Day 9: Peanut Butter Blossoms

Only 4 more days til Christmas! Eeeekk that means I have to do all of my bulk baking for my gift baskets/boxes tomorrow. I'll be in the kitchen all day long, so expect the end of my countdown within the next two days. I baked these cookies for my friend's fondue party that she was throwing, and everyone LOVED them! Even on top of all the food we ate for the cheese & chocolate fondue (trust me.. we had A LOT! For the cheese fondue: wedge fries, ham, broccoli, cauliflower, bread, pretzels, & tomatoes. For the chocolate fondue: strawberries, pineapples, bananas, pretzels, & rice crispy treats.), people still had room for these cookies. They even smuggled some home for the road! That must mean that they're good.

Day 9 of my 12 Days of Cookies: Peanut Butter & chocolate... almost as good of a combination as mint & chocolate. These cookies take a bit more effort, but are totally worth it in the end. They are extremely soft cookies (my favorite), yet they can hold up when being stacked upon one another. The peanut butter ratio is the perfect amount.. not too overwhelming, but you definitely taste it. The Hershey's kiss just tops it off.. give someone a kiss this Christmas!

You can vary this recipe by omitting the kiss if you wanted just a plain peanut butter cookie. You can also change your kind of kiss (swirled, filled, white chocolate, dark chocolate.. the list is endless!) to better suit your taste. There are a TON of different kinds out there! You can even do red and green swirled ones for the holidays. I halved this recipe and made a little over 2 dozen.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup softened butter
  
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup white sugar for decoration
• 2 (9 ounce) bags milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and stir in the milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the 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.
3. Bake for 10 to12 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 as it cools.