So, at Christmas time, we bring out old favorite recipes and try new one for lots of cookie baking. One favorite that I always make at Christmas is Peanut Blossoms. It is just the right combination of peanut butter and chocolate and chewy. Recently Red Velvet has been a popular flavor so I also tried Red Velvet Kiss Cookies, not a favorite here because I used the peppermint striped Hugs candies. The cookie flavor is good however and if you like peppermint it is refreshing. It would be good with the milk chocolate stripped Hugs also.
Peanut Blossoms
1 cup shortening1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup white sugar for decorations
2 (9 oz) bags milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or use parchment paper.
Iin a large bowl, cream together shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, and stir in milk and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir in peanut butter mixture until well blended. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven, and immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. Allow to cool completely; the kiss will harden add it cools.
I add the chocolate kiss before baking and it seems to 'seal' the candy to the cookie better, and the kiss still holds it's shape.
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| When I make dough balls for rounded cookies, I scoop all the dough into portions on wax paper with a cookie scoop, roll each into round balls, then as it is placed on the cookie sheet, roll in sugar. |
Red Velvet Kiss Cookies
14 tablespoons butter (2 sticks minus 2 tablespoons)1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder (use regular, not the extra dark cocoa)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cups brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, plus one egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon red liquid food coloring
1 cup mini-semi sweet chocolate chips
½ cup red sanding sugar (decorative sugar)
1 (12-oz) bag Hershey's Hugs (peppermint or white chocolate)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, melt 10 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Cut the remaining 4 tablespoons butter into 6-8 pieces, add to the melted butter and stir (this helps cool the melted butter so it won't be too hot when the eggs are added). Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add brown sugar, vanilla and red food coloring to the melted butter. Stir well to combine. Add egg and egg yolk and stir until smooth.
Add flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until combined.
Add chocolate chips and mix until incorporated.
Roll the dough into balls, about 1 ½ tablespoon for each cookie. (I didn't want to roll the dough with my hands and end up with red hands from the food coloring, so I used a cookie scoop that made uniform rounded shapes) Roll the balls in the decorative sugar (I sprinkled the sugar over the balls on the baking sheet).
Bake the cookies until they have puffed and have cracks running through the top, about 12-14 minutes. Be careful not to over bake or they will be dry. As soon as the cookies emerge from the oven place a Hershey's hug in the center of each cookie. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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| Instead of rolling balls of dough, I used a cookie scoop so my hands wouldn't turn red from the food coloring! Sprinkling with red sugar worked as well as rolling in the sugar. |
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| Putting the candy kiss in the center of the dough makes it stick better than adding it after baking. |
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