Peanut Butter Blossoms

Not to give you too big a peek behind the recipe developer curtain, but when it came time for December I wasn’t too eager to work on peanut butter blossoms. Don’t get me wrong — I think they’re delicious (and my fiancé all but begged me to do it). But there was just one problem: This is my future mother-in-law’s signature holiday cookie. So yeah, I did not want to go anywhere near that.

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cup creamy (no-stir) peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 32 chocolate kiss candies, unwrapped

Instructions

  1. Arrange 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds and heat the oven to 375ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda together in a medium bowl.

  2. Beat 1 stick room-temperature unsalted butter, 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup of the granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt together with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer on medium speed until well-combined and slightly lighter in color, scraping down the sides as needed, about 2 minutes.

  3. Beat in 1 room-temperature large egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until just combined. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined.

  4. Place the remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar on a plate. Scoop and roll the dough into 32 (1-tablespoon) portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Roll each ball in the sugar to coat. Place on the baking sheets at least 1 inch apart, 16 per sheet. (If the dough is too sticky to roll, refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up.)

  5. Bake for 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets between racks and from front to back. Bake until the cookies look puffy and cracked, and the bottoms are just starting to brown, 3 to 5 minutes more. Immediately press an unwrapped chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

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