Part of the ongoing series of Pittsburgh Cookie Table cookie recipes. Don’t know what a Pittsburgh Cookie Table is? You can check out some info here as well as a recipe for the best Snickerdoodles that ever did doodle. 

I think Peanut Butter Blossoms are an old school cookie. I have no doubt they were cooked up in a test kitchen by either Hershey’s or a peanut butter manufacturer, but I won’t hold that against them. I googled to find some history, but mostly what I found were recipes, so I don’t really know where they came from…but I know I’ve been making & eating them as far back as I can remember. I think that definitely classifies them as old school. Ugh.

It’s a brilliant cookie, combining a soft peanut butter cookie rolled in sugar with a Hershey’s Kiss plopped in the middle. How could it NOT be absolutely amazing?!? Well, unless you are my mom and are a total freak – she can’t stand the combo of chocolate & peanut butter. I know. WEIRDO.

Not to toot my own horn (so you know I am about to :) I make a mean peanut butter cookie. I can provide written testimony to the awesome that is my peanut butter cookie recipe. They are my favorite cookie, hands down, all the time, so of course I played with a recipe until it was exactly what I wanted in a peanut butter cookie. There are so many bad peanut butter cookies out there – crisp, dry, too sweet, no peanut butter flavor – it really is a travesty. I know I am a cookie snob. I’m not sorry about that.

What is my idea of a perfect peanut butter cookie? Heavy on the peanut butter flavor, it is a peanut butter cookie; chewy texture – but soft & dense, nothing is as awful as a crispy or hard peanut butter cookie; and last, but far from least, that sugar crust. My regular peanut butter cookie has a portion of chunky peanut butter and some peanut butter chips added to it for texture awesome, these ones do not, I prefer the more delicate cookie with that chocolate drop on top.

These are a staple on the Cookie Table and always pop up on my Christmas cookie baking list, they are quite easy to make and the kids like to help out with them. These ones got gifted to my very happy nephews for a road trip.

I use a small portion scoop, the purple handled one – about 1 1/2 Tbsp to scoop these. You want them to be as round as possible and the scoop makes that easy. They will spread some, but I still manage to get 20 on a half sheet tray with none touching *shudder* and as always I bake on parchment. Toss the cookie dough balls in sugar and tray up. These are baked in two stages, 9 minutes, add the kisses, back in the oven for 3 more to set them. These take a while to cool, you can’t pack them up until the chocolate has set back up or you get chocolate smooshes instead of kisses, not pretty but still delicious.

Peanut Butter Blossoms yield around 55

• 1 cup Butter, softened
• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 cup Creamy Peanut Butter **
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• pinch of Salt
• Sugar to roll the cookies in
• Hershey Kisses – at least 55, abut 1 big bag

Preheat the oven to 375, line baking sheets with parchment. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside of later.

Cream the butter and sugar until it is fluffy, this takes a minutes but is necessary. Add the peanut butter and mix until it is fluffy again. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla mixing well between additions. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the flour in a couple of additions, making sure to get it all mixed in completely. The dough shouldn’t be sticking to the bowl as you add the flour due to all that delicious peanut butter.

Scoop them into the sugar and coat completely. Line up on the baking sheets and get into the oven. They will bake for 9 minutes – I use this time to unwrap Hershey Kisses

~~ Aside – Dear Hershey’s please do all of us bakers a favor and sell UNWRAPPED KISSES in with all the baking stuff. I know you can makes this happen XOXO Mindy~~

When they timer goes off press a Hershey Kiss into the center of each one. You want it to be firmly seated in the center and it should make the top of the cookie get those gorgeous crackle marks in it when you do. Put them back in the oven for 3 minutes to set the kiss in the cookie. The chocolate will melt completely, thats the idea.

Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They take a while, that chocolate needs to set back up. I can’t ever really wait that long, but melty chocolate is far from a bad thing.

These store well in a sealed container for a few days and stay chewy ALL THE TIME. Like I said, a damn close to perfect peanut butter cookie!

Up next in the Pittsburgh Cookie Table Series – White Chocolate Macadamia Nut :)

** I pretty much exclusively use Jif to bake with and eat. I know it is not a natural peanut butter, but I have yet to find one that tastes as good in a baked good or in a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.