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Peanut Butter Blossoms (with Mini Kisses)

Peanut Butter Blossoms have always been (one) of my favorite cookies. So after I made these Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms, I felt compelled to make a batch of the original just, you know, to compare the two recipes. 🙂

One of my most vivid memories as a child is heading to my great aunt’s house for Christmas. It was always held in the basement where everyone chatted, drank, listened to Christmas music, and played games while I stalked the cookie tray.

As soon as we descended the stairs to the basement, I would lock my eyes on the cookie tray. I would count how many Peanut Butter Blossoms there were and how many times I would need to circle the dessert table to devour them. Being a good child, I didn’t want to eat them all at once. So I had to make frequent trips to the cookie table the entire night to ensure I ate all the Peanut Butter Blossoms I could handle!

As an adult, they are still one of my favorite cookies and I don’t make them very often because, just like when I was a child, I will literally eat them all.

My one complaint about this cookie is that it is hard to eat with a Hershey Kiss in the middle. Do you eat the Kiss first? Do you eat around it and save it for last? Or do you just dig in and hope you don’t have chocolate smeared all over your pearly whites?

I was ecstatic when I found mini Hershey Kisses! Not only is it easier to eat, but you can enjoy some chocolate with every bite because you don’t get to just add one Kiss to each cookie, but three! Three kisses to every cookie!

But here’s what I will say… I still love the original, but after making these Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms, I actually like the Red Velvet cookie better. It seems softer, more decadent and it’s a really beautiful cookie!

Peanut Butter Blossoms (with mini Kisses)

Yields about 48 cookies

Ingredients:

½ c softened butter

¾ c creamy peanut butter

⅓ c sugar

⅓ c brown sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ c flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

⅓ c sugar for rolling

1 bag of Hershey’s Mini Kisses

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Mix butter and peanut butter in large bowl until blended. Add sugar and sugar, mix until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, mix well. Add flour, baking soda, salt and slowly mix into peanut butter mixture. *Side note: best if using a hand or stand mixer, but can be mixed by hand.
  3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in additional sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. *Side note: if dough is not sticking enough to roll into balls, chill in refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes.
  4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
  5. Immediately press 3 mini Hershey Kisses into center of each cookie. Edges will crack.
  6. Allow to cool on wire rack.

 

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Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Let’s talk about food fails for a minute.

I cook a lot. I bake a lot. However, I would never claim to be a chef or a “good” cook. I like things that are easy and that are delicious. I like to feel good about what I’m making and what I’m eating.

This also means experimenting with different recipes, ingredients, cook times, etc.

Most of the time, I make some really delicious food.

…And sometimes, well, my plans go awry and the dish, cookies, whatever, comes out awful.

It seems like it goes in streaks. I will repeatedly make dishes that fail. And yes, I do get discouraged. I just want to order take out. I don’t want to try anything new because it might suck.

So what do I do?

I make something I know is good. Something I have made hundreds of times. Like my favorite Peanut Butter Banana Bread! I feel good making it and eating it!

I tell you this because I don’t want you to be discouraged. You CAN cook. I promise. We all fail. We are not perfect. So do something that makes you feel good, something that picks you back up, and try again.

Oh, and then make this bread, because it is delicious and will make you feel better! 🙂

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 ½ c bananas (about 4)

2 eggs

⅓ c plain yogurt

⅔ c peanut butter

1 ⅔ c flour

1 c brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, add bananas and mash.
  3. Add eggs, yogurt and peanut butter. Mix until blended.
  4. Add remaining dry ingredients, mix well.
  5. Spread batter evenly into a greased 13×9 pan.*
  6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center.
  7. Cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

*If you want to cook in a traditional  loaf pan, cook for 45-50 minutes.

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Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms

My husband and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. We have too many other anniversaries to celebrate. We will usually spend the day together, maybe throw a quick “Happy V-day around.” But nothing out of the ordinary.

However, I wanted to make a special Valentine’s Day treat because… well, I’m pregnant and I need cookies. So really they were for myself and not for my husband! 

I have always loved Peanut Butter Blossom cookies, but they are often hard to eat because of the giant Hershey Kiss in the middle. Do you try and bite into the Kiss or do you just eat the whole thing at once? Either way you are going have issues. You either get chocolate all over your teeth, so this becomes a cookie you only eat in the privacy of your own home or you are stuck eating most of the cookie without any chocolate. Not cool.

So I was ecstatic when I wandered down the baking aisle and found MINI Hershey Kisses!  

My husband dislikes Peanut Butter Blossoms for the exact reasons I pointed out earlier, so he wasn’t too excited when he discovered what I was making. But do not fear my friend! I have a surprise up my sleeve! Actually, three surprises! Three mini Kisses!

It made the cookies so much for enjoyable and I will never make a Peanut Butter Blossom with regular Kisses again!

Now this recipe is extra special. It is made for Valentine’s Day. It is a Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossom and it is beautiful!

You can find the original recipe from I Am Baker. I have changed it slightly, in that, I am not a fancy baker so I have adjusted the recipe to make it a little easier. Also, I don’t have a stand mixer or even a hand mixer (I have no idea where the arms went…) so I mixed everything by hand and it came out perfect!

I did run out of red decorating sugar for the last few cookies, so I used regular white sugar. They don’t have the same kind of dazzle, more like a muted pink, but they looked pretty mixed in with the red cookies.

Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms

Yields about 40 cookies

Ingredients:

1 bag Hershey’s Kisses (or mini Kisses)

½ c (1 stick) butter, room temperature or softened

¾ c peanut butter

1 ⅓ c sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp milk (I use almond cashew milk)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp red food coloring

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ c all purpose flour

pinch of salt

¼ c red decorating sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Mix softened butter, peanut butter and sugar until blended
  3. Add egg, milk, vanilla and red food coloring, mix until light and fluffy
  4. Add cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt, slowly mix until combined
  5. Pour red decorating sugar onto small plate or bowl
  6. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll ball in sugar until covered
  7. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart
  8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges start to crack
  9. Once cookies are removed from oven place one Hershey’s Kiss (or 3 mini Kisses) into the center of each cookie
  10. Allow cookies to cool and try not eat them all!!
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