Peanut Butter Smooch Cups

So I had a whole bunch of Hershey Kisses leftover from when I made that lovely cheesecake. And I noticed that I had some peanut butter in my pantry that is getting close to its expiration date. So I thought I'd try my hand at some peanut blossom cookies.

I made up the dough, but it came out quite crumbly. I had heated up the butter to soften it up quickly, so I don't know if maybe that created the crumbliness, but it was to a point where I couldn't roll it into balls without them falling apart. So I remembered that there was a similar recipe I had seen that used Reese's Peanut Butter Cups instead and was baked in a mini muffin tin. So I thought I'd try making those kinds of cookies but still with the kisses.

Getting the crumbly dough into the muffin cups was, umm, interesting (read: messy), but I think it was worth the trouble. The end result was tasty and chewy.

Peanut Butter Smooch Cups



1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
24 Hershey® Kisses®, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line mini muffin tin with mini muffin cups.

In a large bowl, cream butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add granulated sugar and brown sugar; beating until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract; beat well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into creamed mixture until well mixed.

Fill each mini muffin cup with dough, almost to the top. Press down to make an even surface.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven; press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. Return to oven and bake another 2 minutes or until cups are light brown. Remove from oven and let cool in muffin tin until they're stiff and cool enough to remove without breaking, about 10 minutes. Let cups cool completely on wire cooling racks.