Easy Peanut Butter Blossoms. This popular soft and chewy peanut butter cookie with a Hershey's chocolate kiss in the center is the classic Christmas cookie. This recipe has been in my family for over 60 years and is the best peanut butter blossom recipe.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. This ensures the texture is perfectly creamy and no graininess from the sugar is left.
Add peanut butter, egg, milk, and vanilla and cream for 2 minutes longer scraping the sides of the bowl often.
Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined. If time is on your side, let chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll into 1-inch balls and roll into sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes or just until the cookies are cooked through but still soft and chewy.
While the cookies are baking, unwrap the Hershey Kisses so you are ready to put them on the hot cookies. While they are still warm, press a Hershey kiss into each peanut butter cookie. Allow to cool before removing from cookie sheet.
Notes
What kind of Peanut Butter to Use?I suggest using a creamy peanut butter butter like Jif or Skippy's.I do not recommend using natural peanut butter as it doesn't have sugar in it and you will end up with dry, crumbly cookies.Can you make the dough ahead of time?Absolutely! You can make the dough ahead of time, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and place in a bag in the refrigerator until you are ready to use. I suggest chilling the dough for 24-48 hours. Is there any substitute for Hershey Kisses? Since Hershey's kisses are the star of this cookie, I suggest using them in these Hershey kiss cookies. However, you can use a thick square of milk or dark chocolate instead.Why are my Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies dry? These are meant to be soft and chewy cookies but there may be two reasons why they turned out dry. The number one reason is overbaking the cookies. Make sure not to overbake these cookies or it will dry them out. The second reason is adding too much flour. This may happen as a result of packing down the flour in the measuring cup which will add too much flour to the cookie dough.Why aren't the Hershey's kisses sticking to my cookies? The Hershey's kisses need to be gently pressed to the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven. I suggest having the Hershey kisses all unwrapped so you are ready to press them on top of each cookie. The warmth of the cookies will melt the bottom of the chocolate kiss and stick to the cookies.