Category: Peanut Free Baking

I posted a photo of these cookies online and received a lot of requests for the recipe, so I thought i’d use my neglected blog to share the recipe 🙂

Peanut Butter Blossoms had been a Christmas cookie staple in our household for as long as I could remember. My favorite part was pressing the Hershey Kiss into the hot out of the oven cookie and then sneaking a bite while it was still melty. My daughter loved peanut butter AND these cookies until one day out of the blue when she was about 1.5, she had an allergic reaction to her usual peanut butter English muffin breakfast. Her face swelled, red hives covered her mouth and cheeks and her eyes began to swell shut. With sheer panic, I called her pediatrician, received testing at Children’s and determined she had developed an allergy to peanuts. Out. Of. The. Blue. The girl had been eating peanut butter for a year with no issues. Crazy how these things happen. We were hopeful that she would one day outgrow her allergy like her cousins and friends have. Unfortunately at her last testing, we learned that it would be unlikely she ever would.

We have tried a few substitutes including almond butter, but she’s not a huge fan and I don’t blame her. Almond butter is dry…and let’s be honest it’s just not even close and there is the concern of cross contamination since it is a nut. However, her Grandma Gigi bought her WowButter when she was up at the cabin for the weekend, and it really is the closest thing to peanut butter. Texture, color and even taste…but it is 100% nut free, so there isn’t even a chance of cross contamination which is a concern with any type of nut allergy. It’s 100% safe for school, gluten free, Non-GMO, and even vegan. And yes, it tastes awesome. It has the same nutrients and protein, with the addition of Omega-3s. I decided that this was the perfect replacement for peanut butter in our much loved cookie!

One afternoon during naps, I decided to give WowButter “blossoms” a try. I literally just substituted WowButter into our original recipe, with a couple other tweaks such as dark brown sugar to make the flavor a bit richer and half and half instead of milk. I was so pleasantly surprised when they came out of the oven perfectly fluffy with the same crinkles and texture as the original. The kisses melted into the cookie perfectly. Of course if you’re a peanut butter aficionado, you will notice a difference in taste. Of course. It’s not peanut butter. But it is absolutely the closest thing to it and these really do taste great. Most importantly, it’s safe for my daughter and any of her friends or family who live with nut allergies. Happiest of Holidays!

WowButter Blossoms

Ingredients

• 24 chocolate kisses (Marielle is able to have Hershey Brand Kisses, but do read labels to make sure there are not any allergens your child cannot have)
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup WowButter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons half and half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Additional granulated sugar for rolling the cookies in before baking

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Beat shortening and WowButter in large bowl until well blended.
• Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy.
• Add egg, half and half, vanilla and beat well.
• Stir together flour, baking soda and salt and add into the WowButter mixture.
• Using a cookie baller or your hands, shape dough into 1.5-inch balls
• Roll in granulated sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets or parchment lined.
• Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Remove from the oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into center of each cookie
• Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack
• Makes 24 cookies