Description
These are festive sugar cookies stuffed with a candy cane-flavored Hershey’s Kiss. Soft, chewy, and easy to make! Don’t forget to place the cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes to prevent the candy from melting.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 1 Tablespoon (260g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 10 Tablespoons (142g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract*
- 1/2 cup (about 90g) nonpareil sprinkles (I use these)
- 32–36 candy cane flavor Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until fully combined. The dough will be very thick.
- Roll dough into balls, 1 scant Tablespoon of dough each (each dough ball should weigh about 20g). The dough may seem dry, but the warmth of your hands will allow it to come together in a ball. Roll each dough ball generously in the sprinkles. If the sprinkles are not sticking to the dough balls, the dough may be too firm. Try pouring the sprinkles onto a plate and pressing the dough balls into the sprinkles. Or continue rolling the dough balls, as the warmth from your hands can help get the sprinkles to stick. If this still isn’t helping, beat 1 teaspoon of water into the dough to help make it a bit stickier, and then try again.
- Place sprinkled dough balls on a baking sheet or plate (whatever will fit in your refrigerator). Chill them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 1 hour, cover them.
- While the cookie dough balls are chilling, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Place the chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges appear set. The cookies may look under-baked in the centers; that’s ok—do not over-bake. Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes.
- Set the Hershey’s Kisses: Press a kiss candy into the center of each, then, using a thin spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to a large plate or a few smaller plates (gently—they’re soft). Place the plate(s) of cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes to quickly set the candy in the cookie.
- Remove from the freezer and serve.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough, roll into balls, roll in sprinkles, and then chill them in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. It’s important to coat the cookie dough balls in sprinkles right after it’s been made because otherwise the sprinkles will not stick. Unbaked (and sprinkle-coated) cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
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- Peppermint Extract: Feel free to omit, or replace with almond extract, for a classic sugar cookie flavor.
- Sprinkles: I recommend using nonpareils (the tiny balls), sparkling sanding sugar, or regular jimmies-style sprinkles for coating these cookies.
- Candy Cane Hershey’s Kisses: If you cannot find candy cane-flavored Hershey’s Kisses, you can use regular chocolate Hershey’s Kisses or another flavor of your choice.
- Chocolate Version: Want to try a chocolate version? My chocolate peppermint thumbprints recipe is a great place to start. Feel free to roll in granulated sugar as that recipe says, or roll in confectioners’ sugar, or sprinkles. Follow those recipe instructions and instead of indenting the cookies for a thumbprint, bake as regular dough balls. Cool for 5 minutes, and then continue with step 7 above. You can also use these extra fudgy chocolate crinkle cookies. Cool for 5 minutes, and then continue with step 7 above.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips, and these are my 10 favorite cookie baking tools.