Soft & chewy peanut butter blossoms

I wanted to make a recipe for peanut butter blossoms that were soft & chewy with a better chocolate center. The original recipe, from 1957, turned these cookies into a Christmas tradition, but I didn't want the dry texture and hard kiss center anymore.

First, in order to ensure the cookies were soft, I had to find out what exactly made a cookie that way. It turns out melted butter, brown sugar, corn starch, and a hot oven all help make them soft.

Second, I wanted a center that was also soft and more chocolatey than the waxy Hershey Kisses. I made a truffle-like chocolate center that's super easy and only uses 2 ingredients! (Heavy cream and high quality baking chocolate).

The end result is a chewy peanut butter blossom cookie with a rich, chocolate center. You can roll the cookies in chopped, seasonal roasted peanuts for an even stronger flavor.

Jump to:

• Recipe
• Soft & chewy peanut butter blossoms
• Storing the peanut butter blossoms
• Peanut butter blossom cookie sizes
• How to get the soft & chewy texture
• Fresh peanuts
• How to make the cookies
• Christmas cookies: peanut butter blossoms
• More recipes & resources

Recipe

Peter Greweling says in his Chocolate & Confections book, "Refrigeration of Ganache: One of the defining qualities of confections is that they are preserved by a low water-activity level and require no refrigeration."

Hill Country Chocolate also echos this, saying "When stored properly, the ganache will last up to two weeks at room temperature (68-72F)."

Since these peanut butter blossoms are soft, you'll want to keep them that way with proper storage. Put a slice of basic white bread in the container you store the cookies. Its moisture helps keep the cookies from drying out.

Lastly, don't store these cookies with any other type of cookie. The moisture tries to equalize. So if you store them with a hard cookie, the hard cookies will loose their crispness, and the peanut butter blossoms will become dried out.

Peanut butter blossom cookie sizes

A lot of recipes claim to make way more cookies than I ever seem to make, even if I'm making them small. Or at least what I assumed to be small. For example, the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of a bag of chocolate chips claims to make 4-5 dozen - I don't ever get that close! Do you?

Maybe I like large cookies?

Anyway, when it comes to peanut butter blossom cookies, most recipes say they make around 36-40 cookies. Some claim to make only 1-2 dozen for large cookies. But few actually tell you the specific size to make the cookies, so I put it to the test.

How to get the soft & chewy texture

Peanut butter blossoms are a Christmas cookie staple. The original recipe was entered into a Pillsbury baking contest (and won 2nd place). But they are usually dry and crumbly. By itself, that's fine. But during the holidays, so many other traditional cookies are also dry and crumbly, like spritz's, sugar cookies, sandies, gingersnaps, etc.

I'm always on the lookout for cookies with a different texture and was determined to make a soft & chewy peanut butter cookie. I looked into all of the way to make a soft cookie in order to come up with this recipe.

Chilling the dough is also supposed to help keep them soft, however when I tested this, I didn't notice a difference. That said, it won't hurt!

Soft chocolate center

While I do enjoy an annual Christmas peanut butter blossom, I've never been that thrilled at the texture of the Hershey Kiss. It's awkward to bite through and the flavor could be much better.

That's when I came up with the idea to fill them with a chocolate ganache. The ganache cools to a truffle-like texture and is a perfect companion to the soft & chewy cookies.

On top of that, the chocolate flavor is 10x better. It's not waxy and it melts in your mouth. I usually have some fancy Valrhona chocolate in my pantry that I use, but it is pricey. You can use the Guittard baking bars in the baking aisle (they seem to always be on the top shelf, above the chocolate chips).

If you're interested in the Valrhona chocolate, I use it all of the time for tempering. Here's the link on Amazon or on King Arthur Baking (along with another top brand, Belcolade). These are affiliate links so I get a small commission if you buy something. I've personally bought these brands from both sources.

Fresh peanuts

Once I had the texture figured out, I wanted to see if I could make the cookies taste nuttier. The peanut butter flavor definitely comes through, but could I make them even more peanuty?

Natural peanut butter would bring out a nuttier flavor, however that can dry out the cookies. So I turned to fresh roasted peanuts.

Simply rolling the cookies in peanuts (along with the sugar) did make them taste slightly nuttier. You can use any peanut you want. I found that salted and toasted paired well with the sweet cookie & chocolate center (like salted caramel, in a way).

I tested mass produced nuts and ones that were freshly roasted. The fresh ones did impart a slightly more peanut flavor (though it was slight!).

How to make the cookies

Step 1: Make the cookie dough

I made this peanut butter blossom cookie dough in a stand mixer, but you can easily make it by hand since it uses melted butter. As a reminder, the melted butter helps make the cookies more soft and chewy than using cold or room temperature butter.

While I love natural peanut butter, I found regular Jif or Skippy type peanut butter was more consistent. Natural peanut butters can vary dramatically in texture and ingredients, I wanted to make sure you could replicate this recipe at home. So I used Jif in one batch, Skippy in another, and they turned out the same (as expected).

The dough will be pretty sticky, but you should be able to work it by hand if you want to bake the cookies right away. If not, just pop it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes to stiffen it up.

Step 2: Roll into balls & bake at 375F for 8-15 minutes

In order to keep these cookies soft, they need to not be over-baked. That means the cookie balls should all be the same size, or some with over bake and some might under bake.

I know it's an extra step, but if you have the time, weigh each cookie dough ball. I thought the cookies that weighed 25 grams (raw) were a perfect, snackable size.

Roll the cookies in sugar and (or) nuts. Then place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes. Smaller cookies will be done faster than larger cookies. If you have an instant-read thermometer, the peanut butter blossoms are done when the center reaches 165-185F. (The lower the temp, the softer they will be). Don't worry about poking a hole in the cookie, it will be filled with the chocolate ganache.

Step 4: Make the chocolate ganache & fill the cookies

If you've never made chocolate ganache, you'll be surprised at how incredibly easy it is to make. To ensure your success, let's break down each element of the recipe.

Chocolate is actually a really interesting ingredient. It takes on all sorts of properties depending on how hot it's gotten or what it's mixed with. Tempered chocolate turns hard and crisp, whereas a ganache is rich and soft.

The trick with ganache is to gently melt the chocolate. You don't want to microwave it because it can create really hot areas with uneven heating (and if it gets too hot, it can ruin the consistency or separate out the fat into greasy puddles).

That's why you want to chop the chocolate. The finer you chop it, the easier it melts.

The heavy cream's job is to be warm enough to melt the chocolate (and add delicious fat and flavor). Heat it until it just starts simmer, but not boil! Then pour it over the chocolate.

Let the cream and chocolate sit for a few minutes while the chocolate softens. Then stir it until it's smooth and creamy.

Pour the warm, liquid chocolate into the cookie indents. The chocolate will harden to a truffle-like consistency as it cools. That's it - you now have the most flavorful, soft and chewy peanut butter blossom cookies.

Christmas cookies: peanut butter blossoms

Every year I make 5-6 types of cookies for Christmas. I believe every cookie tray should have a variety of flavors and textures.

Flavors can include chocolate, peppermint, plain, peanut butter, coffee, ginger, jammy, and even citrusy. Texture can include soft & chewy, hard and snappy (gingersnaps), lofthouse style sugar cookies with frosting, oatmeal cookies, chewy bars, and shortbread.

I think it's important to not overlook the texture portion, especially since most traditional Christmas cookies are hard and crumbly: spritz's, sandies, peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, short bread, and gingersnaps.

I like these soft peanut butter blossoms for their chewy texture and outstanding flavor. My plan last year included these cookies along with soft spiced rye ginger cookies, peppermint patties, cardamom snaps, and maple pecan shortbread cookies.