Sparkling Cocoa Mint Truffle Kiss Cookies
The one and only time I’ve made those cookies with Hershey Kisses in them was when I was about 9. True story. I was a good girl then, always going to church, as good girls do, and our preacher’s wife had a gaggle of us kids over to her house to make Christmas Cookies.
The woman was either a saint or insane. I could never imagine doing that. Children are frightening, for lack of a better word. They talk a lot. They ask a million questions. They’re sticky. Sure, you may call that endearing, but I call it a nightmare.
There’s a reason I don’t homeschool.
Don’t get me wrong – I love my kid. I love hearing him sing Old Crow Medicine Show and Panic at the Disco songs from the backseat of the car. I love that he wants to marry me. I love that he wants to be a zombie when he dies. He tells me he loves my cooking, and that’s on nights I boil noodles, add butter, and sprinkle on some parmesan from a can.
He’s a cool kid.
But I don’t need a house full of other people’s kids making 14 kinds of cookies in my clean kitchen to let me know I’d need prescription medication to survive it.
Anyhoo.
Hershey’s Kiss Cookies.
Honestly, I’m not a big fan of those, mainly because they are typically peanut buttery. Plus, back in the day, we had ONE kind of Hershey’s Kiss – the milk chocolate variety. Personally, I find those kind of difficult to eat perched in the center of a cookie. And… ours were hard. Maybe they weren’t supposed to be – maybe the preacher’s wife bit off more than she could chew with us, and our batch over baked. I don’t know. But – whatever happened, I decided there would not come a day that I would be making those cookies.
Until last week.
But, me being me, I couldn’t do the old school variety. I wanted softer. And not peanut buttery. And I wanted a different flavor.
Cocoa Cookies, rolled in crunchy sugar, spiked with mint, and topped with a super soft Mint Truffle Kiss.
I was just hoping they would turn out and be edible.
What transpired is quite possible the best cookie I’ve ever eaten, much less baked. They’re kind of unfair to all other cookies, anywhere. Minty, chocolaty, ooey gooey from the Kiss. The crunch from the decorator sugar adds an extra dimension to these soft-for-days cookies.
I can’t seem to get enough.
Neither can Seven, who’s managed to not pack on any holiday pounds despite his 3 to 17 cookie a day habit as of late.
Freaking 5 year old metabolism.
Just another reason I won’t be having the neighborhood kids up for a cookie marathon. But, if you think you, personally, can stomach the idea, this is a great recipe to use. The kids love helping roll, dip in the sugar, and top with a Kiss.
Enjoy!! (and no, I do NOT have any medication I can loan you. You are on your own.)
Cocoa Mint Truffle Kiss Cookies
makes 50-55
- 12 Tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon mint extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Decorator Sugar, for rolling
- 50-55 Mint Truffle Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or SilPat. Set aside.
- In bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy and well combined. Add eggs in one at a time, then add extracts.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt. Add cocoa mixture all at once to creamed butter and sugar. Mix until just combined.
- Roll balls of dough, roughly one inch in diameter. Dough is quite firm and easily rolled. Roll dough balls in decorator sugar. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake cookies for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a Kiss into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool on pan for 5 minutes; remove to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
