Peanut Butter Blossoms: Baking Up Christmas Cookie Magic

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut Butter Blossoms are a classic Christmas cookie. This delightful, soft cookie is made with a baked peanut butter cookie dough and then topped with a Hershey's Kiss chocolate. It's SO simple but so delicious and can also be made in the Thermomix. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

Peanut Butter Blossom cookies originated in 1957 in Gibsonburg, Ohio where Freda Strasel Smith entered the recipe into the 1957 Pillsbury Bake-Off contest. At that time they was called Black Eyed Susans and she was awarded third place in the competition. The name was subsequently changed and the cookies have been a perennial favourite since. Now they're commonly associated with Christmas although I'm not sure why apart from the fact that they're so easy to make!

Tips for making Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut Butter Blossoms

1- As there are only two of us, I wanted to make a smaller batch. This batch only makes 18 cookies. It also involves using half an egg which is easy to do. Just beat an egg and add the weight specified.

2 - You don't want to use natural peanut butter for these (the kind where the oil separates from the peanuts). You want one like Kraft, Bega or Skippy. I used smooth peanut butter but can you can also use crunchy.

3 - Make sure that the butter is soft but not melted.

4 - I like these with a generous amount of salt to balance them out - I like to taste the batter when adding it.

5 - If you have allergies you can substitute peanut butter with other nut butters or sunflower seed butter.

6 - In Australia Hersheys kisses aren't available at the supermarket. I found them on Amazon.

7 - My favourite tip for ensuring that the Hershey's kisses don't melt? Freeze them! All they need is 15 minutes in the freezer while you're prepping everything. They'll sink into the cookie perfectly without melting.

8 - These also work with a mini Reese's peanut butter cup if you really love the PB and chocolate combo!

Peanut Butter Blossoms

These peanut butter blossoms are the perfect cookie. Not only are they easy and don't require refrigeration before baking, they're also one of those magical never-fail cookies if you follow the recipe. They're the perfect mix of sweet and salty and rich - also what could go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate?

I needed an easy slide into Christmas because the last quarter of this year went past in a liquid blur. I was making these peanut butter blossoms one afternoon while we were very busy with a few things. We are getting floorboards installed removing the carpet from all of the bedrooms. However we use two of the bedrooms as offices so we had to kick Mr NQN out of his home office and me out of mine.

There's only so much space in our house so there was a lot of juggling. Mr NQN had an early morning meeting in our upstairs bedroom and then moved outside while I did my workout upstairs. Then he moved outside and Peter had the run of the rest of the house while I was ensconced in the kitchen and dining room where our bed was also located.

While I am happy to have a home (because seriously it feels like musical chairs buying property in Sydney) I think I would prefer a single story dwelling. Mainly because the bedroom upstairs gets so hot in summer. The bed was only supposed to stay in the dining room for a week but it's so much cooler downstairs that I half jokingly told Mr NQN that I wanted to keep it there. Teddy and Milo have adjusted easily but Mr NQN keeps asking when we will move the bed upstairs again. "Is everyone coming over for Christmas going to sit at a dining table near the bed?" he asked.

I thought about it, "You know everyone coming to friend's Christmas wouldn't care," I said. Because my closest friends wouldn't care - well Queen Viv and Miss America may cast a side-eye at the bed but my other friends wouldn't care. They're probably just as stressed with this crazy Christmas season coming up too!

So tell me Dear Reader, did you find the last few months whizz by? Have you ever tried Peanut Butter Blossoms?

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut Butter Blossoms

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An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes per tray (2.5 trays)

Makes: 18 cookies

  • 18 Hershey's kisses, unwrapped
  • 120g/4ozs peanut butter (not the natural kind that separates)
  • 65g/2.3ozs butter, softened
  • 55g/2.2ozs caster or superfine sugar
  • 55g/2ozs light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 30g/1oz beaten egg (around 1/2 an egg)
  • 130g/4.5ozs cake flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
  • 2 tablespoons caster or superfine sugar for dredging

Step 1 - First place the unwrapped Hershey's kisses in the freezer. Preheat oven to 170C/340F fan forced. Line two baking trays with parchment. Place the peanut butter, butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, salt, egg and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the sides halfway if necessary.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
If the mixture balls up like this instead of becoming a cohesive dough add a teaspoon or two of milk

Step 2 - In a jug whisk the flour and bicarb together, then add it into the wet mixture on low speed beating until just combined. Shape into 27g/1oz balls. Place the extra sugar in a shallow bowl and roll the dough balls in the sugar and place on the baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes in the centre of the oven.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
Dredging in sugar

Step 3 - When the cookies are baked immediately press the Hershey's kisses into the centre of the cookie. The cookie will expand and crack a little to accommodate the chocolate. Cool on the tray for 10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
Adding a kiss!

Thermomix Peanut Butter Blossoms

Step 1 - First place the unwrapped Hershey's kisses in the freezer. Preheat oven to 170C/340F fan forced. Line two baking trays with parchment. Place the peanut butter, butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, salt, egg and vanilla in the TM and set to 2 minutes speed #4. Scrape down the sides halfway.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Step 2 - In a jug whisk the flour and bicarb together, then add it into the wet mixture and set to 15 seconds, speed #4. Shape into 27g/1oz balls. Place the extra sugar in a shallow bowl and place on the baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes in the centre of the oven.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut Butter Blossoms
If the mixture balls up like this instead of becoming a cohesive dough add a teaspoon or two of milk

Step 3 - When the cookies are baked immediately press the Hershey's kisses into the centre of the cookie. The cookie will expand and crack a little to accommodate the chocolate. Cool on the tray for 10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Blossoms
Cracked surface once baked

Peanut Butter Blossoms

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