I made these cookies yesterday as a special request from my daughter. She loves these cookies at Christmas time. The funny thing is to see how they both eat the cookies just like I did as a kid too. Both my kids eat all the cookie around the kiss in the center then pop off the kiss, eat the rest of the cookie and finally the kiss candy last.
These cookies are one of my favorites at Christmas time too. And since it is after Thanksgiving now, I’m okay with starting the Christmas music, decorating and baking now. ?
I am so happy with how the gluten free version of these Christmas favorites turned out! I start my recipe with an all natural peanut butter, which gives the cookie a really good peanutty flavor. Then I sweeten them with honey. PB, honey and butter! You cannot go wrong with that combo. ? To that, I add an egg, a little vanilla and the dry ingredients. Roll the dough balls in sugar and bake. Then top off the warm out of the oven cookies with kiss candies and you have a delicious traditional holiday cookie, minus the gluten!
I like to use dark chocolate kisses for my cookies or even just as a treat. Dark chocolate has more antioxidants and other healthy vitamins and minerals in it than milk chocolate. And personally, I find it really hard to stop eating milk chocolate. There is something about the creaminess that makes it very hard to stop eating. But with dark chocolate, I can eat a couple of pieces and be satisfied. So it’s dark chocolate only in my house. ?
GLUTEN FREE PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS
1/2 c. unsalted organic butter, softened
1/2 c. natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. honey
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. brown rice flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Flour)
1 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream butter and peanut butter together until smooth and creamy. Add honey, baking powder and baking soda and blend together completely. Add the egg and vanilla and mix together. Finally, add the flour, cornstarch and xanthan gum and mix just until combined.
Scoop out cookie dough, about 1 tablespoonful at a time and roll into a tight ball. Then roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar and place on baking sheet. Bake for 7-8 minutes until the cookies are set and light golden brown on the bottoms.
Remove the baked cookies from the oven and top with dark chocolate kisses, pressing the kisses down lightly into the cookie. The pressure will slightly crack the cookies, but that’s what you want. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes then move to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Store in an airtight container. These cookies also freeze really well. I like to bake a batch and freeze half of them to eat later in the Christmas season.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
