Peanut Butter Blossoms

It’s probably not a surprise to any of you that I collect cookbooks. I think at last count I had around 500 of them. They’re starting to take over the house…..or is that Annie’s toys? Not sure. Anyway, this gem is among my collection. I love old cookbooks! They have the best recipes, but they do take a little deciphering. “Bake in moderate oven until done.” Great……what the heck does THAT mean? My famous Peanut Butter Blossoms come from this cookbook – my family LOVES it when I make these.  They are pretty stinkin’ delicious, and easy! I decided to make them fancy for Valentine’s Day and I was quite tickled with the result.

You’ll need shortening, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate. I wanted these to have hearts in the middle for Valentine’s Day. I found these beauties at CVS……and yes, I had a coupon. I know you were wondering. They are dark chocolate and cherry swirl. Yes, I just went there. And God said, “It was good.” If you want these for every day eating, you would just use regular Hershey kisses – or kisses of any flavor. The Hugs version are really delicious.

Before you get started, it’s a good idea to unwrap your candies. Why? Because if you wait until the cookies are in the oven, something will happen and you’ll run out of time. The candy has to be placed on the cookie immediately after coming out of the oven. If you wait, the UPS man will come……your daughter will pull out all the pages from your recent Taste of Home magazine…….your dog will need to potty. The cookies will be ready and your candy will still be wrapped. Oops! Aren’t they so pretty in that bowl?

Grab a big mixing bowl and combine the shortening and peanut butter. As a general rule, I like to use butter flavored shortening in my cookies instead of using butter. It’s a little more forgiving. You have to get your butter just right for a cookie recipe, or they’ll run all over the pan or be hard as rocks…….try shortening. You’re welcome.

When your butters are combined, add the sugars. I love the flavor that brown sugar gives to things. Yum!

When your sugar is all mixed up you need to add the egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well. Everything needs to be totally mixed together….no lumps. Unless of course you used crunchy peanut butter.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir only until combined. We don’t want to overmix, or we’ll end up with tough cookies. That would be a sad end for this peanut butter.

Your dough should look like this. Cookie dough should be fairly stiff. If you find that yours is a little soft, you can always add a tad more flour. Different weather conditions and altitudes can affect the amount of flour that you’ll need. If your dough is too soft, it will melt into one big cookie on your cookie sheet. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it sure wouldn’t be a pretty Valentine cookie then……it would be one you eat in the closet so no one else sees it.  You have a chair in there, don’t ya?

You need to make cookies about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Do I measure? Heck no. I just eyeball it….and I like big cookies. No one wants a little cookie. Really. Trust me. They might SAY they want a little cookie, but they’re lying. They’re all liars. Make them big. Then roll them in sugar. It’s going to give a nice little crunchy surprise to each cookie.

I usually put 1 dozen cookies on each cookie sheet. It’s just what I’ve found that works. Then I don’t worry about them running into each other. Do NOT press them. Bake at 375 for about 8 minutes. As I said in Cake Mix Cookies () ALWAYS underbake your cookies. Always. I have spoken. Better to be a little underdone than overdone. Unless you’re taking up hockey.

When cookies are done, take them out of the oven and immediately place a candy in the center of each cookie. Press until the cookie cracks on the edges.

Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and let them cool on a wire rack. They’ll need to cool for several hours….it feels like years –  because it will take the chocolate a while to set up. If you’re in a hurry, you can place them in the fridge for a bit.

There you have it! Chocolate and peanut butter pair so well together. They should get married. It’s my favorite combo of all time……except maybe cinnamon and oatmeal. Oh man, you have you tried that new Peanut Butter Snickers? HELLO!

So, if you want to make these any other time of year you can just use a Hershey kiss. But aren’t these cute? They’re going to be delivered to the hostess of my workshop today. I hope she enjoys them! And yes, I kept a few back for us. I can’t be giving out food that I don’t taste first. That would be wrong.