These old-fashioned Peanut Butter Blossoms come from a handwritten family recipe card. The soft peanut butter cookies are rolled in sugar and finished with a milk chocolate candy in the center—the kind of simple vintage cookie that always belongs on a holiday tray.
A Vintage Family Cookie
The original card is written in careful blue ink and gives a yield of three dozen cookies. I kept the formula and method intact, including the shortening, the mixture of white and brown sugar, and the final two-minute bake after the chocolate is pressed into each warm cookie.
Ingredient Notes
- Peanut butter: A standard creamy peanut butter gives these cookies their familiar texture. A suggested option is Jif Creamy Peanut Butter; results may vary by brand.
- Shortening: This is part of the original recipe and helps the cookies hold their shape.
- Milk chocolate candies: Use one unwrapped candy for each cookie. HERSHEY'S KISSES Milk Chocolate are the classic choice.
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Electric mixer
- Ungreased cookie sheets
- Small cookie scoop or rounded teaspoon
Tools I Use for This Recipe
HERSHEY'S KISSES Milk Chocolate
The classic milk chocolate center specified by the handwritten recipe.
A suggested traditional creamy peanut butter for a dependable cookie texture.
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How to Make Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
- Cream the shortening and peanut butter. Gradually beat in both sugars until fluffy.
- Mix in the egg, vanilla, and milk, then blend in the dry ingredients.
- Shape rounded teaspoonfuls into balls, roll in sugar, and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 375°F for 10 minutes. Press one milk chocolate candy into each cookie, then bake 2 minutes longer.
The Original Handwritten Recipe
The front and back of the family recipe card are included below. The clearly bounded Peanut Blossoms recipe ends with a yield of three dozen; the faint notes lower on the back appear to belong to a separate recipe and are not included in this transcription.
More Vintage Family Recipes
If you enjoy old family recipe cards, try Great-Grandma's Chewy Bars or Grandma's 7-Layer Cookies.
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Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 large egg unbeaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk
- additional granulated sugar for rolling
- 36 milk chocolate candies unwrapped
Equipment
- Ungreased cookie sheets
- Rounded teaspoon or small cookie scoop
Method
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Leave the cookie sheets ungreased.
- Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
- Cream the shortening and peanut butter. Gradually add the granulated sugar and firmly packed brown sugar, beating until fluffy.
- Add the unbeaten egg, vanilla, and milk. Blend well, then gradually mix in the dry ingredients.
- Shape the dough into balls using a rounded teaspoon for each. Roll the balls in additional granulated sugar and place them on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately press one milk chocolate candy firmly into each cookie so the cookie cracks around the edges. Return to the oven and bake 2 minutes longer, until golden brown.
Nutrition
Notes
- This is an heirloom recipe transcribed from the clearly bounded Peanut Blossoms section of the handwritten card.
- The faint notes beginning with “40 cookies” lower on the back appear to belong to a separate recipe and were not incorporated.
- The original recipe specifies a yield of 3 dozen cookies.
- Nutrition is estimated per cookie, including one milk chocolate candy, and will vary by brand and portion size.
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