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Close-up shot of Peanut Butter Blossom cookies on a cookie sheet
Moist and Delicious Peanut Butter Blossoms

The Best Peanut Butter Blossoms

Close-up shot of Peanut Butter Blossom cookies on a cookie sheet
Moist and Delicious Peanut Butter Blossoms

Tomorrow is Christmas cookie baking day in the Frugal Farmer household – a day when we make all of our tried and true favorite Christmas treats to devour with semi-reckless abandon and to share liberally with others. As I’ve mentioned in other recipes, a dear old friend that I worked with years ago gave me her decades-old cookie recipes, and we use those blessed recipes to this day.

BTW, this recipe is also the recipe we use for plain old peanut butter cross cookies. Either way, the recipe comes out super moist and flavorful.

Val’s cookies are always moist, always delightfully flavorful and always loved by all we share them with. Along with these Peanut Butter Blossoms, we make Val’s recipe for Sugar Cookies, Spritz Cookies and her super easyΒ FudgeΒ recipe. Later on this week I’ll post her recipe for Russian Tea Cakes.

As you know, we work hard in this family not to consume a ton of sugar, and to eat mostly whole foods meals. Our family has learned many personal lessons about the benefits of eating a Macrobiotic or Paleo diet and of eating organic foods as opposed to non-organic. The way we feel when we fill our bodies with good, wholesome food the way God made it far trumps the short-term palate reward we get from downing a super-sized order of fries.

That being said, we try to have a balance and enjoy homemade sugary sweet treats on occasion as well. Taking after their mother, our four kids love to play in the kitchen and to serve tasty food to the people they love. Anytime you make a rule (such as eating healthy) into a law, I believe you’re immediately tempting yourself to break that law. So, in the case of sugary sweet treats, we work hard to say “not now” instead of “never”. In that vein, we hope you truly enjoy this fabulously tasty holiday treat.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients

1 c (2 sticks) whole butter, softened (we use organic)

1 c white sugar (we use organic when possible)

1 c brown sugar (we use organic when possible)

1 t. pure vanilla (don’t bother with the imitation stuff)

2 beaten eggs (we pray that one day these eggs come from our very own free range chickens)

1 c creamy peanut butter

2.5 c flour (we use organic)

2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1 regular-sized bag Hershey’s kisses

*Optional: a small bowl of sugar to roll the balls in before you place them on the cookie sheet

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter, eggs, sugars, peanut butter, vanilla, salt and soda (basically everything but the flour). Β After it’s mixed thoroughly, add the flour one cup at a time, mixing well but not over-mixing (this can result in a hard cookie). Form into small (1 inch or so) sized balls (*optional: roll the balls in sugar ) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. 8 should be plenty if the balls stay around the 1-inch size, but if you’re in doubt, split the difference and choose 9 minutes. Unwrap the Hershey’s kisses while the cookies bake, and press one into each cookie as soon as you remove them from the oven. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes or so to cool, and then move to a cooling rack so that they can cool further and the chocolate can re-harden. Don’t store until the kisses have hardened back up, or you’re asking for a mess.

*Cook’s note: In place of Hershey’s kisses you can also use chocolate stars. As I was perusing for a photo to use for this post I saw another photo of Peanut Butter Blossoms with Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, the bite-sized ones. This too would be a fantastic substitute, I’m sure. On another note, the Hershey’s website has a ton of different recipes you can use with Hershey’s kisses in them, and who couldn’t use a little more chocolate? πŸ™‚

What’s your favorite holiday dessert recipe? Β 

28 comments

  1. Kara @ The Daily Whisk says:

    I love these cookies, although I haven’t made them in a LONG time! This time of year I’m a big fan of sugar cookies w/ icing.

  2. Those look AMAZING, Laurie! I like to eat cookies but between you and me, I only make them for special occasions because they are so time-consuming and I prefer cooking over baking. But I might make an exception for these. My family would love them, especially my brother’s family who are peanut butter crazy. I have to take a look at your sugar cookie recipe because I don’t have a good one and my Mom is looking for one.

    • Laurie says:

      Val’s recipes are SO yummy. I don’t make them too often either, simply because the more I make, the more I’ll eat. πŸ™‚ But we do make an exception for Christmas baking. πŸ™‚

  3. Damn you! I’m trying to stick out this no sugary foods thing until Christmas Eve. But PB blossoms were always my favorite cookie to have around the holidays. My mom is coming down in January, so I can probably break the diet again then, and have her make me some.

    Now I’m off to think about your delicious cookies and pout.

    All of that being said, I hope you have fun baking! Don’t forget to eat the defective ones. I mean, you wouldn’t want to give people the bad ones, right? So it’s really common courtesy.

    • Laurie says:

      LOL, funny. πŸ™‚ Yes, we do lots of taste-testing here, just to be extra sure we’re giving gift recipients the highest quality product. No slacking on great cookie customer service here. πŸ˜‰

  4. Laura @ Piggy Bank Dreams says:

    Nom nom nom…

    My favorite Christmas dessert recipe is my grandmother’s church window cookies. You fold colorful mini-marshmallows into melted chocolate and shape it into a log using tin foil. We always line the tin foil with coconut first. Let it harden in the fridge and slice it into wheels. They look like stain-glass windows. So tasty and pretty!

  5. Hannah says:

    These are one of my favorite cookies. I actually do not recommend the peanut butter cup version though, Reese’s take on a grainy texture when they’re melted which doesn’t suit these cookies very well.

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