Try our 3-way Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe and make some peanut butter blossoms and standard peanut butter cookies. Save some of the dough to make a few super cute elf-size cookies using mini chocolate chips.
Standard peanut butter cookies, peanut butter blossoms, and mini elf-sized cookies can all be made with this one peanut butter cookie dough!
Standard Peanut Butter Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies with a vintage criss-cross pattern are easily recognizable on any cookie tray. Most people have grown p with at least one relative that made these every single holiday season.
I use smooth peanut butter in our cookies, but if you like little bits of peanut in your peanut butter cookies then go on and use crunchy peanut butter.
If you plan to make mini peanut blossoms with this dough I would stick to smooth peanut butter. The elf cookies are so small that they will be bumpy and you may have a hard time getting your mini chocolate chip to stick.
To make a regular peanut butter cookie, use 2 teaspoons of dough.
Roll into balls and then roll in granulated sugar.
Dip a fork into more granulated sugar and make a criss-cross pattern across the top of the cookie while pressing down.
The baking time of peanut butter cookies using this dough is 7 to 9 minutes.
You will know that they are done when they begin to lightly brown around the edges.
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Our Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie Recipe is the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate.
Peanut Butter Blossoms have been served out of my kitchen at Christmas time for as long as I can remember.
It’s a vintage recipe that I first encountered as a child.
The best part of this cookie is that you get a piece of candy AND a cookie!
Many people have used other candies, like peanut butter cups or chocolate stars, but I still use the old standby, Hershey’s Kisses.
Any kiss will work, but my favorite is still the milk chocolate version. Call me a purist, or even call me old, but it is the way I make mine.
Now, I do make an exception to the rules when I make an elf version.
Peanut butter blossoms can be made as small or as large as you want them to be.
I have made them with 1 teaspoon of dough and with 2 teaspoons of dough.
My favorite way is with 1 teaspoon of dough rolled into a ball, the chocolate kiss does not look so dwarfed this way.
Using only 1 teaspoon of dough also provides more cracks on the edges of the cookies when adding the kiss.
To get thicker balls, I would refrigerate the cookie balls for at least 30 minutes before baking to keep the cookies from spreading so much.
You could also use shortening or even half shortening to reduce the spreading of the cookie dough.
These are not cooked much longer than standard peanut butter cookies because you kind of want these cookies to be slightly undercooked in the middle so that it is easy to push the kisses into the dough.
Make sure that the cookies are still very warm when adding the chocolate kisses.
Once you have set the kisses onto the peanut butter blossom cookies, try not touching them again.
If you press down on the kiss while it is still piping hot, the top will still be hard and push down, but it will smoosh all of the melted chocolate out around the bottom of the kiss.
Mini Elf-sized Peanut Butter Blossoms
Elf peanut butter blossoms are made with regular sized chocolate chips.
To make an elf-sized peanut butter blossom cookies, use the same recipe in this post.
Use 1/4 teaspoon of dough and roll it into a small ball.
These can be rolled into sugar if you want, but I never do.
The baking time for mini peanut blossoms is 5 1/2 to 7 minutes.
The hardest part of making mini elf cookies is getting the chocolate chips pressed into the hot peanut butter cookie.
Don’t press too hard though, these are teeny tiny cookies and you might push right through the bottom!
If necessary, you can use chopsticks or even tweezers to set the chocolate chips onto the cookie.
It’s easier for me to just make two or three dozen elf cookies and pick the nest cookies to set out for Santa’s elves.
Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 60 Hershey’s Kisses
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 375⁰F.
- Cream together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
- Mix flour and baking soda together and add to the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.
- Mix just until well combined.
- Roll into 1 inch balls and roll into additional granulated sugar.
- Place on to a cookie sheet and place into the oven.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or just until the cookies begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove cookies from the oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the cookie, pressing firmly until the edges of the cookies crack.
- Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and place onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Do not stack these cookies until the kisses have totally firmed back up.
Notes
- Makes 60 to 70 cookies using teaspoons sized balls.
- Makes 36 to 42 cookies using a standard 2 teaspoon sized cookie scoop.
- Other chocolate candies such as peanut butter cups can use used instead of kisses.
- To make mini elf-sized cookies, use 1/4 teaspoon of dough, reduce baking temperature to 350 Degrees F, and reduce baking time to 5 to 6 minutes. Use milk chocolate chips instead of kisses.
Nutrition
More Cookie Recipes from Pear Tree Kitchen:
DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookies
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