Cute & Simple: Counting Kisses

This is the time of year when we all crave a little something…uh, more.  More kisses, more peanut butter, more things to do, and definitley more spring-teasers. 

When I was craving the above, I rounded up my preschooler and the appropriate ingredients and whipped up a batch of Peanut Butter Blossoms.  Yum!! 

Of course, I had to turn it into something educational for my little sweetie.  So, we did a bit of preschool math…

• How many cookies do we have?  Okay, that tells us how many Kisses we need to unwrap.  Let’s count them together.
• Now, let’s group them by color of foil wrapper…red, silver, pink.  How many in each category?
• We have 15 and we need 28…how many more do we need?  Hummm…early algebra.
• Ooops…you ate one…28 minus 1 is 27. 
• Ooops…I ate one…28 minus 2 is 26. 

Here’s the recipe, in case you are interested in counting kisses at your house:

Peanut Butter Blossoms

½ c, shortening                                                                   

½ c. peanut butter

½ c. granulated sugar                                                          

1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour

½ c. packed brown sugar 

1 t. baking powder                                                              

1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour

1 egg         

1 t. vanilla    

2 T. milk                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

¼ c. granulated sugar

Milk chocolate chip kisses, unwrapped                                                                                

1.       In a large mixing bowl, beat peanut butter and shortening with mixer x 30 seconds.  Add ½ c. granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and soda.  Beat till combined.  Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk, still till combined.  Beat in as much flour as you can with mixer, stir in remaining flour. 

 Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll the balls in the ¼ c. sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake about 10 minutes at 350 until edges are firm and bottoms slightly browned.  Press a “kiss” in center of cookie immediately after removing from oven.  Cool on wire rack.