Peanut Butter & Chocolate Kisses

Peanut butter blossoms are one of those cookies that never go out of style. A soft, chewy peanut butter cookie rolled in granulated sugar, baked golden, and crowned with a chocolate kiss pressed into the center while still hot from the oven.

The sugar coating does double duty: it gives each cookie a sparkly crackle on the outside and keeps the surface from spreading too flat. Rolling the dough balls in sugar right before baking is what creates that signature crinkled texture.

Press the chocolate kiss in firmly as soon as the cookies come out. The residual heat softens the base of the candy just enough that it bonds to the cookie, but the kiss keeps its shape as everything cools.

Chef Tips

• Don’t overbake. Pull them at light golden, even if they look slightly underdone. They firm up on the sheet as they cool and stay soft in the middle.
• Unwrap all your chocolate kisses before you start baking. You need to work fast once the cookies come out.
• Use creamy peanut butter, not natural or chunky. Natural PB has too much oil and the dough won’t hold its shape.

Variations

• Use dark chocolate kisses or white chocolate for a different look and flavor.
• Roll the dough in turbinado sugar instead of granulated for a coarser, crunchier coating.
• Add a pinch of flaky sea salt on top of each kiss for a sweet-salty upgrade.