photo & recipe via Recipe Girl
Forget about all those "other" Christmas cookie recipes, you only need this one! I don't even like mint flavored anything, but I can NOT stop eating these. And so far they have been a big hit with everyone! My only tip would be to take them out at 10 minutes, leaving them a bit gooey in the middle. I found the smaller the balls, the cuter the cookies; so get extra Kisses if you make them small.
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1¼ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp peppermint extract, optional (I left it out)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
Granulated sugar
Additional, unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses- about 60 (large bag)
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.
2. In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly. Stir in chopped Kisses.
3. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to kind of hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside. Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.
4. Store in a covered container at room temperature for up to a week. In the freezer they should be okay for a couple of weeks.
Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen
