Soft ‘n Chewy Peanut Butter Blossoms
Sugar-dipped peanut butter cookies with crisp edges & chewy centers are topped with a rich chocolate kiss for deliciously soft Peanut Butter Blossoms! An easy Christmas cookie for this holiday season.
What’s your favorite Christmas cookie? After making these, mine are today’s deliciously soft peanut butter blossoms. Heretofore, it was snowball cookies and crispy gingersnaps. These chewy cookies are easy to make and yield beautiful, sugar-coated cookies that are perfect for celebrating the holidays!
Slightly salty peanut butter pairs deliciously with rich, sweet chocolate kisses for the best Peanut Butter Blossoms.
What are Peanut Butter Blossoms?
Peanut Butter Blossoms are peanut butter-based cookies made popular by Freda Smith when she won the 1957 Pillsbury Bake-Off. [1]
Smith originally created this recipe when she was baking peanut butter cookies. Thinking they looked too plain, she grabbed a bag of kisses in her cupboard and pressed them into the cookies. She named them Black Eyed Susans [2] due to their appearance. Later, Pillsbury renamed them Peanut Butter Blossoms.
Peanut Butter Blossoms Ingredients
- Peanut butter – use unsalted, smooth peanut butter for the best flavor and texture, just like in my peanut butter blondies and 3 ingredient banana peanut butter cookies.
- Flour – be sure to spoon and level when measuring. Packing the flour will cause dry, crumbly cookies.
- Kisses – use Hershey’s kisses or make your own with my homemade kisses recipe.
- Unsalted Butter
- Egg – make sure to use a room temperature large egg as it’ll ensure a cohesive, smooth cookie dough.
- Baking soda
- Granulated sugar – we’ll use this twice—once in the dough, then once to coat the cookies.
- Brown sugar – light brown sugar has a lighter flavor that doesn’t overpower the cookies
- Salt
- Milk – just 1 tablespoon of milk is needed to help the dough moisten, create a better structure once cooled, and makes the cookies softer.
How to Make Peanut Butter Blossoms
To start making this easy peanut butter blossoms recipe, grab a medium mixing bowl and sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.
Beat ingredients together until fluffy. Next, decrease the speed of the mixer, then beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla.
Further decreasing the speed to low, slowly add in the dry mixture.
Now, your peanut butter blossom cookie dough is ready to be chilled.
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet in parchment paper. Grab a small cookie scoop, then scoop and roll dough into balls.
Quickly roll balls in sugar to coat, then place onto the baking sheet.
Bake for about 7 minutes, then press an un-foiled kiss into the center of the cookie until the kiss is firmly in place. Repeat for all cookies.
Place the cookie sheet back into the oven and bake for about 2 minutes.
Cool cookie directly on the sheet for about 10 minutes, until firm. Then, finish cooling peanut butter blossoms directly on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Can You Freeze Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies?
Yes, you can freeze these cookies, just like you can freeze my healthy peanut butter oatmeal cookies and my Christmas Crack.
- Freezing Baked Cookies: Cool cookies completely, then freeze on a lined sheet in the freezer. When the Hershey’s kisses are firm, place cookies into a freezer-friendly container and freeze for 1-3 months.
- Freezing the Cookie Dough: You can freeze the dough as one big chunk or pre-scoop into cookie dough balls that are easier to bake.
How to Store Peanut Butter Blossoms
To store these cookies at room temperature: cool cookies completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Be careful not to dent the softened Hershey’s kisses atop each cookie when storing.
If storing the cookies in the refrigerator, you can keep them for 1-2 weeks, following the same directions as above.
Q&A
- How long to bake peanut butter blossoms? Bake for about 7 minutes, then press kisses into the tops of the cookies and bake for an additional 2 minutes. Total bake time is about 9 minutes.
- Can you refrigerate peanut butter blossom dough? Yes, you can refrigerate the dough for 2-4 days.
- How many calories in a peanut butter blossom cookie? Each cookie is approximately 98 calories.
- Are peanut butter blossoms Christmas cookies? Yes, they are considered Christmas cookies as they are very popular around this time of year.
- Why are my peanut butter blossoms falling apart? The simplest reason: the dough is too dry. Make sure to follow this recipe exactly, and spoon and level the flour, making sure not to pack it.
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Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Total Time: 1 hour 34 minutes
- Yield: 48 cookies 1x
Description
Sugar-dipped peanut butter cookies with crisp edges & chewy centers are topped with a rich chocolate kiss for deliciously soft Peanut Butter Blossoms! An easy Christmas cookie for this holiday season.
Ingredients
Tools Needed
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (1 stick) butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For rolling
- 1/2 to 1 cup granulated sugar
Topping
- About 4 dozen Hershey’s Kisses or homemade kisses, foil removed
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer, combine butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar. Beat until creamed together and fluffy, starting at low, then increasing to medium high as allowed (so sugar doesn’t spray out). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Decreasing the speed to medium low, beat in egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Set the mixer set to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until well combined, scraping down the bowl of the mixer as needed.
- If the cookie dough is soft, you’ll need to refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. To be safe, I always recommend doing this.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or greased foil.
- Using a small cookie dough, scoop and roll dough into 1-inch balls, then coat in granulated sugar and place on the prepared cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until light brown and puffed up. Mine took 7 minutes.
- Place cookie sheet onto a cooling rack or other heat-protected surface. Press un-foiled Hershey’s Kisses into the tops of each cookie, until the cookie tops crack just a bit.
- Return the cookie sheet into the oven to bake, about 2-3 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool on the sheet until firm, about 10 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
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Notes
Recipe adapted from the New York Times and the Gerrero family.
To refrigerate the dough: Scoop cookie dough balls into an airtight container. Keep for 2-4 days in the refrigerator, then roll into spheres and in sugar, then bake as normal.
To freeze the dough: Scoop cookie dough into balls or keep as one big chunk. Freeze in an airtight container for 1-2 months. Bake as directed.
Storing Instructions: Cool cookies completely, then store in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.
Freezing Instructions: Once cooled, store cookies carefully in a freezer-friendly, airtight container, being careful not to crush the kisses. Freeze for 1-3 months.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Chilling Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
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Not only do these peanut butter blossom cookies look fantastic, they taste even better! I added some more brown sugar to mine to make them extra moist and sweet!
So glad to hear you liked them, DK!
I’ve made these cookies several times and they always turn out perfectly! Such a classic flavor combo and so delicious!
Woohoo! That’s seriously wonderful to hear, thank you for taking the time to let me know!
These cookies are incredible. The texture is absolutely perfect.
I’m so glad you liked it, Bobby!
This is one of our favorite cookie recipes! So easy and yummy!
I know, right? There’s just something about chocolate and peanut butter that always hits the spot. 😋
Great recipe, I will make again this in the weekend. Thanks for sharing
Woohoo! I’m so pleased to hear you liked it!