These simple and fast Hershey kiss cookies are a timeless Christmas favorite. They consist of delicious peanut butter cookies topped with a chocolate kiss. They are among our top Christmas cookies and always make a delightful addition to our holiday trays.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 36 chocolate kiss candies
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place your wrapped chocolate kisses in the freezer. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or an electric hand mixer on medium speed, cream the butter, sugars, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla to the butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in several increments, mixing until combined. Scrape down the bowl and beaters as needed.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours. Place 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 3/4 to 1-inch balls. Roll the dough balls in the granulated sugar and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Unwrap the chocolate kisses while the cookies are baking.
- Remove the cookies from the oven. After 1 minute, place 1 unwrapped chocolate kiss in the center of each cookie, pressing down gently and ever so slightly. Remove cookies to a cookie cooling rack and allow to fully cool. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
NOTES
- Before you start your cookies, place the Hershey Kisses in the freezer. This helps them keep their original shape when placed on top of the hot cookies.
- Use creamy peanut butter for these cookies because it works so much better. These are small cookies, and chunks of peanuts just won’t work.
- Plan ahead, as this dough needs to be refrigerated for a couple of hours.
- Place the cookie on the sheet about two inches apart. They don’t rise or spread a whole lot, but the hot oven air needs to able to flow between the cookies.
- If you have time, do a test run with one or two cookies. It really helps to establish baking time.
- Unwrap your chocolate kisses right before your cookies are done. That way, you will be ready to go. I pause for about one minute before I put the chocolates on to prevent them from melting. I am usually unwrapping the last few kisses.
- These cookies must cool completely before being stacked because the chocolate kiss gets quite soft. It will harden again, but it can take several hours.
- Substitute different flavor kisses like dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, or mini peanut butter cups.
- These cookies can be frozen for four to six weeks. I don’t like to go much further than that because of the chocolate. Simply double wrap in freezer bags and place in a sturdy container. The dough can be double-wrapped and frozen for two months.
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to one week.
