Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
4.7
(41)
This family favorite pairs the winning combination of chocolate candies and peanut butter. Creamy peanut butter is the norm for making this classic Christmas cookie recipe, but the cookie dough here is made with crunchy. You’ll get the best, most chewy results when using a conventional style of peanut butter, not one labeled as “natural." There’s a little almond extract in these holiday cookies too to bolster their nutty flavor, but you can use vanilla extract instead, or split the difference and use both.
Press a milk chocolate Hershey’s kiss (or a mini peanut butter cup if you want to go bold on peanut butter) into the center of each cookie just after baking to meld the chocolate-peanut flavor. Want to turn your peanut butter kiss cookies into a deeper, smoother chocolate experience? These Chocolate Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies are made with a semisweet ganache instead of the traditional candy.
Transfer from cookie sheet to cooling rack, then stand back and watch while each serving of your family’s new favorite cookie disappears faster than any chocolate chip cookie or sugar cookie you’ve ever made.
Editor’s note: The recipe was originally published as Lauren’s Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies on November 1, 2011.
Recipe information
Total Time
50 minutes
Yield
Makes 24 to 30 cookies
Ingredients
Special Equipment
Preparation
Step 1
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and a second rack in the lower third then preheat to 350°F.
Step 2
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Step 3
Place ½ cup sugar in a small bowl.
Step 4
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the remaining ½ cup sugar with the brown sugar, butter, and peanut butter and beat on medium speed, scraping the bowl occasionally, until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla or almond extract and beat on medium until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Roll the dough into walnut-size balls, roll in sugar, and arrange on baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. Bake, switching the cookies between the upper and lower racks about halfway through baking, until just starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and press a chocolate kiss into the center of each. Cool the cookies on baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough balls on cooled baking sheets.
DO AHEAD: The cookies can be baked ahead and stored, in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 3 days.
Recipe notes
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