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Peanut Blossoms - Not only are they Yummy but it's fun for kids to put in the Hershey Kisses :)

Peanut Blossoms
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 - 10oz packages Hershey Kisses
 
Cream sugars, butter, and peanut butter.  Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla.
Sift together flour, soda, and salt.  Stir into egg mixture. Refrigerate.  Shape into balls, roll in granulated sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake in 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  Immediately press candy into each.
Makes 7 dozen

http://amyetc.typepad.com/chocolateair/2006/12/cookie_time.html

These are yummy and easy and so very cute! They are especially nice for adding a good pop of color on a cookie plate.

In the UK we don't really use cups for measurement - how do you get a cup of butter anyway? :S

Thanks for the spotlight! These are great suggestions. My son will flip for those cornflake wreaths. Jjbear, my grandma used to make those peanut butter/ hershey kisses cookies all year round. She called them "go to school cookies." I love those and had forgotten all about them!

The Kitchn has this "best cut-out sugar cookies" recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/dessert/recipe-best-cutout-sugar-cookies-038629

And also, this was linked on AT but can't remember if it was Kitchen or Nursery, but here is a very nifty egg-yolk glaze that you can paint on your cookies. My kid will definitely dig this: http://thepioneerwomancooks.com/2007/12/my_favorite_christmas_cookies_from_childhood_and_beyond.html

Vonnie, forgot to say: A stick of butter is 1/2 a cup. Does your butter come in the same size sticks? Uh, I guess you wouldn't know if it's the same.

Pecan Balls

1 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 c. chopped pecans

Combine and freeze for 20 minutes. Roll into balls and refrigerate again for 10 minutes or so until firm. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. The tops will look like they're not done but check the bottoms; they are. Let cool and roll in powdered sugar.

pastry chef here, sorry to get all nerdy, but butter (water, milk, and eggs) are weight/volume equivalent. 1 cup of butter is 8 fluid ounces is a 1/2 pound (or 8 oz.) dry weight.

You might think this is cheating but I blogged about the Krustez cookie kit here: http://ohbabybuyproducts.blogspot.com/2007/12/few-of-my-favorite-holiday-baking.html

It was AWESOME for my 3 yr old and me- esp. since I have a 10 month old to chase after as well.

MJoe, sticks of butter are only really popular in the US -- even in Canada, almost all the butter comes wrapped in 1 pound sizes (it is rare to see the wrapped sticks of butter). In Europe, most butter comes in packages of 250 g. It is one of those "quirks" of following a US recipe...

Mjoe - yeah as monika1 said our butter usually comes in 'pats' which weigh either 250g or 500g so I'm not sure about the weight thing.

I don't know if this will help, but I'm a huge fan of Stumble upon and del.icio.us. Stumble upon is a site which recommends websites that you might like based on the preferences you register, and del.icio.us is a bookmarking site which you can browse to find other sites. Anyway, I found This blog through stumble upon which is running a cookie competition and now has hundreds of mouth watering recipes available. There's so many to choose from that I'm overwhelmed!