Valentine Blossoms

take your pic, which is YOUR Valentine's Day like?
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Happy Valentine's Day!  Yes, its a Hallmark holiday.  Yes, it originated as a holiday commemorating a Christian saint (there is some uncertainty on Wikipedia what denomination he was...). Yes, it creates high expectations for romance and flowers and surprises.  And, yes, my hubby is working on Valentine's Day this year.

Dove: one of the few good American chocolates out there... 

But...

Sometimes cheesy capitalized upon holidays are fun.  Sometimes holidays that once meant something, come to mean something else (I mean, really... how many people actually celebrate Samhain or All Hallows Eve when they dress up on October 31??).  Sometimes you learn to temper your expectations and look forward to a nice meal.  And for the record, the hubster cleared working on Valentine's Day with me before he got scheduled.  We had already agreed on celebrating on the weekend with tickets to see Ira Glass (SO SO SO excited) and dinner at a nice downtown restaurant I have been wanting to try.

So things are looking good.

But even with all of that, I could not let the actual day go by without making some sort of fun Valentine's Day treat.  I mean, its one of the holidays that screams CHOCOLATE and begs for some sort of themed baked treat.  So I decided to make these...

I really had to work on the self restraint NOT to eat these.  Next time I am making a double batch.

This is a a twist on the typical peanut butter blossom cookie that you all might be familiar with.  But this time around, I switched out the traditional Hershey's kiss with a Dove chocolate heart.  Instant Valentine.

Now, I have never made peanut butter blossoms.  Never ever.  But had I known they were so simple I would have done this MUCH MUCH sooner!  So here is a sweet treat you can make for your valentine in about 45 minutes and earn big romance points for.  Also, if you are allergic to peanuts, this is easily made with sunbutter in place of the peanut butter and it tastes almost exactly the same.  So worth a try for anyone who enjoys a good not-too-sweet-cookie. :)

Valentine Blossoms


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanutbutter (or substitute sunbutter)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar for rolling
• 48 dove hearts, unwrapped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine 1/2 cup of sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanutbutter in a bowl until well combined and light and fluffy.  Add egg, vanilla and salt and continue mixing until well combined.  Mix together flour and baking soda in a separate bowl and then slowly add this mixture to the wet ingredients until the whole batter comes together, scraping the sides of the bowl as you combine.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the 1/4 cup of sugar.  If the dough is too soft to roll, put it in the fridge for 30 min to chill.  Place on ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart.

It sort of looks like a Dunkin Donuts munchkin at this stage... Don't worry if its not perfectly round.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until very light golden brown.

Even without the candies, these cookies are pretty delicious peanut butter cookies... 

Remove from oven and immediately press Dove candy into center of each cookie. Cool cookies on wire racks.

There is something very satisfying about pressing the candy into the cookie.  Be sure to press it all the way down so the candy doesn't fall off once the cookie cools!

Don't try baking the cookies with the candy on it.  The cookie will spread too much and the candy will melt too much.  Its much easier to just press it in as soon as they cookies come out of the oven.

Enjoy!

These are meant for a very special Valentine. :)

Source: adapted from Land O Lakes