Chunky & Dark: New Twist for an Old Favorite

I know, I know ... Christmas is over and my Christmas swap cookies are long gone. But there was one traditional gem that nobody made this year. It just didn't set right with me not to have a few peanut blossoms on that cookie tray.

So I broke down, prowling the candy aisle at Stop & Shop for Hershey Kisses this morning. Horror of horrors, the shelf was bare of the milk chocolate kind. But the holiday wrapped dark chocolate variety was half price. I decided to go with the flow and try something new and I am very glad that I did. Mmm... mmm... good!

BLACK-EYED PEANUT BLOSSOMS
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup chunky peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup granular (brownulated) brown sugar (raw crystallized sugar works well too)
24 dark chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanut butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and salt; continue beating until well mixed. Add flour and baking soda. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until stiff dough forms. Shape dough into 1½ inch balls. (If dough is too soft, refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.)

Roll balls in 1/4 cup brownulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until very lightly golden brown. Immediately press one dark chocolate kiss in center of each cookie. Let sit one minute before moving cookies to cool completely on wire racks. Makes two dozen cookies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grape Infused Vodka Update

Image
It took an overnight frost for our homegrown grapes to sweeten up but the wait was worth it. A big sloppy thank you smooch goes out to Mayor Mike Tautznik of Easthampton, MA for sharing his home infusion method for fruit flavored vodka. Fiddling around with Mayor Mike's sure-fire recipe helped me come up with the perfect formula for home infusing store-bought vodka with the Concord grapes from our backyard garden. And the abundance of those grapes carefully cultivated by the Man of the House deserves another big sloppy thank you smooch, this time for Farmer Paul. Start by boiling a big pot of water to sterilize pint-sized canning jars and their covers. Once they are cool, fill each about 3/4 full with thoroughly washed Concord grapes plucked from the ripest of bunches. Add one teaspoon of super fine sugar. Pour your choice of plain vodka over the grapes, leaving about 1/2 inch headroom before closing the jars. Shake gently to dissolve sugar before storing in a cool dark spot. Two w
Read more

The Joy of Holiday Cookies

Image
Nothing sweetens the season like holiday cookies! The name comes from the Dutch koejke which translates to "little cake" -- the perfect single serving treat. Cookies have been part of cooking history for more than a thousand years and nearly every culture has a bite sized sweet that qualifies as a cookie. Every year I try to come up with a new twist on an old favorite to celebrate the season for my annual cookie swap. These tasty morsels are my version of rugelach , a traditional Jewish pastry filled with nuts, raisins or apricots, cinnamon and sugar wrapped in a flaky crust. A few good friends sharing a bottle of bubbly then going home with the bounty of a platter full of homemade cookies and the recipes. Lots of fun and yumminess, too! RUGELACH Dough 2 cups all-purpose flour Dash of salt 1 tablespoon white sugar 1 cup unsalted butter 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese 1/3 cup plain or lemon flavored yogurt Filling 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 cup finely
Read more

Seasonal Surprises: Savory Blueberry Chutney

Image
My first taste of Sheila Lukins came after stumbling across The Silver Palate food shop on Columbus Avenue, NYC in the late 1970s.  It was a short road to discovering chutney wasn’t just a mango and ginger concoction.  Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate Cookbook fame was cutting edge back then.  I was hooked from that first taste all the way to mixing things up with blueberry chutney to glaze Asian style roast chicken . Blueberry chutney was the inspiration for my Spicy Blueberry Barbecue Sauce, an original recipe that made me a national award winner in the Highbush Blueberry Council’s 2008 recipe contest.  Who’da thunk?  Next month will mark two years since Sheila Lukins died -- too young but not without having made her mark on a generation of home cooks like me. This recipe is adapted from an original Silver Palate recipe.  Over the years, I’ve added and subtracted this or that.  Serve with roasted turkey, duck or goose, meat or curries.  Hint: Mix a tablespoon of chutney with
Read more