December 14, 2012

Peanut Blossoms!

Rob is a big fan of peanuts and peanut butter.  Extra crunchy, if you don't mind.  I bake these every year for him.  This year, we had a talk.  Not "THE talk," but a talk about Peanut Blossom production.  It was kind of like a discussion about his participation when I make "his" bread and butter pickles.  I "persuaded" him to help unwrap all those candies.  He was very agreeable to the idea.  Okay, so I threatened to deprive him of them if he didn't help.  He was, actually, quite willing to help and I was grateful for the help.  He’s usually pretty willing to help with stuff like that. 

Peanut Blossoms

Recipe By: Mrs. Chester Smith, Gibsonburg, Ohio; Senior Winner in a Pillsbury Bake-off (not the grand prize winner and I do not have the year)

Yield: about 36 cookies (more like 50, I think)

This popular recipe is the original, from Pillsbury's Best 1000 Recipes, Best Of The Bake-Off Collection, copyright 1959.  Look up a peanut blossom recipe online today and see how it differs in method from this one. 

1 3/4 cups sifted Pillsbury's Best all purpose flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

48 milk chocolate candy kisses (Hershey’s were not specified but I wouldn't use any other)

Sift together the flour, soda, and salt; set aside.  Cream shortening with peanut butter and gradually add the sugars, creaming well.  Blend in egg and vanilla extract.  Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Shape by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls.  Roll in sugar, pleace on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 375° for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Top each with a solid milk chocolate candy kiss, pressing down firmly so cookie cracks around edge.  Return to oven and bake 2-5 minutes longer. 

Source:Pillsbury's Best 1000 Recipes, Best Of The Bake-Off Collection, ©1959.

Now, pay attention class.  The pictures and descriptions that follow will not jibe with the recipe above. 

One of the things that recipe contest sponsors are allowed to do is re-write your recipe.  Read the fine print on the application.  And as society changes and some are less inclined to consider baking a cookie from scratch, the tempting recipes are adapted to make them as easy and painless to make as possible. 

I think that’s what happened to the recipe that was in my files: it had become pretty much a two steps process.  The Crisco (gasp!), peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla were all mixed up at once, all together.  Then the combined dry ingredients were added.  There was another change made to the recipe, too: most recipes now say to bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, remove them from the oven, and squoosh the kiss on top — fuhgeddabout a partial bake, a kiss squoosh, and sticking them back into the oven.  I will use this recipe for the next batch I we make. 

We unwrapped 48 Hershey’s milk chocolate kisses (and then needed about 6 more) and I started mixing the ingredients as described above: fat, peanut butter, sugars, flavor, eggs.

Mix in the combined dry ingredients until the dough has formed, then shape into 1” balls (I used my portioner scoop again) and roll in sugar.  Arrange them on a baking sheet with a couple inches between each one and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Aren’t they pretty?  They’ve already cracked.  Push an unwrapped kiss (could that be called a naked kiss?) onto the cookie and set them somewhere cold (my garage) for maybe 10 minutes.  Remove from the baking sheets to a wire rack to finish cooling.  I put them back in the garage for that because it takes quite a long while for the kisses to solidify again at indoor room temperature.

See how shiny that chocolate is?  It’s wet.  This will be a yummy wet kiss for Rob!  He’s gonna love it!  I ga-ron-tee!