Peanut butter blossoms are such a cute addition to any cookie tray. And although they’re usually made with chocolate candy centers that contain milk derivatives, they’re really easy to veganize!
You do, of course, have the option to forgo the chocolate kisses altogether and press several vegan chocolate chips into the center of your cookies instead, but making your own vegan chocolate kisses is so easy that I think it’s worth the extra bit of effort.
To make two dozen vegan chocolate kisses, melt together 1 cup of chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp shortening — for sheen and a softer texture — in a double-boiler. Remove melted chocolate from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, or until it’s just started to thicken. Fill a pastry bag (or sturdy ziplock bag) fitted with a large, round pastry tip with chocolate (you can also use a star tip if you’d rather have star-shaped kisses!). Allow to cool for a couple of minutes more, or until the chocolate is closer to the texture of frosting than liquid (or fondant, for that matter). The chocolate shouldn’t be too warm, or else the kisses won’t hold their shape. (I could’ve waited a little longer before piping out the kisses pictured, for example. Oops!) Don’t wait too long, though, because if the chocolate’s too cool, the kisses will be lumpy and hard to shape. I recommend doing a few test kisses to get the hang of it. Pipe out individual kisses on a sheet of waxed paper and allow to cool fully (at room temperature or in a refrigerator) before using.
- 24 vegan chocolate kisses (see main post)
- ¼ c vegan margarine
- ¼ c + 2 Tbsp peanut butter (creamy, sweetened)
- ⅓ c packed light brown sugar
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1.5 tbsp unsweetened vegan milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ c flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- granulated sugar
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Beat margarine and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended.
- Add ⅓ c sugar and beat until fluffy.
- Add milk and vanilla; beat well.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt; beat gradually into peanut butter mixture.
- Shape dough into 1.5" balls.*
- Roll in sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake 7-10 minutes or until very lightly browned.
- Immediately press a chocolate into the center of each cookie; they will crack around the edges.
- Let rest for a couple of minutes, then remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.**
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10 comments
Scott says:
Dec 28, 2012
Thanks for this post! Although I have been vegan for a long time, I tend to get weak for the kiss cookies I grew up with when visiting my family for the holidays-and even the dark chocolate kisses are not vegan. I’ll definitely be trying these.
Anakarine says:
Feb 2, 2013
Can the peanut butter be substituted by other nut butter?
claryn says:
Feb 3, 2013
Absolutely! They’ll obviously taste different, though.
tami says:
Nov 7, 2013
We really liked these. I love peanut butter, so I will try substituting more of the margarine for Pb. My 4 kids and hubby really loved them. Thanks for the recipe.
claryn says:
Nov 7, 2013
Glad y’all liked them, Tami — and more peanut butter always sounds good to me!
Jamie says:
Dec 7, 2015
I’d love to try these. Are we able to substitute vegan butter for the margarine? I have just started baking (thanks to your banana bread recipe) and am looking forward to doing it a lot more this upcoming year. 🙂
claryn says:
Dec 8, 2015
Hi Jamie! Welcome to the fold. 😉 I use the words “butter” and “margarine” interchangeably on this blog, so yes, whatever vegan butter or margarine you use should work just fine in this recipe. Hope you like the cookies!
Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprints - Hell Yeah It's Vegan! says:
Dec 22, 2015
[…] and the work goes especially quickly if you’re making a batch of my chocolate-filled peanut butter blossoms at the same time. No handmade chocolate kisses […]
kimberly says:
Dec 22, 2015
Yum!!! Super delish and easy to make!
Adam says:
Dec 11, 2017
Try parchment paper instead of wax paper. You’ll be amazed at how well it works with chocolate.