Name: Peanut Butter Blossoms
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 30 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 115 g butter, softened; 100 g smooth peanut butter; 100 g light brown sugar; 100 g caster sugar; 1 egg; 2 tbsp milk; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 250 g plain flour; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; ½ tsp salt; 50 g granulated sugar, for rolling; 150 g chocolate kisses, unwrapped, 30 in all

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Soft peanut butter cookies rolled in sugar and topped with a chocolate kiss pressed in while still warm, baked for 10 minutes.

30 min total Serves 30 servings Easy

The Method for Peanut Butter Blossoms

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Heat the oven to 180°C / 355°F. Beat the butter, peanut butter and both sugars for 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla.
Stir in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a soft dough.
Roll into 30 balls, roll each in the granulated sugar and place 4 cm apart on 2 lined trays.
Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are set.
Press a chocolate kiss into the centre of each hot cookie. Cool on the trays until the chocolate is set.

What Can Go Wrong

Use a stabilised smooth peanut butter.
Press the chocolate in while the cookies are hot.
Unwrap the chocolates ahead of time.

Good to Know About Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut butter blossoms are said to have been created for a baking competition in the American Midwest in the mid twentieth century, though the exact origin story varies in the retelling. What no one disputes is that they remain among the most popular Christmas cookies in North America, and that the chocolate in the middle is what makes them.

The dough is a classic peanut butter dough, a creamy mix of peanut butter, butter, sugars, an egg, and flour. Use a standard smooth peanut butter such as Skippy, which is stabilised and keeps the cookies from turning oily and greasy. The natural kind, with the oil that floats on top, produces cookies that crumble and spread.

Press the chocolate in the moment the cookies leave the oven. The cookies must be warm and soft, so the chocolate sinks in and the edges crack slightly, forming the characteristic flower shape. Wait too long and the cookie is firm and cracks all the way across. Have the chocolates unwrapped and ready beforehand, in a bowl on the counter.

Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before baking, which gives a sparkling, lightly crisp exterior. Bake until the edges are just set, 10 minutes, and no longer. The chocolate firms up in about 20 minutes as the cookies cool.

To Go With It

Cold milk · Hot chocolate · Coffee · Vanilla ice cream

Leftovers

Keeps in an airtight tin for 5 days.