucket with the light out door closed, bag in hand with the biggest smile!:) I shouldn’t be surprised though, he’s the same one at the old age of two, drinking the Hershey syrup straight out of the bottle. Ha! That kid has a sweet spot for chocolate.:).
Enough about my son’s love of chocolate back to Frieda... Being the resourceful baker she was, she grabbed a bag of Hershey's Kisses instead and baked them atop of that salty sweet confection. The story goes on, Ms. Smith entered her great mistake into the ninth annual Pillsbury Bake-off competition. Can you believe she didn’t even place in the contest? Come on! Really?
Years later her recipe lives on in many, SO MANY wonderful variations. My favorite version of dear Freda’s peanut butter blossoms come from Melskitchencafe.com. Still, I make my own tweeks. Don't forget the Madasgascar/rum Vanillapura extract. It makes these cookies even more buttery and sweet. And don’t go easy on it. I used about 2 1/2 tsp and it was perfect!
Oh! Roll those babies in sugar before you bake um. Topped with that melted chocolate kiss, they are irresistible!
YIELD: 2-3 DOZEN
PREP TIME: 20 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 10 MINUTES
TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup roasted, salted peanuts
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, softened but still cool
- ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons Madagascar/rum Vanillapura extract (I add a little more;)
- 1-2 bags of Hershey's Chocolate Kisses (any variety), wrappers removed. My favorite are just the classics.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and make sure an oven rack is positioned in the middle of the oven. Line two aluminum rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together, 1 ¾ cups flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. In a food processor or blender, process the remaining 1 cup flour and 1 cup peanuts together until finely ground and well-combined. Stir the peanut flour mixture into the bowl with the flour, salt and baking soda/powder.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer (hand mixer or stand mixer), until the mixture is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add the peanut butter and continue to beat until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, until incorporated, about 30 seconds, then beat in the vanilla, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl, if necessary. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in two batches, mixing until incorporated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes until it is fairly stiff.
- Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (and dip them in a bowl of sugar:) ,space them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, until the outsides are set and the edges are just barely beginning to crack. Working quickly, remove the sheet from the oven and press one Hershey Kiss into the center of each cookie. Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake for another 1-2 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden and the Hershey Kiss is glistening (but not melted into a puddle).
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before removing the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough and Hershey Kisses.
