Peanut Butter Chocolate Kisses

These are the cookies known by a few names — peanut butter blossoms, kiss cookies — but everyone recognizes them when they hit the cookie tray. A soft brown sugar peanut butter cookie baked just until the edges set, then topped with a chocolate kiss pressed into the center while still hot.

The two-stage bake is the move that makes this recipe work. Five minutes in the oven sets the cookie enough that it can hold a kiss without slumping, then the second bake softens the chocolate just enough to weld itself into the cookie without melting completely. Skip the two-stage approach and the kiss either falls off the side or melts into a puddle.

Self-rising flour is the recipe’s structural cheat. It already contains baking powder and salt in the right proportions, which simplifies the ingredient list and produces a slightly puffier cookie than all-purpose flour would.

The hour-long chill is non-skippable. The butter and peanut butter both soften in the bowl, and warm dough spreads too much in the oven, leaving you with flat cookies that can’t hold a kiss properly. Cold dough produces taller cookies with the right structure.

Watch the second bake closely. Chocolate kisses scorch fast, and three minutes is the upper limit before the surface bloom turns ashy.

Pro Tips

• Unwrap all the chocolate kisses before starting. Fumbling with foil while cookies cool means missing the perfect press window.
• Press straight down, not at an angle, for the cleanest blossom shape.
• Cool completely before stacking. The kisses stay glossy and intact only after fully setting.

Variations

• Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before baking for a slight sparkle and crunch.
• Use dark chocolate kisses for a less sweet, more sophisticated version.
• Try Hershey’s hugs (chocolate and white chocolate striped kisses) for a marbled top.