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Chocolate Blossom Cookies take the classic peanut butter blossom and flip it to team chocolate, a fudgy cocoa peanut butter dough rolled in red and green nonpareils with a chocolate kiss pressed into every warm center. We bake these every December weekend and Lizzie has appointed herself the official kiss presser, it is a role with benefits. If my Reese”s cookies prove chocolate and peanut butter belong together, these make it official for the holidays.
One bowl of dough, a dish of sprinkles, and a bag of kisses you have to defend until baking time.
Chocolate Blossom Cookies Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 11 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 1 hour
- 🍽️ Serving: 33 cookies
- ⚡ Calories: 125kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Fudgy chocolate and peanut butter under a crunchy sprinkle shell
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, a roll and press cookie with a built in wow
Quick Answer
Cream butter and sugar, then beat in an egg, creamy peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix in the whisked dry ingredients, flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, until a soft fudgy dough forms. Roll tablespoon balls, coat them in Christmas nonpareil sprinkles, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 11 minutes. The moment they come out, press an unwrapped chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie and let them cool so the kisses set.
Jump to:
- Chocolate Blossom Cookies Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Chocolate Blossom Cookies
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Chocolate Blossom Cookies FAQs
- Other Recommended Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Chocolate Blossom Cookies
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Peanut butter is the texture engine. Its fat and protein keep the cocoa dough fudgy and soft instead of dry, the classic blossom trick working overtime in a chocolate base.
- Cocoa plus cornstarch stays tender. Cocoa powder can dry a cookie out, the cornstarch counters it and keeps the crumb melt in your mouth soft for days.
- Rolling in nonpareils armors the outside. The sprinkle shell adds crunch, locks in moisture, and does all the decorating before the oven even preheats.
- Pressing the kiss while warm welds it on. The residual heat melts the base of the kiss just enough to glue it to the cookie as everything cools, no icing required.
- A short bake protects the fudge factor. Eleven minutes leaves the centers slightly underdone, they finish on the hot pan and stay soft under the sprinkle crust.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They look like they took effort, the sprinkles and the kiss do all the decorating for you.
- One batch makes about 33 cookies, enough for the cookie exchange, the neighbors, and the inevitable quality control.
- They are sturdy enough to ship in a cookie box next to my Christmas sandwich cookies without losing a single kiss.
- It delivers that same everyone asks for seconds energy as our peanut butter blossoms.
- It delivers that same everyone asks for seconds energy as our ultimate mudslide chocolate cookies.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our Butterfinger cookies.
Key Ingredients
A classic blossom lineup with cocoa crashing the party.
- Creamy peanut butter: Regular shelf stable peanut butter like Jif, it keeps the dough soft and gives the chocolate a salty depth.
- Cocoa powder: Natural unsweetened cocoa turns the whole dough fudgy and deep chocolate.
- Butter and granulated sugar: The creamed base that keeps the cookies rich and lightly crisp at the edges.
- Christmas nonpareils: The red, green, and white sprinkles that coat every ball and make the batch look gift ready.
- Chocolate kisses: Unwrap them while the cookies bake, they get pressed in the moment the pan comes out.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
The blossom format takes every holiday twist you can throw at it.
- Use hugs or white chocolate kisses for a striped, snowy look on the dark cookie.
- Press a mini peanut butter cup in instead of a kiss for maximum peanut butter payoff.
- Roll the balls in plain granulated sugar for the classic sparkly finish without the color.
- Trade the nonpareils for crushed candy canes for a mint version that matches my Christmas fudge energy.
- Swap the Christmas nonpareils for orange and black sprinkles in October or pastels at Easter, this cookie works year round.
- If you want to switch things up, our triple chocolate cookies plays on similar flavors in a whole new way.
- If you want to switch things up, our chocolate chunk cookies plays on similar flavors in a whole new way.
- In the mood for something different? Our chocolate covered ritz crackers scratches a similar itch.
How to Make Chocolate Blossom Cookies
- Cream the softened butter and granulated sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in the egg until fully combined, scraping down the bowl.
- Add the creamy peanut butter and vanilla and beat until the mixture is smooth and uniform.
- Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together, then mix into the wet ingredients on low until a soft fudgy dough forms.
- Roll tablespoon sized balls of dough, coat each one generously in the Christmas nonpareils, and space them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 11 minutes until just set. The moment the pan comes out, press an unwrapped chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie, then let them cool completely so the kisses firm back up.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Unwrap the kisses before the first pan goes in. You have about a minute of ideal pressing warmth, foil fumbling wastes it.
- Use regular creamy peanut butter, not natural. Natural styles separate and make the dough greasy and crumbly.
- Roll the balls smooth before sprinkling. Cracked balls bake into cracked cookies, a few seconds of palm rolling fixes it.
- Press the kiss straight down, no wiggle. Twisting cracks the cookie edges, one firm vertical press seats it cleanly.
- Cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Moving them too soon while the kiss is molten ends in chocolate smears.
- Chill the dough 15 minutes if your kitchen is warm. Cool dough holds the perfect thick dome shape in the oven.
- Plan the whole menu. This pairs effortlessly with our chocolate dipped pistachio cookies when company is coming.
- Plan the whole menu. This pairs effortlessly with our white chocolate thumbprint cookies when company is coming.
- Make it a full spread. Our edible chocolate cookie dough with oreos rounds out the table.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Still filling out the menu? Readers love pairing this one with our sugar cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels, and chocolate M&M cookies.
Store chocolate blossom cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, once the kisses set they stack without smearing. They freeze well for up to 2 months, freeze in a single layer first so the kisses keep their shape, then transfer to a bag.
Chocolate Blossom Cookies FAQs
They are the chocolate version of classic peanut butter blossoms, a soft cocoa and peanut butter cookie rolled in sprinkles with a chocolate kiss pressed into the warm center. This version uses red and green nonpareils for Christmas, but the base cookie works with any sprinkle color.
Immediately, within the first minute after the pan leaves the oven. The cookie needs to be hot enough to accept the kiss without cracking, and the kiss base melts just enough to weld itself on as everything cools. Wait too long and the kisses pop off after cooling.
The cookies were too hot or they went back in the oven. Press the kisses and leave the pan alone on a rack, do not return it to the oven even for a minute. If your kitchen is very warm, slide the pan into the fridge for 10 minutes to set the kisses faster.
Yes. The dough keeps refrigerated for 3 days, roll and sprinkle straight from the fridge with an extra minute of bake time. Baked cookies keep 5 days airtight and freeze for 2 months, which makes them one of the best cookie exchange bakes on the calendar.
You can, the little peanut pieces add texture and the dough handles the same. Just avoid natural drippy style peanut butters in either version, the extra oil makes the dough slick and the cookies spread flat instead of holding their thick dome.
Do not overbake, pull them at 11 minutes when the centers still look slightly soft, and store them airtight once fully cool. The peanut butter and cornstarch in the dough do the rest, they stay fudgy for days, and a slice of sandwich bread in the container keeps them softest of all.
Made these Chocolate Blossom Cookies? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me who got kiss pressing duty at your house!
For the red velvet Christmas version, try our red velvet blossom cookies with candy cane kisses.
If you love the blossom style, our cookies and cream blossom cookies trade the peanut butter dough for crushed Oreos and a cookies n creme Kiss.
Chocolate Blossom Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Christmas nonpareils
- 33 chocolate kisses unwrapped
Instructions
- Line a sheet tray with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined, set aside.1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or in the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar for 2 minutes.½ cup unsalted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar
- Add the egg and mix it in until combined.1 large egg
- Add the peanut butter and vanilla extract, mix it in until combined, scrape down the sides as needed.¾ cup creamy peanut butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir it in until combined with no dry patches.
- Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop, place scoops of the dough not touching but closer together on the prepared sheet tray.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill, even best overnight if you have the time.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line sheet trays with parchment paper, set aside.
- Place the sprinkles into a small bowl. Roll the cookie dough into a ball then roll it in the sprinkles/sugar.Christmas nonpareils
- Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the sheet trays. Bake for 9-11 minutes until puffed up and start to crack.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the sheet tray. Place a kiss in the center of the cookies, pressing down until it sticks.33 chocolate kisses
- Place the tray directly into the freezer for 10 minutes to prevent the chocolate from melting.
- Transfer to a wire rack while you bake the rest of the cookies.
Notes
- Use room temperature butter and eggs for better mixing and a smoother dough.
- Measure your flour correctly by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off to avoid using too much flour.
- Chill the dough for at least two hours to prevent the cookies from spreading too much.
- Unwrap the Hershey’s Kisses ahead of time so they’re ready to press into the warm cookies.
- Don’t overbake; bake cookies for 9-11 minutes until they are set and start to crack.
- Cool on a wire rack after adding the chocolate kisses to prevent the bottoms from getting soggy.
Nutrition
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Gloria that makes me so happy thank you!!!
They turned out awesome!! thank you