Peanut Blossoms (Approx 4 Dozen)

These cookies you have likely seen before. Many people make them as they are popular with both children and adults. Young children are most often seen pilfering the Hershey kisses only off of the large cookie trays at holiday parties.

3/4 cup peanut butter (natural has a better taste but makes the cookies more crumbly)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (dark works fine too; the contrast between the kiss and the cookie is just lessened)
1 egg (large)
2 tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1+1/2 cups unsifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Sugar (about 2-3 tablespoons in a bowl)
50 unwrapped Hershey Kisses

1. Unwrap all the Hershey Kisses and put them in a bowl. They don't tell you this in the recipe I used, but it really should be the first step.
2. Blend peanut butter and shortening in large mixer. Add 1/3 cup sugar and the brown sugar; cream until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl (just for dry ingredients) and then add to the creamed mixture about a third at a time. (If you throw all the dry ingredients in at once they are more likely to burst out of the mixer as soon as you turn it on).

3. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll completely around in the bowl with the loose sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet (you can fit about 16 on one sheet). Bake at 375º for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. As soon as you take them out of the oven, immediately place an unwrapped Hershey kiss in the center of each cookie, pressing down lightly so that the cookie cracks around the edge. (Now if you used natural peanut butter, the cookie will already become cracked during the baking process; it will also be fairly fragile until it cools). After stabilizing kisses, remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack.

It took me about 50 minutes to make this from start to finish. The majority of the time was a tie between removing the Hershey kiss wrappers and forming the cookies.