Classic Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

Well folks, tonight's the night that I will be sharing with you my recipe for Classic Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies! This is a family favorite and is pretty similar to the recipe for peanut butter kiss cookies from Hershey's, but tweaked a little bit. I've never made the original ones so I'm not sure if they're better or worse but either way, this is how I make them ;)

First, I have to show you how I measure my peanut butter. Sounds lame, but my mother-in-law didn't know about this handy kitchen tool until I came around, and she loves hers now. It's really the easiest way to measure sticky ingredients, especially peanut butter. This is a Pampered Chef one that my mom has, but I think mine is from Bed Bath and Beyond. They're awesome and I highly recommend that you get one if you don't already have one. 

First, you mix your shortening and peanut butter together. I am lazy and buy the sticks of shortening. I refuse to dig in a big can of Crisco... gross. Then you add your sugars, as shown in the picture above. Mix all of that up good and add in your egg and milk. Finally, add the rest of the ingredients. I made these at my mom's house while I took the pictures, and as you can see, she's still using her trusty old Sunbeam mixer. It's ancient but I'm actually quite nostalgic about it even though I love my KitchenAid :)

After the dough is all mixed up, shape it into balls in your hands using a rounded teaspoonful for each. I use a little more than a teaspoonful usually because I think the cookies look nicer a little bit bigger. I guess it's just preference. Above is what it looks like before being rolled into a ball. The picture below is what it should look like afterwards. Once they're good and round, you drop them in a bowl full of sugar and roll them around until coated. 

And we have a perfect little sugar covered ball of dough :) Now you just have to place them on a cookie sheet and bake! 

Above is what they should look like when they come out of the oven. While they're baking, make sure to unwrap your kisses so you are ready to put them on the cookies right away when they come out of the oven. The kisses won't push in as well or stay stuck in the cookies if you wait too long after taking them out. So anyways... once they're out, you just top each cookie with a kiss and gently press down so that the cookie cracks as shown below.

I apparently am terrible at taking one handed pictures. If you hadn't noticed before now, all of the pictures shown with a hand in them are extremely blurry. I've really gotta work on that ;)

Once all the kisses are pressed in, ta da! We have blossom cookies!

And some pretty photos of the pretty little cookies...

And isn't my plate from Home Goods pretty? I think I might start collecting dishes... I'm kinda obsessed! :) 

But, back to the cookies! This is hopefully the first of a few blossom cookies recipes to be shared on the blog. I have lots of ideas for different ways to make them, both with different cookie base flavors and with the different kinds of kisses. If you have any suggestions for combinations you want me to try out, let me know! Also, if you try the recipe, let me know what you think!

Classic Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

Preheat oven to: 375º

Baking time: 10-12 minutes

Yield: around 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 bag Hershey milk chocolate kisses

Directions: 

Mix shortening and peanut butter together first. Then add sugars and mix. Next add egg and milk and mix. Add the rest of the ingredients last and mix all together. Shape dough into balls using rounded teaspoonful for each. Roll balls in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 10-12 minutes. Immediately top each cookie with a kiss. Press down so cookie cracks. Allow to cool before eating. 

Enjoy!