Peanut Butter Blossoms — These peanut butter blossoms feature soft and chewy peanut butter cookies topped with a Hershey’s chocolate kiss. A classic Christmas cookie recipe!
Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
Peanut butter blossoms is such a classic recipe, especially around the holidays. How I’ve written a peanut butter cookbook with 100+ recipes and have 30+ different peanut butter cookie recipes on my blog, but don’t have a recipe for this classic is beyond me.
So now I’ve changed that.
And in case you’re noticing the tiny flecks in them, they’re flecks of vanilla bean from the vanilla I used. I could bathe in vanilla.
I used the same base I used here because the cookies are perfectly soft yet have enough chewiness to satisfy without being crunchy or crumbly. Don’t overbake them. Err on the side of pale, glossy, and underdone looking if you’re in doubt and they’ll stay soft for days.
For me, there’s nothing worse than a cookie exchange and ending up with a dozen crunchy peanut butter blossoms. These aren’t crunchy and that’s a holiday blessing.
The chocolate Kiss on top is classic and reminds me of baking holiday cookies with my grandma when I was growing up. We hardly had enough Kisses in the bag to top all the cookies after I got done unwrapping and sneaking just a few.
What’s in Peanut Butter Blossoms?
To make these Hershey’s peanut butter blossoms, you’ll need:
- Egg
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Creamy peanut butter
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Hershey’s Kisses
How to Make Peanut Butter Blossoms
This is such an easy Christmas cookie recipe! Simply cream together the egg, butter, and sugars until light and fluffy. Then, add in the remaining wet ingredients, followed by the dry.
Scoop the cookie dough into balls and chill for at least 3 hours. Once chilled, roll the cookie dough in additional sugar and place the dough onto a Silpat-lined baking tray. Bake until the edges have set and the tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center.
Once the cookies are out of the oven, immediately press a Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie. If desired, press the Kiss down a bit further to create cracks in your peanut butter blossoms.
Do I Have to Chill the Cookie Dough?
Yes, you MUST chill the cookie dough before baking it. Do not bake with unchilled dough, because the peanut blossoms will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
Can I Use Natural Peanut Butter?
No. As much as I love natural and homemade peanut butter, it’s best if you use something like Jif or Skippy in these peanut butter blossoms. Natural peanut butter is too greasy and will result in the wrong texture.
Tips for Making Peanut Butter Blossoms
You don’t have to roll these peanut butter blossom cookies in sugar before baking them, but I highly recommend doing so as the sugar adds some texture to the cookies and some extra sweetness.
After pressing the Kisses into the center of the peanut butter blossoms, you should wait at least 15 minutes before serving them so the chocolate has time to adhere to the cookies. You don’t want the Kisses falling off after you bite into the peanut blossoms!
If you plan on freezing these peanut butter blossoms, be sure to do so after you’ve pressed the Hershey’s Kisses into the centers. Otherwise they won’t be true peanut butter blossoms.
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Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar + 1/3 cup for rolling, optional
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter, something like Skippy or Jif works best, don’t use a ‘natural’ peanut butter that separates
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 22 Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), add the egg, butter, brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the peanut butter, vanilla, and mix on medium-high speed until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, salt, and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don’t overmix.
- Using a two-tablespoon cookie scoop form approximately 22 equal-sized mounds of dough.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.
- Optionally (but recommended) add 1/3 cup sugar to shallow bowl and roll dough mounds through sugar.
- Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 8 to 11 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
- Immediately place one Kiss in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly so the edges crack a bit if desired.
- Allow cookies to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving, or until chocolate has had time to set up and has ‘glued’ onto the cookie.
Notes
- Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
- Adapted from Peter Pan Neverland Cookies.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Being in a hotel industry I know the importance of cookies and your recipes are inspiration for us to learn more.
oh man I’m in love with the vanilla bean flecks! These are def some of the best pb blossoms I’ve ever seen-but I’d expect nothing less from you, Averie :P
Thanks for the vanilla love and all the compliments…you’re so sweet! Merry Christmas! xo
You mention adding salt in with the flour and baking soda, but don’t list the amount in the ingredients, how much did you use? I am going to make these for Santa, I’ve always loved them but never tried to make them. Thanks!
1/4 teaspoon or to taste should do it. Enjoy!
These have always been a holiday tradition for us as well, both growing up and with my own family. Yours look mouth-watering!!
One small modification our family has always made is using Brachs milk chocolate stars instead of kisses…gives the cookies a “holiday” look and avoids the unwrapping!! :) Thanks for the inspiration to get these made!
They have new Kisses now that come in a bag you don’t need to unwrap. I’ve never bought them but they do exist. Glad these are a holiday fave for you!
These are my absolute faaavorite holiday cookie! Wouldn’t be the most wonderful time of year without a plate full of these, a warm blanket and Elf on the biggest TV in the house. :)
Don’t forget spiked eggnog…or something like that :)
These do look absolutely perfect! It’s definitely not Christmas without peanut butter blossoms!
hey girl these look so good!
Thank you!
OOOH with vanilla bean. LOVE!! I make these every Christmas!!
I eat them every Christmas :)
These are certainly a holiday classic and a favorite at our house. I love the idea of adding vanilla bean :)
Yes to vanilla beans and vanilla anything :)
DO DO NOT SEE THE AMOUNT OF CREAM TO USE IN LIST OF INGREDIENTS. WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THE AMOUNT ASAP AS I WOULD LOVE TO MAKE THESE THIS WEEK-END. THANK YOU!! (PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS)
Hi Barbara, two things…on the internet when you use ALL CAPS IT MEANS YOU’RE SCREAMING AT THE PERSON.
Secondly, there is no cream in the recipe. Enjoy!
These are such simple cookies, but are absolutely my favorite cookies at the holidays, and ones that I’ve never understood WHY we don’t eat/bake them all year?!?! I used to make them every year, back in my baking days. Mine were much smaller than your’s, I’m sure. ;)
I love that Hershey’s sells unwrapped kisses now! That was the biggest PITA when I made these.
Did you use vanilla beans? They look flecked with vanilla – beautiful!
I used a high end vanilla extract that someone sent me and it was the bottom of the bottle and it was almost like vanilla bean paste but I rolled with it because after dumping it in I wasn’t turning back :)
The unwrapped Kisses are nice but I had to go the old-fashioned route to clear down what I had ‘in stock’ in my pantry.
These actually aren’t that big. You can’t make these too big or they look very out of proportion with the Kiss. It looks like this little Kiss swimming in cookie!
I love peanut butter flavors anytime and I have gone crazy after seeing many varieties of sweets/desserts on this blog…I go crazy when I look at sweet recipes and your blog is the best to go through such recipes…Thank you so much for bringing us amazing recipes…
Thanks for the compliments and glad you’re a fellow peanut butter lover!
These are one of my absolute favorite holiday cookies and I remember my mom making them as well. I ‘m pretty sure she had to buy an extra bag of kisses for all of us. They would disappear as quickly as they were unwrapped (I have acquired my love of chocolate from both parents)!
Glad I’m not the only one where an extra bag of Kisses was needed after the sampling and taste testing :)