Peanut Butter Blossoms:

From Betty Crocker, with additional commentary

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• Additional granulated sugar (about 2 tablespoons)
• About 36 Hershey’s® Kisses® Brand milk chocolates, unwrapped

(Using unsalted butter is recommended by many professional baking companies, as it allows you to control the amount of salt that actually ends up in your cookies. When unwrapping Hershey’s kisses, unwrap the same number of kisses as cookies that just went into the oven. That way, you don’t have to guess at how many you’ll need.)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, and egg with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon, until well blended. Stir in flour, baking soda, and baking powder until dough forms.
2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in additional granulated sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Immediately press 1 chocolate candy in center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire cooling rack.
4. Eat them. (Duh, they’re not for display.)

Rolled Sugar Cookies:

From allrecipes.com with additional commentary

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Do not try to shorten the time the dough needs to be in the fridge by putting it in the freezer. It doesn’t work. Instead of waiting for your cookie dough to chill, you’ll be waiting for it to thaw.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter (Keep in mind that some cookie cutters have limitations. Dinosaur cookie cutters can be particularly tricky because the tails are so thin that the dough breaks as you’re trying to get it out of the cutter. Dipping the cookie cutter in flour before cutting into the dough can help with this, but there’s still no guarantee that your dinosaurs will come out intact.). Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. (Putting parchment paper on the cookie sheet before you put the cookies on the pan can save time on cleanup, especially if you put sprinkles on your cookies. Speaking of sprinkles, the colored glass sprinkles work pretty well on these cookies if you don’t want to frost them.)
4. Eat them. (Again, they’re not for display)