marilynpeight
My grandmother, who is old order Amish, shared a box of recipes with me this past summer. Although I am not 100 percent clear on who this recipe from her recipe box originated from, I can certainly say these peanut butter cookies with a Hershey Kiss candy on top are Amish bakery worthy! These cookies literally melt in your mouth when they are fresh, and the dough can be chilled overnight if you want to prep them ahead to serve fresh. *More notes on these cookies below the recipe card. You may also enjoy Amish pumpkin Whoopie pies or chunky M&M cookies from Grandma’s Amish recipe collection.
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Peanut Butter Blossoms (Grandma’s Amish Recipe Collection)
Equipment
- baking sheets (linked below)
- Metal mixing bowls (linked below)
- Whisk (linked below)
- Spatula (linked below)
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup peanut butter creamy
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups flour all purpose
- 24-30 Hershey kiss candies
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream the butter and sugars together, then mix in peanut butter until well combined and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract and then mix again until smooth.
- Add flour, baking soda and salt to the wet ingredients, then mix well with a spatula until the dough is well combined and somewhat stiff.
- Roll the peanut butter cookie dough into walnut sized balls, then place onto parchment lined or greased cookie sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until the tops spring back to touch and are beginning to brown just slightly. *See notes on chilling the cookie dough below the recipe card.
- Sprinkle the tops of the peanut butter cookies with additional sugar (optional) and press a Hershey kiss into the center of each cookie while still warm. Cool slightly and enjoy!
Notes
Equipment needed for these Peanut Butter Blossoms:
- Baking sheets My personal preference is to use Nordic ware baking sheets (not an ad) I have found them to bake the cookies very nicely in my electric oven and have had more success with Nordic Ware cookie sheets vs. non-stick cookie sheets.
- Mixing bowls Growing up we always used stainless steel mixing bowls. Most likely it was because they were sold in the Amish retail stores in our area, but also because they have been so durable for us.
- Whisk I am a hard core believer in using a wire handled whisk. After having an icky experience with one of my plastic whisks (which held old water inside and didn’t dry properly), I will always prefer a wire handled whisk.
- Spatula I personally use a tablespoon for mixing cookie dough, but it can be a little unhandy when mixing a bigger batch of dough. Which is why I recommend using a larger spoon/spatula for these peanut butter blossoms.
- Parchment Paper Although you can also use butter or cooking spray to grease the cookie sheets, I have found parchment paper to be much easier to remove the freshly baked peanut butter cookies from.
Step 1: Cream butter and sugars together and then mix in the creamy peanut butter.
Note*
The original recipe simply stated “cream first four ingredients” (Amish Recipes are a little unspecific). I have tried both methods and prefer to cream the room temperature butter with the sugars first. However, I have not noticed a difference in the texture of the cookies when creaming the butter and peanut butter separately or all together.
Step 1 continued: Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until the batter is well combined and loosened up as shown.
I generally use fresh brown eggs in my baking. If using white eggs, be sure to choose the largest possible as they tend to be smaller in size than fresh brown eggs.
Step 2: Add the dry ingredients, then mix well until the dough is somewhat stiff and roll-able.
Note*
If the peanut butter cookie dough feels too dry, you may have added too much flour. You can try adding a dash of milk (just a tiny bit at a time) to loosen up the dough again.
Prepping the cookie dough ahead:
Every year my Mother-in-law, Sister-in-law and I like to get together to bake Christmas cookies. This year we had three toddlers helping us and decided it was best to try to cut some corners on the work load. I prepped the peanut butter cookie dough the night before and chilled it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day I let the cookies set for several hours at room temperature to warm the dough back up until it was pliable enough to roll. I will certainly prep these cookies ahead again, because after the cookies were baked they tasted just as good as the small batch of un-chilled cookie dough I had baked the day before!
Step 3: Roll the peanut butter cookie dough into walnut sized (roughly) balls and place onto greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned on the edges and the tops spring back when touched.
Note*
If you prefer you can roll the balls of peanut butter cookie dough in granulated sugar before baking them vs sprinkling sugar over the tops after they have baked.
Step 4: Press Hershey Kiss candies into the center of each peanut butter cookie while still warm. Cool for several minutes until no longer hot, and enjoy!
Note*
It is important to press the Hershey Kiss candies into the center of each cookie immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, in order to allow the Hershey kisses to melt slightly and adhere to the cookies.
Storage:
These cookies are best when fresh (in my personal opinion), but they can be kept in an airtight container for up to 5 days and also frozen for up to 3 months.
Amish Recipe Myth debunked:
I have found a number of questions on the internet recently asking, “what makes a recipe Amish.” Several of the answers I have found stated that a recipe is Amish when it produces a large/huge batch, whether it be baked goods or dinner recipes etc. Although there is some truth to this, especially if the recipe is one used on Sunday to feed the Amish church, such as Mom’s Amish peanut butter spread, which I condensed way down to be able to use for my small family. The Amish as a rule (with an exception for community events such as barn raisings, weddings, funerals etc.) do not eat their weekly meals together with the whole community like the Hutterite colonies do. Some Amish families are relatively small with 1-5 children, and therefore recipes can and do vary in size to cater to different families’ needs. I hope you enjoyed that random fact about the old order Amish community I grew up in, and I would love to hear your thoughts below!
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