In 1957, Freda Smith from Gibsonburg, Ohio pressed a Hershey Kiss into a peanut butter cookie and history was made! This cookie did not win the 1957 Pillsbury Bake-Off contest, but it become a huge star in the cookie world!

Peanut Blossom is the official title of this classic cookie but it goes by lots of different names including Peanut Butter Kiss Cookie and Hershey Kiss Cookie to name just a few.

The Chocolate Kiss comes wrapped in silver foil which needs to get removed.

Some of the basic ingredients needed to make the cookie (shown below) may already be in your kitchen -

• milk
• ­salt
• granulated sugar
• eggs
• (creamy) peanut butter

The “baking specific” ingredients (shown below) are –

• light brown sugar
• vanilla extract
• white all-purpose flour
• baking soda
• Crisco

(Crisco is a vegetable shortening. Be sure to buy the one with zero “trans fats”).

Let’s startcooking!

Measure:

• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose white flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

and put these ingredients in a medium bowl.

Using a whisk, gently whisk these ingredients together and then set the bowl aside for the moment.

Measure out, using dry measuring cups,

• 1/2 cup of shortening and
• 3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter

Put the shortening and peanut butter into a large mixing bowl and, with an electric hand mixer, mix until well blended.

Add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and…

…1/3 cup of lightly packed light brown sugar.

Beat these ingredients together until everything is light and fluffy

Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Crack one egg into a small bowl. Check to see that there are no shell pieces and then add the egg to the mixing bowl.

Add 2 Tablespoons of milk and…

…1 teaspoon of vanilla extract…

…blend everything together…

…really well…

…making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, start adding the flour to the mixing bowl.

Beat well after each addition.

The batter will become very stiff.

Now we’re going to roll the batter into balls to make the cookies.

This recipe will make approximately 48 cookies. For the cookies to bake evenly, they all need to be the same size. It helps to put all the batter onto a plate and divide the batter into four parts.

Then divide each part into fours again.

You should now be able to get three cookies from each section.

Roll the cookies into uniform balls…

…and roll the balls into some granulated sugar.

Place the balls on a cookie sheet. (You will have to do this in two batches. The cookie sheet must to totally cool before adding the second batch of cookies.)

Bake the cookies in a pre-heated 375 F. degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

As soon as you remove the tray from the oven, press an unwrapped chocolate kiss into the top of each cookie. The sides of the cookie will crack slightly.

(GREAT TIP from Natalie in the comment section - "While you make the dough and roll them into balls, press a Hershey in each cookie and then remove them so when you bake it there will be no cracks in your cookies.")

Then with a flat spatula, remove the cookies from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack.

It will take a couple of hours for the chocolate kiss to become totally firm again. Then you can store these cookies in an air-tight tin, between sheets of wax paper, at room temperature. Be sure they are the cookies are totally cooled before storing them. If they do begin to dry out, place a slice of bread on a sheet of waxed paper and put it inside the air tight container. Replace the slice of bread as needed.

Enjoy!

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