When it comes to Christmas cookies, these peanut butter blossoms are the first to be made in our house every single year. Everybody loves these Hershey’s Kisses cookies, and they always make it onto my holiday cookie trays. Peanut butter blossoms are a classic Christmas cookie, although I’m not sure why or how, as there’s nothing inherently Christmas-y about them. However, this peanut butter blossom recipe is perfect for taking to a cookie swap or leaving out for Santa on Christmas Eve. My tips for this classic recipe are more like un-tips. There are no finicky steps for creaming this or that. This is one of the only recipes where I literally just put all the ingredients in a bowl at the same time, turn on the electric mixer, and let it do its job for a minute or two. I don’t cream the butter and peanut butter or gradually add in the sugar. I don’t scrape the sides of the bowl. I don’t gently stir in the flour or chill the dough or do any other steps you might see in other peanut butter blossom recipes. If you are looking for other cookie ideas for the holiday season, I’ve got you covered! Try these Chocolate Dipped Toffee Pecan Shortbread Cookies, Toffee Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, or why not try something a little different with these Double Lemon Glazed Cookies. Some of my favorite and more traditional cookie choices are these Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Classic Gingerbread Men!
Why We Love This Recipe
Customizable for whichever holiday or occasion you’re making them for by using different candy, or a colored sugar coating. This is a great recipe for making with the kids – just put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. It’s a quick and easy recipe, they’re ready in just over 20 minutes!
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Granulated Sugar – White sugar is best, and you’ll need some for making the dough and some for rolling the cookies in. Brown Sugar – Light brown, firmly packed sugar is best for Butter – Salted butter works best with these cookies to help balance the sweetness. It needs to be softened to room temperature. Peanut Butter – Smooth and creamy natural peanut butter works best to get a smooth cookie. Egg – To bind the dough together and help it rise a bit to make it nice and chewy! Milk – 2% or whole milk is fine. Vanilla Extract – Adds a subtle sweetness to the cookies. Flour – This recipe will work with all-purpose flour. You can use a gluten-free alternative, but the quantities may vary if you use a grain-free alternative. Baking Soda – To help the cookies rise and get chewy. Salt – To enhance the flavors. Hershey’s Kisses – I use their original milk chocolate ones, but you can use your favorite to mix it up.
How to Make Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
Prepare baking sheet. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap the Hershey’s Kisses and set them aside. Make cookie dough. Put ½ cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, egg, milk, vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Mix with an electric mixer or hand mixer on medium speed until combined. Do not over-mix. Coat cookie dough balls with sugar. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls by rolling them between your palms. Then roll each ball in the extra sugar in a shallow bowl. You can do this easily and more evenly with a cookie scoop, but you can use tablespoons if you don’t have one. Bake. Place on a baking sheet spaced an inch or two apart, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly golden brown. Don’t let them over-bake. I almost always pull them out at the 8-9 minute mark. Add Hershey’s Kiss. Gently press an unwrapped milk chocolate kiss candy into the center of each of the freshly baked cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. The chocolate will melt from the heat of the cookie, sticking the candy to the top of the cookie. It will then cool and harden again. Cool and serve. Place cookies on a wire rack to cool completely, and then serve!
Tips for Success
Make your cookie dough balls, and cookies, the same size so that they all cook evenly in the same amount of time. If you like the chocolate to stay firm, you can refrigerate the chocolate kisses until you need to use them. This way, they won’t melt too much when pressed into the cookies. Although we like to watch until the Hershey’s Kiss is perfectly melted and then eat them right in that moment. Using a cookie scoop will ensure your cookies are the right size every time.
Substitutions and Variations
You can use different Hershey’s Kisses to suit your taste or the season. You can use kisses with a filling for added flavor, or even the candy cane ones like in these Peppermint Blossoms for added festivity! Use another candy, like Mini Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, or add more candies to the top of your peanut butter blossoms to suit your taste preference. Roll the cookies in a red or green colored sanding sugar or coarse sparkling sugar coating before baking to make them extra Christmassy. Drizzle some icing over the top of your cookies after they have cooled, or dust them with powdered sugar. Add chocolate chips to the cookie dough mix to make them extra chocolatey.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies Copycat Crumbl Cinnamon Swirl Cookies Soft & Chewy Molasses Cookies Eggnog Cookies with Eggnog Frosting Mexican Wedding Cookies [aka Russian Tea Cakes]
This post was originally published in December, 2016. The photos and content were updated in November, 2022.
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