Peanut butter blossoms are so yummy with their chewy peanut butter cookie base and Hershey's Kisses milk chocolate candies set on top! The added touch of white sugar is part of this classic cookie's charm and deliciousness! Of course, they are the best cookie for peanut butter and chocolate lovers!
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Peanut Butter & Chocolate Goodness
If you hear the words chocolate and peanut butter and think “Yum!” then these cookies are for you! They're the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate!
Peanut butter blossom cookies are one of the most popular cookies to bake EVER at Christmastime. Without a doubt, once baked, they will be a new favorite for you and all the peanut butter & chocolate combo fans in your life.
This cookie is as simple as mixing together a few basic ingredients, rolling the dough into balls, and topping with a Hershey's Kiss. The final kiss is the second half of the dynamic taste duo, but it also makes these cookies look extra special – making them perfect to share with others.
Take them to your next holiday party as the perfect gift for everyone’s taste buds! I also love to package them up as gifts for neighbors or friends.
Make sure you check out all of my cookie and bar recipes for more tasty treats just like these!
❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
- Super Easy! These cookies are the perfect example of what a good cookie should be: easy and fun to make! Just mix the ingredients, shape the dough, bake, and top them with a kiss!
- So Tasty! Chocolate and peanut butter – the perfect taste duo. If you haven’t tried this perfectly tasty combo before, then these cookies will be the best surprise your taste buds have ever had.
- Perfect For Sharing! These cookies are one of my favorite treats to share during the holiday season. You can make a platter of cookies for any party, and everyone will be impressed with the taste and look of the cookies.
🥘 Ingredients
These cookies are made with the basic baking ingredients needed for most cookies: sugar, eggs, butter, and flour. If you don’t have these ingredients yet, this recipe is a great excuse to stock up on these basic ingredients to keep in your pantry.
- Sugar – ½+⅓ cups of sugar. Granulated white sugar is a staple in most cookie recipes to provide overall sweetness. Sugar also encourages dough to spread as it melts, helping to provide the final cookie shape. The second portion is for rolling the portioned dough in before baking. Yum!
- Light Brown Sugar – ½ cup of light brown sugar, packed. Light brown sugar is used to add a richer flavor to baked goods and helps to retain moisture.
- Butter – ½ cup of room temperature butter. I use salted butter for a lot of my cookie baking, but salted or unsalted butter will work.
- Creamy Peanut Butter – ½ cup of creamy peanut butter. Creamy (or smooth) peanut butter will give you the best consistency for these cookies.
- Egg – 1 large, room temperature egg. Large eggs are the most common size you purchase in the store. Bringing your egg to room temperature helps the cookies bake evenly and quickly.
- Vanilla Extract – 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Vanilla extract helps bring out the flavor in baked goods. Most stores sell real vanilla extract or imitation vanilla.
- Baking Soda – ¾ teaspoon of baking soda. Baking soda is a leavening agent that is used in baking to create the 'lift' of these tasty cookies.
- Baking Powder – ½ teaspoon of baking powder. Baking powder is a leavening agent that helps baked goods rise. It is often combined with baking soda to create the most rise in baking.
- All-Purpose Flour – 1½ cups of all-purpose flour. All-purpose flour is truly a baker's staple ingredient. It's also the most common type of flour you buy in the grocery store.
- Hershey’s Kisses – 36 Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses will provide you with the ideal look and flavor for these cookies.
Choose Your Favorite Kisses
I used milk chocolate kisses in this recipe because it provides a sweeter combination with peanut butter. Hershey’s makes a lot of great different chocolate kiss options, though. This would also be delicious with a dark chocolate kiss or even one that has caramel in the middle!
*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*
🧂 Substitutions
- Dark brown sugar – If your store is out of light brown sugar, you can use dark brown sugar in place of it. Dark brown sugar is made with a bit more molasses, so you will end up with a little bit of a richer taste. *Brown sugar dries out really quickly, so make sure you seal the leftover brown sugar in an airtight container or plastic bag.
- Homemade Brown Sugar - To make this quick DIY brown sugar in the ½ cup amount called for in the recipe, combine ½ cup granulated white sugar with 1 tablespoon of molasses. Use your fingertips and rub the sugar and molasses together until it looks like the brown sugar you buy at the store. That's it! 🙂
🔪 How To Make Peanut Butter Blossoms
These cookies are great if you have little kitchen helpers. Let the little ones roll the balls in sugar and help unwrap the chocolate kisses.
You can even unwrap the Hershey’s Kisses while the cookies are baking and place them in a bowl so they are ready to go. Just make sure to keep the bowl away from the hot stove though - you don’t want the Kisses to melt!
This recipe will yield 3 dozen cookies.
Mix The Cookie Dough
- Prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Mix sugar, butter, and peanut butter. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together ½ cup each of granulated sugar, packed light brown sugar and softened butter. Add ½ cup creamy peanut butter and mix it into the sugars.
- Add additional ingredients. Mix in 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract then add ¾ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon baking powder. Once the wet ingredients are fully combined, mix in 1½ cups of all-purpose flour until your dough forms.
- Prepare cookies. Place the additional ⅓ cup of sugar in a shallow bowl or dish. Portion the dough and roll it into 1-inch balls, then roll it through the granulated sugar to coat it thoroughly. Place onto your prepared baking sheet(s) with 2 inches of spacing between the cookies.
Bake the Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Bake. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are just beginning to turn light golden brown.
- Add Hershey’s Kisses. Remove from the oven and immediately top each cookie with an unwrapped Hershey’s Kisses milk chocolate candy. Topping the cookies while they are hot is essential. Don’t worry; the chocolate won’t melt all the way!
- Cool. Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
These tasty cookies are a perfect treat all by themselves! Pair them with a cool glass of milk for the best experience! Enjoy!
💭 Angela's Pro Tips & Recipe Notes
- Creaming sugar and butter simply means combining them together until it gives you a smooth and creamy consistency. This is an important step in baking because when the sugar is combined with the butter it loses its grainy texture. This is what will give you smooth cookie dough.
- Real vanilla extract comes from the vanilla bean and provides the richest flavor when baked. Imitation vanilla extract is a synthesized flavor that is created to mimic the flavor of the vanilla bean. Both extracts will work when baking. The flavor of imitation vanilla will often cook out more than real vanilla, so if you use imitation vanilla, you may choose to add an extra half teaspoon of vanilla to your cookie dough.
- A creamy peanut butter like Jiffy, Skippy, or a similar generic brand will provide the best consistency for these cookies. If you choose to use an all-natural peanut butter that has the oil separated on top, just make sure to mix it well. You want to make sure it is as smooth as possible and that all of the oil has been incorporated before combining it with the other cookie dough ingredients.
- For denser, chewier peanut butter blossoms. The average all-purpose flour has around 11.7% protein, and cookies are a bit more than that. For perfect cookies, try adding ¼ cup of bread flour to the mix.
- Topping the cookies while they are hot is important. Don’t worry; the chocolate won’t melt all the way! Just the bottom will melt a little bit when you set it on the hot cookie, then as the cookies cool, the chocolate will also cool and get “stuck” on top of the cookie.
🥡 Storing
These cookies are best eaten within 3 days of baking. However, they'll last up to 5 days if you haven't enjoyed all of them by then!
I recommend leaving these cookies in an airtight container on the counter or in the pantry to keep them soft. Refrigerating them will harden them and dry them out quickly.
If you are using these as gifts or to take to a party, the closer you can make them to the event the better. If you have time the day of, make them early in the day so they can completely cool.
You can also make them the night before and store your baked peanut butter blossoms in an airtight container. Transfer to gift plates or a serving platter the next day (I like to wrap cookie trays with festive red or green cellophane and tie them with a bow).
>>>>See all of my recipes here<<<<
❓ Recipe FAQs
If your cookies are coming out too dry, then you probably used too much flour. Make sure to always measure your flour by scooping it into your measuring cup with a spoon and then leveling off the top.
Yep! These cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month. To do so, store them in layers in a freezer-safe container with a paper towel separating each layer. When ready, simply move the container to the counter to thaw (the paper towels will soak up the moisture).
Yep! Freezing cookie dough is super simple to do! Go ahead and roll the dough into balls (but not in the sugar, yet), and place them onto a baking sheet. Pop them in the freezer until solid, and then transfer the dough balls to a storage container or Ziploc bag.
When ready, let the balls defrost in the fridge before rolling them in granulated sugar and baking them as directed.
🍪 More Great Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies - Classic peanut butter cookies are sure to be a hit at any event!
- Fudge-Covered Oreos - These fudge-covered Oreos are super popular with both kids and adults!
- Sugar Cookies - Sugar cookies are a classic treat that can be decorated for any occasion!
- Chocolate No Bake - You don't even have to turn on the oven for these chocolate cookies!
- Small Batch Chocolate Chip - This recipe for perfectly soft chocolate chip cookies is great for when you don't need a whole bunch!
- Chocolate Blossom Cookies - Swap out the peanut butter and enjoy some ultra chocolate blossoms!
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📖 Recipe Card
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ingredients
- ½ cup sugar (+ ⅓ cup additional sugar to roll the dough balls in)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (packed)
- ½ cup butter (softened, at room temperature)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 36 Hershey's Kisses (roughly 36 milk chocolate candies, unwrapped)
(Note: 2x or 3x only changes the ingredient list)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Add the peanut butter and mix it into the sugars.
- Mix in the egg and vanilla extract then add the baking soda and baking powder. Once the wet ingredients are fully combined, add the all-purpose flour and mix until your dough forms.
- Place the additional sugar in a shallow bowl or dish. Portion dough and roll it into 1-inch balls then roll through the granulated sugar to coat completely. Place onto your prepared baking sheet(s) with 2 inches of spacing between the cookies.
- Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are just beginning to turn light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and immediately top with unwrapped Hershey's Kisses milk chocolate candies. Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Pamela says
This recipe is spot on, very easy to make.
Cookies look amazing and taste delicious.