Every year at Christmas, I make cookies to give away to my family and friends. Usually it’s on a small scale – a couple of kinds of cookies or cupcakes. This year, though, I have a lot more people to incorporate into my giving. Initially this freaked me out, because I had no idea how I’d get it all done. Then I realized this was an opportunity to have fun with the baking, and I began to see it as a challenge. So… I have decided to make 15 types of cookies/candy and 3 kinds of bread in the next 12 days. I will give away almost all of what I make to family and friends (I suspect some of it will disappear mysteriously overnight when little elves in my apartment get hungry). With any luck, the next 12 days will chronicle my attempt at making this happen – or else it’s going to document my horrible failure!

Christmas cookies are a tradition in my family. Every year since I can remember, my mom would start baking at least a week before Christmas, and she would make us all help her.  I learned a lot about baking from her – and I also learned a lot about how NOT to bake from her.  I remember this one time I put the sugar in with the flour and OH BOY was that the wrong thing to do.  It took a whole year for her to let me help again.

I digress.

One type of cookie that is an absolute staple in our family is the peanut butter cookie.  They are simple and delicious, and I don’t think there has ever been a holiday season without peanut butter cookies.  So it’s only natural that I include this recipe in my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies series.  If you’ve missed the first 3 days, you can check out Day One, Day Two, and Day Three when you have time!

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup sugar, plus extra for rolling

1 stick of butter, at room temperature

1 egg

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

Hershey Kisses, out of the foil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a cookie sheet.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in the egg.  Mix in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth and creamy.  Stir in salt, baking soda, and flour until well combined.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and flatten with a fork.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.  If desired, press a Hershey Kiss into the center of cookie while it is still warm.  Allow cookies to cool before storing.

First, one of the things this recipe (from Food Network’s website) does not tell you to do that I always do is combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) in a bowl before adding them to the wet ingredients.  That looks something like this:

That said, it’s a pretty straight-forward recipe. Make sure the butter is at room temperature, or you will have major problems with creaming it!

Once the dough is ready, you roll it into balls, then roll the balls around in a bowl or sugar.  You place the rolled cookies on the cookie sheet, then press them down with a fork.  I make crosses with the fork on the cookies, but you can press them down however you like.  You can also make the balls whatever size you like, but you will have to adjust the baking time accordingly.

Once the cookies come out of the oven, you should stick your Hershey Kisses on right away, to ensure they stay put once everything cools.  I don’t like putting the Kisses on every cookie I make, because I often find I don’t actually WANT the Hershey Kiss when I want a peanut butter cookie.

The recipe above will make about 24 cookies if you make them the size I did.  Hopefully the little elves in my house will keep their hands out of the cookie jar until we get a bit closer to Christmas so I don’t have to make more!

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Related posts:

1. 12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Day 6: Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwiches
2. 12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Day 9: Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. 12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Day 5: Chocolate Truffles
4. 12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Day 7: Chocolate Cake Balls
5. 12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Day 8: Gingerbread Cookies