You know them, you love them. Peanut butter blossoms are a classic holiday cookie. They are my personal favorite and a batch never lasts long at our house. Peanut butter and chocolate are just the best combination.
This is the tried and true recipe from the Hershey website. I have actually tried a few other versions including a flourless peanut butter cookie. They were all good, but I have returned to this perfect version for good.
Ingredients
Shortening: Using shortening makes this cookie very tender and moist. Crisco shortening is always my choice. I have tried store brands and they are not the same.
Creamy Peanut Butter: I have used classic peanut butter and natural no-stir varieties and both worked just fine.
Sugar & Brown Sugar: A combination of white and brown sugar makes these cookies perfectly sweet.
Egg: The egg gives the cookies structure and richness.
Milk: Helps the ingredients combine. I use either skim or almond milk.
Vanilla Extract: Gives baked goods wonderful flavor.
Flour, Baking Soda, Salt: The structure and leavening agents.
Chocolate Kisses or Stars: Use whichever you like. As I mentioned, I am a fan of the stars, but as you can see below I have used chocolate kisses. There is no wrong choice here. 🙂
Instructions
Preheat your oven. I also prep two sheet pans by lining them with parchment paper. Not necessary but this step makes baking cookies so easy. Using two sheet pans lets you prep a batch of cookies while another is baking in the oven.
Combine the shortening and peanut butter and stir vigorously until creamy and well-blended. Add the sugars, egg, milk, and vanilla extract and stir until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
I use my smaller-sized cookie scoop for peanut butter cookies. I want a small dough ball so the chocolate star covers about half of the resulting cookie.
Bake until risen and lightly browned.
Now the fun part! The cookies are out of the oven. Press a chocolate star or kiss in the center of each cookie. I like to do this right away when the cookies come out of the oven. This way the chocolate will stick to the cookies.
Enjoy warm or room temperature. Peanut butter blossoms make a great addition to any holiday cookie platter!
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ingredients
- ½ cup shortening
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- chocolate stars or kisses
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Pull out two cookie sheets. Line the sheets with parchment paper if desired.
- Beat the shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Add sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.
- Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture until just combined.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls using a small cookie scoop or spoon. Place on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.