Peanut Butter Blossoms

How to Make the Best Peanut Butter Blossoms Cookies
from https://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/

"We all know and love iconic Peanut Butter Blossom cookies -- the classic tender peanut butter cookie treat, coated in granulated sugar with a Hershey's Kiss proudly perched on top. But not all Peanut Butter Blossom recipes are created equal. Which got me thinking, which Peanut Butter Blossoms recipe is the best? Is there a significant difference between the recipe results? And if there is, what makes one recipe better than the next? And yes, there is indeed a significant difference between different recipe results.

"(A Brief) History of the Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie: Initially called Black-Eyed Susans by their creator, the now-named Peanut Butter Blossoms originated quite by accident. The story goes that grandmother Freda Smith of Gibsonburg, Ohio, was baking a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for her grandkids -- only to find partway through mixing her dough that she was out of chocolate chips. Thinking on the fly, she then grabbed a bag of Hershey's Kisses in her pantry and plopped them on top as a chocolate chip stand-in.

"Mrs. Freda Smith then later entered her accidental cookie creation in the 1957 9th annual Pillsbury Bake-Off competition, where Pillsbury changed the cookies' name to "Peanut Blossoms." And you probably think these beloved cookies won, right? Nope, they did not. Surprisingly, this now iconic cookie recipe did not win. -- It took 2nd place instead. (Incidentally, the winner was a cookie called Accordion Treats. Ever heard of them? ... Nope, me neither. Freda and her Blossoms were robbed.) After their strong competition showing, Hershey started printing a version of Mrs. Smith's Peanut Blossoms recipe on bags of Hershey's Kisses. -- And the rest, as they say, is history.

"What We Tested: After researching and comparing many Peanut Butter Blossom recipes, we boiled them all down to 5 core basic recipes. We then conducted tests to compare the results of the 5. All 5 of the recipes used creamy peanut butter, an egg, all-purpose flour, and a mix of both granulated and brown sugars. All but one of the recipes included vanilla extract and a little bit of milk. The same recipe that omitted the vanilla and milk was also the only recipe to include both baking soda and baking powder. -- All the other 4 used solely baking soda.

The main differences in the core 5 recipes came down to the:

• Use of shortening vs. butter
• Amounts of granulated and brown sugars
• Amount of peanut butter, and
• Amount of flour

The 5 recipes tested were:

1. The original Pillsbury recipe - Freda Smith's original recipe, as shared on Pillsbury's recipe site. This one uses shortening, and a little more flour than the other recipes.
2. Hershey's recipe - The recipe shared on Hershey's recipe site. This one, like the original, also uses shortening. However, in comparison to the original recipe, it includes a little more peanut butter, less granulated and brown sugars, and less flour.
3. The original Pillsbury recipe changed to butter - We prefer baking with butter over shortening, so tried the original recipe with butter swapped in for the shortening.
4. Hershey's recipe changed to butter - As we did with the original, we also swapped butter in for the shortening in the Hershey recipe.
5. Betty Crocker recipe - The recipe shared on Betty Crocker's site. This is the recipe that's more of a departure from the original. In contrast to the original, Betty Crocker's is a butter-based version, does not include any vanilla extract or milk, has no salt added, and uses a combination of both baking soda and baking powder.

What We Found:

Is there a significant difference between the recipe results?

- Yes indeed, there is a significant difference between the recipe results. Some cookies were flatter, some plumper. Some were a nice tender texture, while others were dry. And some had a much better, richer flavor. If there is a significant difference, what makes one recipe better than the next?

- I firmly believe butter produces a much better, richer flavor than shortening. So our winner is a butter-based recipe. With that being said, butter spreads more than shortening while baking, so adjustments have to be made to accommodate that so you don't end up with a super-flat cookie.

The Winner!

#5, the Betty Crocker recipe, was the clear favorite of our tests! (I'm so sorry, Freda. The original recipe is really good, just not as good as the Betty Crocker version.) Betty Crocker's butter-based version is the recipe that included no vanilla extract nor milk, and used a combination of both baking soda and baking powder. While it produced a firmer, more crumbly dough than the others, it also produced a more tender-textured, sweeter, and more flavorful cookie as well. It's so good, you all!

Let's take a look at some details for each cookie recipe we tested:

1. The original Pillsbury recipe - The original recipe produces a good cookie that I certainly wouldn't turn down if offered. In comparison to the other recipes we tested, it makes a bit flatter, drier, grainier-textured cookie than the others.
2. Hershey's recipe - Again, I wouldn't turn down this cookie if offered. The result is a plumper, less dry cookie than the original recipe, and the graininess of the original cookie is gone.
3. The original Pillsbury recipe changed to butter - The butter version of the original recipe spread a lot while baking, creating a very crinkled totally flat cookie and is not recommended for making blossoms. It bakes up more like a peanut butter sugar cookie than a blossom-type cookie.
4. Hershey's recipe changed to butter - This was the runner-up of our recipe tests, and makes a very tasty cookie! This butter version of the Hershey recipe didn't spread as much as that of the butter version of the original recipe. It had a nice tender texture and tasty rich flavor.
5. Betty Crocker recipe - Our winner! The Better Crocker recipe makes a firmer, more crumbly dough than the other recipes, which had me worried, to be honest. But that dough bakes up to make a very nice tender-textured cookie that's sweeter and more flavorful than the other cookies we tested. It's our hands-down favorite, for sure.