12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 2

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…cookies. Because again, no to birds and yes to cookies! And again, I’m pretty sure Santa would agree.

Today’s cookie is one that I’ve been contemplating for a long time. Contemplating, but not doing anything about it because it is a flavor profile I find disgusting and thus it was really hard to get motivated to do it. However, a few weeks ago I was in line at Duane Reade (aka Walgreens if you’re not in NYC) and there in front of me was a whole display of holiday Hershey’s kiss flavors. It seemed fate was slapping me in the face. Begrudgingly, I grabbed the nearest bag of Candy Cane kisses and started looking for the right cookie base. With a few modifications and pawning the tasting off on Ann and her mom, these seem to pass the Christmas cookie test with declarations of “these are my new favorite cookies that you make!” and a sample batch that didn’t even last a day. I’d call that a win.

Holiday Mint Chocolate Kisses

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ⅓ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup of milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ tsp mint extract
• ¾ cup nonpareil sprinkles (optional)
• 48 Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses, unwrapped

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper or silicone baking mat(s).

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt. Stir with a whisk to ensure ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Set aside.

In a larger bowl or stand mixer bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Add the sugar and continue beating until creamed, scraping the side of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time. Once the eggs are mixed in, add milk and both extracts. Continue mixing on medium-high speed for a couple of minutes more.

Once batter is thoroughly mixed, lower the speed of mixer and slowly add the dry ingredients. Continue mixing on low until dry ingredients are well incorporated.

If using sprinkles, pour the sprinkles into a small bowl. Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball, and then roll each ball into the sprinkles to coat. Place the balls evenly spaced on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the oven and gently press a candy cane kiss into the center of each cookie*. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

*PLEASE NOTE: if you are a baker who–when making the original peanut butter & chocolate version–put the kisses on the cookies during baking rather than after baking, please do not do this with these kisses. They clearly have a lower melting temp than their chocolate counterparts and will get a little too gooey if you put them in the oven, as you can see in the picture.

fa la la la la!

And in case you missed it:

12 Cookies of Christmas, Day 1 Salty Scotches

chocolate cookie was originally adapted from what’smeganmaking.