So... About Christmas and Pinterest Problems

Christmas is a difficult time for a baker.  There are literally thousands of different things to make, and you have to decide on a few things and you have limited time to do so.  Of course my family has many a holiday recipe, in their vanilla and batter stained glory, kept neatly in binders.  So besides the cookies we make every year, I went searching for something new.  Now I wasn't actually going to page through all the Ina Garten and New Best Recipe books because who has time for that when Google sits enticingly on the computer screen? Oh my god I'm so lazy... So I went to Pinterest.  This was a mistake.  The cookie platters, gingerbread masterpieces, and amazing dinner displays drew me in and the search bar became my worst enemy.  Before I knew it I was reading instructions for DIY mason jar candles and how to do a wrap-around braid with short hair with only 1,000,000 short and easy steps.  So after two hours of my life were officially wasted I went back to the binder on our kitchen shelf titled "Christmas" and began to page through.  I ended up making peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookies, and coconut orange snowballs.  All three were delicious and had their own flavors. They were fun to make and easy enough for a younger sibling to help with.  My favorite cookie (it's been my favorite since I was very little) has always been the Peanut Butter Blossoms, so I'll leave that recipe below.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup)  of butter
3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter (JIF/Peter Pan works best here--none of that healthy stuff:)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
granulated sugar
Hershey Kisses

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit

In a a large mixing bowl beat together the butter and peanut butter and the sugars and mix until light and fluffy.  Next, add the egg, milk and vanilla and beat well. In a separate bowl stir the flour, soda, and salt together. Then, gradually mix into the wet ingredients.

Fill a small bowl about halfway with granulated sugar. Use your hands or spoons to shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll them in the sugar.  Place the balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet (no grease or parchment paper! Yessssss). 

 Bake for 10-12 minutes. It's a good idea to unwrap all the Hershey Kisses while the cookies are baking. 

 Remove them from the oven and immediately put one Hershey kiss in the center of each cookie.  Wait a few minutes and transfer to the cooling rack to cool completely--make sure you don't touch the chocolates once they are in the cookies because they are partially melted and will deform.