4-Ingredient Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies Recipe

How can you make cookies with just four ingredients that taste as good as these? There has to be a catch, right? Well no, actually, not when two of said ingredients are peanut butter and Hersey's Kisses — two foods that are already amazing on their own, but are just perfect when brought together. This cookie recipe care of recipe developer Jessica Morone of Jess Loves Baking will be a new favorite not only because of its simplicity and the great taste of the cookies, but also because they will be your new anytime treat. Provided you have the willpower not to eat all the Kisses in your house, you can keep the ingredients on hand to make these at all times.

You'll also find that these cookies are welcome at all times, too, be they served at a holiday gathering, a summer picnic, or just because it's dessert night in the house. It turns out there is never a bad time for a great cookie, especially one that takes less than 20 minutes of prep and baking. "Peanut butter blossoms are considered holiday cookies because that's when a lot of people make them," Morone says, but she adds, "there's no reason you can't make these anytime during the year!"

Yes, it really does take just four ingredients to make these cookies, and as you'll see, the last is used all but after the fact. What you'll need is a good deal of creamy peanut butter, some granulated sugar, a large egg, and, to make two dozen cookies, 24 Hershey's Kisses — classic milk chocolate, almond, swirl, or another? That's totally your choice.

To start the recipe off, preheat the oven to 350 F — you'll likely be ready to bake before it even warms fully, so make sure to allow it to actually reach that temperature — and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. 

Next, in a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, the sugar, and the egg, stirring until these three ingredients are well combined. Then use a cookie scoop (or an ice cream scoop, or any deep spoon, really) to scoop tablespoon-sized balls onto the baking sheets, positioning them about 1 inch apart from one another.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cookies have turned golden brown around their edges — just keep a close eye on them after 10 minutes to ensure they don't burn. At that point, remove the trays from the oven and let the cookies sit on the sheets for about 5 minutes. Next, press a Hershey's Kiss into the center of each cookie, then move the cookies to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely before you serve them (try to resist eating one yourself before they cool, too).

"These are really simple, and there's almost nothing you can make a mistake with here," Morone says. "You just want to make sure you don't overbake them (12 minutes is usually the perfect amount of time), and you don't wait too long to try to press the Hershey Kiss into the tops of them."

These cookies are perfect served with a glass of milk, a scoop of ice cream, some hot cocoa in winter, or chilled lemonade in summer. Just like there's never a bad time to enjoy them, there's really not a bad way to pair them, either. And if you don't finish all 24 cookies at once, they'll keep well for several days stored in an airtight container.