Kara's Cuisine: Peanut Blossoms

I'm probably going to cheat this year and buy an assortment of cookies from one of the local bakeries, Lucias or Wuollet. However, I did want to bake Peanut Blossoms with Jack, thinking he would enjoy taking off the wrappers of Hershey's Kisses and placing them on the cookie. When I turned to the Internet to get the recipe, I discovered an assortment of recipes. . .Pillsbury, Hershey's, Betty Crocker, and Land O Lakes. Who would have guessed? Here's a good taste test review of all 4 variations. I decided to use the Land O Lakes recipe, since it has butter instead of Crisco. I followed most of the recipe, but used an extra large egg instead of large and dark chocolate kisses instead of milk chocolate kisses. I also used Parker's Farm all-natural peanut butter. They turned out pretty well. . .Jack and Courtland especially liked them.

Peanut Blossoms
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter (all natural)
1 extra large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
48 dark chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Heat oven to 375. Combine sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and salt, beating until well combined. Add the flour and baking soda. Continue beating, scraping bowl, until well mixed.
Shape the dough into 1-inch balls (if dough is too soft, refrigerate for 30-60 minutes). Roll the balls in bowl of 1/4 sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets (or with silpad on top).