~cookies~

 

~chocolate kiss peanut blossoms~

~~~~~

I've never known what these cookies were called - but yesterday I went through my Mother's Christmas cookie recipes, and found this one.  I'd never made them myself, and in my own silly cookie snobbery, I had always thought of them as a boring cookie choice.  But today, when a friend came over and we spent an entire Monday baking - I found myself gravitating towards all of the cookies of my childhood, somehow thinking that making them would make my Mother smile, wherever she is.  So there are now gingerbread men, pecan tarts, those $250 Neiman Marcus oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies (remember that recipe?), date-filled wontons - and bags filled with baked praline popcorn crunch covering the kitchen counters.  The coconut balls, that is the coconut part, needs to chill overnight - so coating them in chocolate is something I'll save for another night.  My Father called me today -I think because he knew that my kitchen was busy, that there were dishes in the sink that needed washing and that there was flour spilled on the floor and hot cookies just out of the oven, and that always - always there was one that was accidentally damaged as it came off the spatula - and he was imagining what they might taste like, and if they would taste the same as they did before his wife died of lung cancer.

What is it about these tastes and smells from our childhood? 

~~~~~

1/2 cup butter, 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract,  1-1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, additional granulated sugar, chocolate kisses

Heat oven to 375F.  Beat butter and peanut butter in a large bowl until well-blended.  Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar, beat until fluffy.  Add egg, milk and vanilla, beat well.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt, and gradually add to peanut butter mixture, beating until well-blended.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll in granulated sugar, place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Place chocolate kiss onto cookie, pressing down lightly.  Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.  Cool completely.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies. 

Comments

[David E. Perry]

I am always so delighted by my visits to your world.
Thanks, yet again.

[Kim]

Lovely post. And how is the most wonderfully bad dog in the world, Miss Annabelle Lee, doing? Whenever my vet promises me that my dog is going to be slow for a couple of days, or sleepy for a couple of hours post-shot, I laugh... never happens. :)

[Anna/Flowergardengirl]

I like these fresh out of the oven! They melt in your mouth. I'm sending you some warm hugs your way. I can hear the ache in your writing. I have all my aunt's and granma's cookbooks. Love them. Wouldn't trade them for the world.

[Pam]

Thanks David. I feel the same way about your world!

Thank you Kim - and the new old girl, Annabelle Lee woke up Saturday morning like a new dog, and not like a dog who had been spayed the day before. My challenge now is to keep her calm! She's a sweetheart.

Thanks Anna. Warm hugs are greatly appreciated - and if I could, I'd drop some cookies by your place! Thanks for such a thoughtful comment.

[Annie in Austin]

A more than sweet post, Pam! This is the first year I didn't make what seems to be the identical recipe of peanut butter kiss-cookies. They're easy to take in a box in a car, but I've found them a pain to pack and ship. We're staying in Texas this Christmas and other cookies made the trip.

Was this one of the cookies you took to the camellia guy? Have to go comment on that post, next...and use this one to say how nice your pack looks, lounging around!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose