Post 11 of 12 in my 12 Days of Christmas Recipes Series – Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Oh hey look, another day that I pass over the “healthy” or “low-fat” option in my blog post categories. I know, it’s shocking! I seriously think that I’ll be posting nothing but salads in January. Not by choice, of course. Simply because there is no more butter or other fatty ingredient left to purchase within a 100-mile radius of me.

Enough about my issues, though. Today I want to post about the insanely common yet insanely popular and delicious peanut butter kiss cookie. The recipe I use is pretty much straight from the back of the Hershey’s Kisses bag, but it yields great results. A perfectly soft, chewy cookie with just the right amount of peanut butter.

To make 30-36 cookies, you will need:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 30 Hershey’s kisses, wrappers removed
• 1/2 cup additional granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies in

Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl (preferably with an electric mixer), beat the butter, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and peanut butter until fluffy. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually stir it into the peanut butter mixture; mix until combined.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls.

Roll in granulated sugar, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper if you wish).

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until very lightly browned.

Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie upon removal from the oven. Let cool entirely.

Tip: Once the cookies have reached room temperature, you may pop them into the fridge for 20 minutes to re-harden the chocolate.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

These cookies are delicious for the holidays or any other occasion. Hope you enjoy!

Check out the other posts in my 12 Days of Christmas Recipes series!

Day 1: Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Day 2: Cinnamon Palmiers

Day 3: Cranberry Relish

Day 4: Chewy Spicy Ginger Cookies

Day 5: Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

Day 6: Goat Cheese-Stuffed Dates Wrapped with Prosciutto

Day 7: Almond Orange Biscotti

Day 8: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Day 9: Candied Walnuts

Day 10: Christmas Sugar Cookies

Day 11: Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Christmas Sugar Cookies decorated with royal icing

Post 10 of 12 in my 12 Days of Christmas Recipes Series – Christmas Sugar Cookies

I know that I have posted a recipe for sugar cookies before, but that was forever ago. A lifetime. Back when this blog was a “youngin.” A whole 5 months ago! *sniffs* Seems like just yesterday…

Anyway, I’ve been excited to make these cookies for several weeks, ever since I got my nifty Kuhn Rikon squeeze bottle cookie decorating set. Which was a Godsend. More on that later.

My sugar cookie recipe can be found here.

This picture pretty sums up why I love holiday baking.

I ended up making quite a variety of shapes, which later turned out to be lots of work decorating (with having to make several batches of colored frosting). Oh, well. I regret nothing!

I iced the cookies using royal icing flavored with a teensy bit of orange and vanilla extract and lemon juice. You can find my recipe for royal icing here.

I made a special trip to our local craft store to buy some new icing colors for these cookies. Look! Christmas Red!

This is the Kuhn Rikon squeeze bottle cookie decorating set I mentioned earlier.

I had previously done some research on a better solution for piping icing, because I find regular piping bags unwieldy (probably due to my lack of experience) and wasteful. I found this set on Amazon, and lo and behold, the next day I was lucky enough to find a set at Marshall’s for $15 (I squee’d in the store when I found it).

Oh, sprinkles. You make the world go ’round.

This is the icing I used for piping the green outline onto the Christmas tree cookies, just to give you an idea of the consistency you want for piping. It’s just about the consistency of toothpaste. You’ll want to thin it down some for the flood icing (photos coming up).

I’m bad at piping. Trust me. But these bottles make it so easy! Can’t stop raving.

I also used the same green piping icing to add bowties and a button to the “gingerbread” men.

After I was finished piping all the green icing, I squeezed the remaining icing back into a bowl and added about half of a teaspoon of water to thin it enough for flooding the cookies.

Squeeze the flood icing liberally onto the cookie.

Using a toothpick or wooden skewer, spread out the flood icing into all the nooks and crannies. At this point you can add some dots of red icing for ornaments if you wish, and the will flatten with the flood icing. Sprinkles should be added at this point as well.

Side note though – my experiment of using gel icing for ornaments was a failure. That cookie had to be sacrificed.

Here’s a shot of all the cookies I decorated.

The snowflakes were my favorites! It’s all about the silver dragees – bling, I mean.

Check out the other posts in my 12 Days of Christmas Recipes series!

Day 1: Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Day 2: Cinnamon Palmiers

Day 3: Cranberry Relish

Day 4: Chewy Spicy Ginger Cookies

Day 5: Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

Day 6: Goat Cheese-Stuffed Dates Wrapped with Prosciutto

Day 7: Almond Orange Biscotti

Day 8: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Day 9: Candied Walnuts

Day 10: Christmas Sugar Cookies

Post 9 of 12 in my 12 Days of Christmas Recipes Series – Candied Walnuts

These candied walnuts are great snacks on their own, but you can also add them to salads, use them as toppings on pies/cakes/cheesecakes, and more. They are super fast and easy to make and chances are, you already have the ingredients on hand. Pecans are great in place of walnuts, as well.

To make a pound of candied walnuts (14-18 snack servings), you will need:

• 1 pound of walnuts (pieces or halves)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1/4c + 2 Tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roast the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet for 8-10 minutes.

Line a separate baking sheet (possibly two) with wax paper.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the milk and stir well.

Cook for 8-9 minutes over medium high until the mixture reaches 236 degrees F.

This is where my candy thermometer stopped working. It got to 211 degrees F and after that it just read “HI.” I just had to kindof guess. Time for a new thermometer, methinks.

Anyway- once the candy mixture reaches the desired temperature, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Fold in the walnuts and stir until they are coated.

Spoon the walnuts out onto the prepared baking sheets lined with wax paper, and separate them. Cool and store in an airtight container (or Ziplock bag).

As I said before, these candied walnuts are great for snacking at holiday parties. They also make fantastic gifts and are easily packaged and shipped. Give them a try!

Check out the other posts in my 12 Days of Christmas Recipes series!

Day 1: Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Day 2: Cinnamon Palmiers

Day 3: Cranberry Relish

Day 4: Chewy Spicy Ginger Cookies

Day 5: Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

Day 6: Goat Cheese-Stuffed Dates Wrapped with Prosciutto

Day 7: Almond Orange Biscotti

Day 8: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Day 9: Candied Walnuts