Valentines' Day Peanut Butter Heart Cookies
This classic Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie recipe is a favorite any time of year but made special for Valentine's Day with the addition of chocolate hearts. It is an easy recipe using pantry staples and Hershey chocolates and requires no refrigeration time before baking!
Servings 32 cookies
Calories 156kcal
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus 1/3 cup for rolling)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 32 heart shaped Hershey's chocolates
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350° F. Prepare two cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper (my preferred method), or use a silpat liner or cooking spray.
- Unwrap the heart chocolates and place them inside a bowl. Allow the chocolate to refrigerate while you prepare the cookie dough.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.
- In a larger mixing bowl with a hand mixer, or you can use a stand mixer, add the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium-low speed, for about 2 minutes, until combined well and lighter in color.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated and no flour streaks remain in the dough.
- Place the additional 1/3 cup of granulated sugar into a small bowl.
- Use a small cookie scoop, or about 1.5 tablespoons of dough, and scoop up the cookie dough. Roll into a ball and then roll the ball in the sugar until it's completely coated all around. Place 12 cookies per cookie sheet.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes. Cookies will look puffy and have slight cracks on the tops.
- Remove from the oven and immediately press a heart shaped chocolate (from the fridge) onto the top of each cookie. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 15 minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Peanut Butter : For best results use creamy peanut butter (Jif, Skippy, Peter Pan) and avoid using all-natural peanut butter. There is not enough moisture in the all-natural peanut butters, which will result in dry & crumbly cookies with a thick texture.
Chocolate Hearts : If wanted, swap these out and use Reese's heart shaped chocolates. You can even make some cookies with the Hershey's hearts and some with the Reese's heart.
How to Store : Store leftover cookies at room temperature, in an air-tight container, for up to 4 days. They will last longer but they taste best within 4 days. The cookies will dry out the longer you store them.
Can I Freeze These? : Fully baked cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also freeze the dough. Roll the dough into balls before freezing. If baking from a frozen state, add an additional 1-2 minutes to the cook time.
Butter : I use salted butter in this recipe. If preferred, unsalted butter can be used as well.
Nutrition
Calories: 156kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 109mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg