Make Hershey kiss cookies for your holiday season cookie exchanges. Made with a delicious chocolate cookie with candy cane Hershey's kisses, these Christmas kiss cookies are delicious. Make these Hershey kiss cookies recipes for Christmas with or without gluten. See gluten-free instructions for details on how to make the chocolate kiss cookies without gluten. A peppermint blossom cookie is cute and is perfect for your holiday cookie plate.
What Is a Peppermint Blossom Cookie?
A blossom cookie is usually a cookie with a hershey kiss on top. The most common kind of Hershey's kiss cookies are peanut butter blossoms. They are made from peanut butter cookies and milk chocolate kisses. They are favorite Christmas cookies for many people. However, these Christmas peppermint blossom cookies have a chocolate shortbread cookie and a candy cane Hershey's kiss that is made from white chocolate with peppermint stripes and bits of peppermint candy.
This type of cookie is perfect for a Christmas party or a great addition to a cookie platter. Your holiday cookie tray will look festive with these!
Why You'll Love This Perfect Christmas Cookie
- Texture: Crumbly cookies similar to chocolate shortbread cookie with smooth candy kisses.
- Total Time: Prep time takes only 15 minutes and bake time is 15 minutes.
- Equipment: hand mixer or stand mixer, cookie scoop, mixing bowl, measuring cups and measuring spoons, parchment paper
- Diet: Vegetarian, Gluten Free (see instructions)
If you love these festive cookies you'll love this Chocolate Peppermint Pie.
Ingredients
For a full printable peppermint blossom cookie ingredients list and instructions are in the recipe card below.
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg. Eggs should be at room temperature.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
22 peppermint kisses candies (Candy Cane Hershey Kisses)
Substitutions and Variations
Hershey's Kisses: Use any of your favorite kisses. There are many flavors to choose from now! Try making a peanut butter kiss cookies recipe by swapping the candy cane kiss for a peanut butter kiss. The red and white striped kiss would make a cute Valentine's Day cookie as well.
Gluten Free: To make gluten-free Hershey's kiss cookies, substitute all-purpose flour for King Arthur's gluten free flour mix, or your favorite GF flour mixture that contains xanthan gum. Please check the labels on all your other ingredients, especially cornstarch, baking powder and kisses. These make delicious gluten free Christmas cookies!
Dairy Free: Substitute butter for your favorite non-dairy butter substitute like butter flavored shortening or margarine.
Peanut Free: Substitute the peppermint candy cane kisses for plain Hershey's kisses.
Refrigerated Cookie Dough: Low on time? Use refrigerated cookie dough from the grocery store. Try sugar cookies or, if you're lucky, they'll have chocolate cookie dough. Sugar cookie dough is fun to add food coloring to, as well. Make them any color you want.
Instructions
Full step-by-step Hershey's kiss cookies instructions are in the recipe card below. You can print or save to Pinterest for later.
Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°. Lay out 2 pieces of parchment paper on 2 large cookie sheets. Set prepared baking sheets aside.
Mix Dry Ingredients: Combine the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk.
Mix Sugar and Wet Ingredients: In a separate large bowl, use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer on high speed to mix the butter and sugar until they are fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and continue mixing.
Combine Ingredients: Pour in the dry ingredients, and mix at low speed until the dough is crumbly and pliable.
Form Cookies: Use a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough and roll them with your hands until they are smooth, tight balls. Set the dough balls on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. (I fit 12 cookies on 1 cookie sheet.)
Indent Cookies: Press down the center of each cookie slightly with a measuring teaspoon. It’s okay if the dough cracks a little bit. The indent in the center of the cookies is where you'll put the chocolate candy after the cookies are cooked.
Bake: Bake the cookies, 1 cookie sheet at a time, for 15 minutes or until they have risen slightly. Press the centers of the cookies down again if they have risen too much while baking.
Add Candy Cane Kisses: Rest the cookies on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes (or until they are still warm but not hot to the touch), then press a peppermint kiss into the center of each cookie. Let the cookies cool completely, then serve.
Tips For The Best Chocolate Peppermint Kiss Cookies
- Try not to over-mix the egg. Over-mixing may affect how much the cookies rise in the oven.
- If you put the kisses on the cookies too soon after they are out of the oven, they will melt, but if you wait too long, they won’t stick to the cookies. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on the temperature of the cookies while they are resting. I found that waiting 5-10 minutes is a good amount of time before adding the kisses. They stick to the cookies without melting too much.
- It’s important to use baking powder and not baking soda. Baking powder will help the cookies rise slightly, but baking soda will cause the cookies to spread and lose their shape.
If you love Hershey kisses cookie recipes for Christmas, try the MOST DELICIOUS Peppermint Bark Recipe.
Storing
- Room Temperature: Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 6 days. Please be mindful that if the cookies are in a warm room or left out in a warm area, the kisses may melt.
- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Bring the cookies to room temperature before serving. The cookies may get a little harder at cooler temperatures.
- Freezer: Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before serving as the cookies will be too hard to eat at cold temperatures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes you do. The hershey's kiss will sit perfectly in the cookie if you make the indent before you cook. If you forget to make the indent just gently press the kiss down on top of the hot cooked cookie.
No, you cannot cook the cookie with the kiss on top of the cookie. It will melt completely.
More Chocolate Peppermint Recipes You'll Love
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 22 peppermint kisses
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Lay out 2 pieces of parchment paper on 2 large cookie sheets. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk.
- In a separate large bowl, use an electric hand mixer to mix the butter and sugar until they are fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, and continue mixing.
- Pour in the dry ingredients, and mix at low speed until the dough is crumbly and pliable.
- Use a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough and roll them with your hands until they are smooth, tight balls. Set them on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. (I fit 12 cookies on 1 cookie sheet.)
- Press down the center of each cookie slightly with a measuring teaspoon. It’s okay if the dough cracks a little bit.
- Bake the cookies, 1 cookie sheet at a time, for 15 minutes or until they have risen slightly. Press the centers of the cookies down again if they have risen too much while baking.
- Rest the cookies on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes (or until they are still warm but not hot to the touch), then press a peppermint kiss into the center of each cookie.
- Let the cookies cool completely, then serve.
Notes
- Room Temperature: Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 6 days. Please be mindful that if the cookies are in a warm room or left out in a warm area, the kisses may melt.
- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Bring the cookies to room temperature before serving. The cookies may get a little harder at cooler temperatures.
- Freezer: Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw completely before serving as the cookies will be too hard to eat at cold temperatures.
- Try not to over-mix the egg. Over-mixing may affect how much the cookies rise in the oven.
- If you put the kisses on the cookies too soon after they are out of the oven, they will melt, but if you wait too long, they won’t stick to the cookies. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on the temperature of the cookies while they are resting. I found that waiting 5-10 minutes is a good amount of time before adding the kisses. They stick to the cookies without melting too much.
- It’s important to use baking powder and not baking soda. Baking powder will help the cookies rise slightly, but baking soda will cause the cookies to spread and lose their shape.
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