Vegan Peanut Butter Blossoms
January 5, 2012 3 Comments
Oh, lovely cookies. As a kid these cookies were one of my all-time favorites. I first recall having them at my after-school babysitters and I didn’t even know what they were called (and frankly, didn’t even think to ask…probably because my mouth was stuffed full of ’em) so I always referred to them as “the cookies with the Hershey Kiss in the middle” and even as an adult I still didn’t know what their official name was and it wasn’t until I Googled the phrase “cookies with Hershey Kiss in the middle” that their sweet little name was divulged to me. Lo and behold they’re called Peanut Butter Blossoms! What’s funny is that I don’t recall my immature tastebuds ever detecting there was peanut butter in them so when I started baking these years ago I was skeptical that they were the real-deal from my childhood. However, after my first adult bite I knew they were the delectable treats I’d had from yore.
Onward with how to make these little babies—here is the recipe so that you too can enjoy a scrumptious vegan version of (perhaps) your childhood favorite:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (less or more depending on the size of cookie you make and how much sugar you want to coat them with) granulated sugar to roll cookies in
Preheat oven to 350°F.
By hand or with a stand mixer beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter. Meanwhile beat the Ener-G egg replacer with water in a small bowl (1.5 teaspoons powder to 2 tablespoons water) until thick peaks form. Then add the egg replacer and vanilla to the mixture and mix well.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the Earth Balance/sugar mixture and beat until well blended.
Shape the dough into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Set balls 1 1/2-inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or you could grease your cookie sheet as well.) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Pull out the cookies and add a chocolate chunk to the center of each. Return the cookies to the oven and bake until the chocolate is slightly soft, about two to three additional minutes. Pull them out of the oven and let them cool for a couple minutes before placing on a cooling rack.
***Lastly, I have to mention that over the holiday weekend I stopped at Spun Sugar in Berkeley and found an awesome chocolate mold that will change my relationship with these cookies for every Christmas here on out.
So next year these babies will actually have a completely vegan chocolate kiss in the center of them. Holy flip! I am stoked for the holidays next year!!!
Fruit of Adventure 
Just tried your recipe for peanut butter blossoms – with some variations – for John’s birthday today. He has gluten intolerance, in addition to allergies to eggs and dairy, so it is really hard to find cakes or cookies for him here in the land of patisseries. So, the variations: I used gluten-free flour by Schar’s, and since we’re in France, no Earth Balance (boo hoo), so I substituted a vegan margarine. Then I also guesstimated on the vanilla (used a packet of “sucre vanillé”) and baking soda (used “levure chimique” which I think is closer to baking powder) and brown sugar (used “cassonnade”). The dark chocolate was easy to find – in fact there were more than a dozen varieties to choose from in the local supermarket. Despite all the variations, the cookies came out great and John will actually have a sweet birthday dessert tonight. Merci beaucoup!
I’m so happy to hear this, Julie! Such a sweet thing to do for John’s birthday!
Also, it’s great to know that the gluten-free flour substitution worked so well—that is the one thing I have yet to experiment with in my baking so hearing about your success is great.
Happy celebrating tonight!!!
I want to know where you got your Hershey Kiss mold I can’t find one