Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies
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Calling all peanut butter lovers! A classic peanut butter chocolate kiss cookie for your Christmas cookie platter! These peanut butter cookies get a Hershey’s chocolate kiss pressed into the center after they are baked. These cookies, also known as peanut butter blossoms, are ready in about 30 minutes or less!
When it comes to the holidays and Christmas time, I just can’t bake enough cookies. I usually stick to my favorites – Russian Tea Cake Cookies, Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, and Cut-Out Sugar Cookies.
A cookie I always loved and come to expect on Christmas cookie platters growing up were these traditional peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, or peanut butter blossom cookies as you might know them as.
You know a soft chewy peanut butter cookie (that would be great as is), but gets even better after baking when a Hershey kiss gets plunked right in the middle of the cookie.
I always try to eat these by getting a little bit of a Hershey chocolate kiss and peanut butter cookie in every bite. It’s a challenge I sign up for every Christmas. A tough job. But someone has to do it, right?
For this peanut butter kiss cookie recipe, I started with my peanut butter cookie recipe, but I found that they quite get the shape I was looking for but with a little extra flour they held their shape perfectly to have a Hershey kiss get plunked down into the center.
These are the perfect cookie for your holiday cookie tray!
See Also:
- Pucker up and enjoy one of these homemade lemon cookies with easy lemon glaze drizzled over them!
- Coconut macaroons are an easy gluten free chewy coconut cookie. Dip in chocolate for an easy chocolate treat!
- Grab a jar of peanut butter and make these wonderfully easy old fashioned peanut butter cookies with criss cross pattern on top!
- Make these brown sugar chocolate chips cookies made with 100% brown sugar making them wonderfully chewy!
Why You Will Love This Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookie Recipe
- No Chilling Required – I love this cookie recipe for the sheer fact that they take about 10 minutes to mix up and can be immediately scooped and baked. No need to refrigerate the dough! One of my favorite Christmas cookies in about 30 minutes?! Yes. Please.
- Lots of peanut butter flavor – There’s a whole cup of peanut butter in this recipe so peanut butter lovers rejoice. I hate a peanut butter cookie that isn’t full of peanut butter flavor.
- Perfect for freezing – If you want to get ahead of your Christmas cookie baking, then you can go ahead and freeze the cookies, baked or unbaked, and they hold up wonderfully.
Ingredients Needed
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all purpose flour spooned and leveled – Make sure to measure your flour correctly or your cookies will come out dry and crumbly.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated white sugar (plus additional sugar to roll cookies in)
- ¾ cup (160 g) packed light brown sugar – If you don’t have any make your own brown sugar!
- 8 tbsp (1/2 cup, 113 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature – I like to unsalted butter because it will cause the cookies to spread less than using salted butter. Bring to room temperature quickly so it will cream well with the ugar.
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 cup (270 g) smooth peanut butter – I like using a peanut butter that doesn’t need to be stirred so it doesn’t make for an oily cookie dough that separates.
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 24 chocolate kiss candies – Classic Hershey’s kisses
How To Make Peanut Butter Cookies
Preheat and prepare cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 375oF degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Make peanut butter cookie dough:
- Mix dry ingredients together. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add in the egg to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- Add dry ingredients. Stir in salt, baking soda and flour until well combined.
Shape and bake cookies
- Shape cookies. Roll dough into 1 inch cookie dough balls. I like to use a small cookie scoop.
- Roll in granulated sugar.
- Bake cookies.. Bake these peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies for 10-12 minutes until edges are set and bottoms are golden brown.
- Press Hershey kisses into the center. Remove from the oven immediately press a Hershey kiss right into the center of the cookie. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
Recipe Tips
- Be sure to measure your flour correctly. Over-measuring your flour is going to result in a dry, crumbly peanut butter cookie. Read my full post on how to measure your flour correctly here.
- Use room temperature butter. By softening your butter properly (and here are 3 ways you can do that in a hurry!) will allow the sugar to punch tiny holes into the butter incorporating air into the dough. Cold butter won’t allow this to happen. So room temperature, unsalted, and you’re good to go.
- Don’t forget to take those eggs out early too. You also need a room temperature egg as well. Remember you want your ingredients all playing along well together. So a cold egg and room temperature butter just don’t play nice on the playground together. You’ll end up with butter that starts to seize up in your bowl. My trick? Put your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 to 10 minutes and you’re good to go.
- Use a cookie scoop – For cookies that are all the same size and bake evenly I recommend using a cookie scoop.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper – For cookies that bake evenly on the bottom and release off the cookie sheet I recommend using parchment paper. Do not use wax paper as it can burn.
Recipe Variations
- Make chocolate cookies – Instead of the classic peanut butter make a chocolate cookie like my chocolate crinkle cookies, roll in powdered sugar and place a Hershey’s kiss in the middle after.
- Add sprinkles for the holidays – You can use green and red sprinkles on top of each Hershey kiss, or use red and white sprinkles for Valentine’s Day.
- Turn into Christmas tree cookie blossoms – Use cookie icing and pipe some onto the Hershey kiss in a circular pattern like a string of lights and add a few sprinkles so they look like little Christmas trees!
Recipe FAQ’s
Baked cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 2 days (they may keep longer but I think they are best enjoyed within a few days. ) I just store mine in a ziploc bag or an airtight container. You can make the peanut butter dough and refrigerate (up to 24 hours).
You can freeze the dough and/or cookies. Freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months, just thaw at room temperature. If you freeze the dough, when ready to bake just bake froze and then add a few minutes of baking time. Read here on How To Freeze Cookie Dough.
This could be because your butter was too warm when you creamed it, or you overmixed the dough as well. Try chilling your cookie dough next time. Making cookie dough ahead of time does magical things for it. It actually makes the dough better I think. It also helps the cookies from spreading too much.
This is probably because you added too much flour or you overbaked the cookies. When measuring the flour, it’s best to use a kitchen scale. But if you’re using a measuring cup, make sure to SPOON IN THE FLOUR, and LEVEL IT OFF. Do NOT pack it down into the cup, or scoop directly from the bag. And for baking, all ovens are different so make sure to set your timer, you can check 1-2 minutes early and bake in the center of your oven. They cookies should look set, and have golden brown edges.
Hershey named these cookies because of the fact that a Hershey Kiss is too big to be mixed into the cookie dough and is instead pressed into the cookie after baking.
My Most Popular Recipes To Try
- Self Rising Flour Biscuits
- Lemon Cookies
- Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 20 Self Rising Flour Recipes
- Milk Bar Cake
More Peanut Butter Recipes To Try
Here are some more of my favorite peanut butter desserts to make during the holiday season or whenever the craving strikes! Like my peanut butter oatmeal cookies made with peanut butter chips, or this easy stovetop peanut butter fudge (perfect for gifting!)
And I’m in the mood for peanut butter but don’t want to turn the oven on the I love mixing up a batch of these peanut butter rice krispie treats or my decadent no bake peanut butter pie!
Peanut Butter Hershey Chocolate Kiss Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all purpose flour spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated white sugar (plus additional sugar to roll cookies in)
- ¾ cup (160 g) packed light brown sugar
- 8 tbsp (1/2 cup, 113 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 cup (270 g) smooth peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 24 chocolate kiss candies
Instructions
- Preheat and prepare cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 375oF degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Mix together dry ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
- Cream butter and sugar. In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).
- Add remaining wet ingredients. Add in the egg to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Mix in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- Add dry ingredients. Stir in the dry ingredients until just mixed in. Do not overmix.
- Shape cookies. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in sugar.
- Bake and cool cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are set and bottoms are golden brown. Remove from the oven immediately press a Hershey kiss right into the center of the cookie. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
Video
Notes
- Make ahead/storage: Baked cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 2 days (they may keep longer but I think they are best enjoyed within a few days. You can make the dough and refrigerate (up to 24 hours). These will also keep for 2-3 days at room temperature. I just store mine in a ziploc bag.
- Freezing: You can freeze the dough and/or cookies. Freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months, just thaw at room temperature. If you freeze the dough, when ready to bake just bake froze and then add a few minutes of baking time. Read here on How To Freeze Cookie Dough.
These are always such a great treat (it’s back to school season!) any time of year. These are perfect little bundles!
Thank you! I’m glad you think they’re perfect for any time of year, especially for back to school! 😊
These look great. Saving this recipe to make for the holidays.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the process of making them for the holidays. Happy baking!
These were some of my favorite cookies at my great grandma’s house growing up. Excited to make them at home too!
Thank you! I’m so glad these cookies bring back such special memories, enjoy baking them!
So much yum happened when we baked these!!
Thank you! I’m thrilled to hear they turned out so delicious! 😊🍪
These are by far my favorite cookies ever. I had no idea how easy they were to make! I’m so excited that I can make a ton and keep them on hand for when cravings strike.
Thank you! I’m so glad you love the cookies and found them easy to make. Enjoy having them ready for your cravings!
Followed the recipe to a T, cookies didn’t flatten out too much when baking, but also either the heat was too high or the duration too long. Over half of my bake was burned. I used a cookie air tray and parchment.
Hi Bryan, These cookies bake at 375°F for 10-minutes, so if they burned, it could be due to an oven running hot. Using an oven thermometer can help ensure the temperature is accurate. Also, baking in the center of the oven and not at the top can prevent overheating. These cookies don’t spread much on their own—they’re designed to spread when you press the kiss into them after baking. If they didn’t spread at all, it might be due to too much flour. Flour should be spooned into the measuring cup and leveled off, not packed or scooped directly from the container. For best accuracy, weighing the flour with a kitchen scale is recommended. Thank you.
I made these cookies today they turned out great! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you! I’m so glad the Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies turned out great. Enjoy! 🍪
There is an error in the recipe. It calls for 8 T (1/2 C) of butter. It should be 16 T (1/2 C) of butter. At first I used only 1 stick of butter (8 T) and when the butter and sugar would not get creamy I noticed the mistake.
Thanks for your comment! The measurement is correct, 1 stick of butter equals 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons. If your mixture didn’t get creamy, it might help to mix it a bit longer and ensure the butter is soft enough. This should give you the texture you’re looking for. Thanks for trying out the recipe!
Cookies were crumberly. They did not stay together when I gently pressed chocolate on top. Also, cookies are gritty. Too much brown sugar? I used organic sugar. Good flavor but too sweet. Made these 50 years ago, but can’t find recipe.
Hi Camille, sorry to hear you had trouble. The gritty texture could be because of using organic sugar which I find to have a much coarser texture.
Peanut butter and chocolate is already an unbeatable combination, so clearly this recipe was going to be a winner. They turned out delicious and will be made again very soon. There’s a great sense of nostalgia in eating these up.
right?
My absolute favorite flavor combination in a fun cookie. The grandkids are going to love making these with me.
that sounds lovely
This is one of my favorite cookies to make!! They’re perfectly balanced, nice and sweet, and the chocolate kiss center is the best!
Excellent ANjali
Such a classic fun holiday dessert! We love these, and who doesn’t love this PB chocolate combo!? Nice to find a reliable recipe for a classic.
thank you Megan, I love this classic combo. too
These cookies are truly the best!! Making them for our Christmas party coming up, thank you!
sounds fab!
What a sweet recipe! The combination of peanut butter and chocolate flavors is divine, and these are going to have a permanent place on our Christmas cookie rotation.
Thanks for your sweet comment, Eliza! So happy you enjoyed 😀
We have a family allergy to peanuts. Is it possible to make these cookies with either almond butter or cashew butter?
I haven’t tried using a different butter. I find those can be a bit “looser” and may affect the outcome. But maybe Sunbutter would work? I find that’s close in consistency to peanut butter.