Just in time for Valentine's Day, here is a favorite, old fashioned cookie recipe. I have been making these for forty years and they are always a crowd pleaser. I remember eating these soft, cakey cookies when I was a child and being in such a quandary: should I eat the chocolate kiss first, portion out tiny bites of it with each bite of dough, or save it for last, to savor the whole mouth-full-of-chocolate feeling? My position on this keeps evolving, which of course means more "research". In the photographs I have doubled the recipe; one single batch makes about 26 cookies.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 Tbsp. half and half (or milk)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

1 3/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

chocolate kisses

Beat together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Beat in the peanut butter. Add the egg, half and half and vanilla and mix well. Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt and slowly beat these dry ingredients into the batter. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. 

Roll the dough into balls, the size of a large walnut. I use a small ice cream scoop. Roll each ball of cookie dough into white sugar and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press down ever so slightly on each, with your fingers. Bake at convection bake 350 degrees (regular oven use 375) for about 8 minutes. You want the cookies to be starting to crinkle and still be a little underbaked. Remove from oven and immediately place an unwrapped chocolate kiss in the center of each cookie, pressing it down into the dough. Take the cookies off the baking sheet and allow to cool for several hours on the counter. The kiss will get quite soft and then will firm up again. Makes 26 cookies.