Chocolate Kiss Cookies: A Dark Chocolate Holiday Classic

Chocolate Kiss Cookies

If peanut butter blossoms are a fixture on your holiday cookie tray, these chocolate kiss cookies are the dark chocolate version worth adding right next to them. Instead of a peanut butter base, each cookie starts as a soft dark chocolate cookie, gets rolled in nonpareil sprinkles, and is finished with a Hershey’s kiss pressed into the center.

They look festive, they taste rich and chocolatey, and the ingredient list is made up of everyday baking staples. This recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, which is plenty for a cookie exchange, a holiday party, or a quiet afternoon with a cup of coffee.

The dough is soft and easy to handle, and the cookies bake in about 10 minutes. If you love deep chocolate flavor, you may also enjoy these espresso chocolate chip cookies or these dark chocolate chip cookies.

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Ingredients for Chocolate Kiss Cookies

Every ingredient in this dough has a job, and a few of them are worth understanding before you start measuring.

• All purpose flour gives the cookies their structure.
• Dark cocoa powder is dark and unsweetened, and it is what gives these cookies their deep chocolate flavor and their dark color.
• Instant espresso powder enhances the chocolate flavor. It does not make the cookies taste like coffee.
• Salt brings a small amount of balance to the sweetness.
• Unsalted butter at room temperature, so it creams smoothly with the sugar.
• Granulated sugar sweetens the dough.
• Egg yolks at room temperature, for richness.
• Milk at room temperature, which adds moisture to the dough.
• Vanilla extract adds flavor.
• Holiday nonpareil sprinkles, chosen because their small size and shape give the best coverage.
• Hershey’s kiss candies, either regular milk chocolate or a mix of different flavors.

Room temperature butter, egg yolks, and milk matter here. They blend into a smooth dough instead of a lumpy one, and the cookies bake more evenly. If you keep a well stocked baking pantry, you likely already have most of what this recipe needs.

Tools & Supplies

You do not need much special equipment for this recipe. Here is what to gather before you start.

• A baking sheet pan
• Silicone baking mats or parchment paper sheets
• A stand mixer or an electric hand mixer
• Mixing bowls
• A rubber spatula
• A small cookie scoop
• A spatula
• A wire cooling rack

How to Make Chocolate Kiss Cookies

Start by preheating the oven to 350°F (177°C) and lining your baking sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Lining the pans first means the dough goes straight from the bowl to the pan with no waiting.

Next, make the dry mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, dark cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, and salt. Set the bowl aside. Whisking now saves you from having to break up cocoa clumps later.

For the dough, cream the unsalted butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer. Keep mixing until the mixture is light and creamy.

Add the egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract and mix to combine. Then add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the cookie dough comes together. Low speed keeps the flour from flying out of the bowl.

Now portion the dough. Use a small cookie scoop to measure 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. Roll the dough into a ball, then roll the ball in the holiday nonpareil sprinkles so it is well coated. Place the coated dough balls onto the prepared sheet pan, leaving space between them.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. They should look set at the edges while staying soft in the middle. The recipe card uses about 10 minutes as its guide, so start checking near the end of that range.

Watch the cookies near the end of the bake time. The edges should look set while the centers still feel soft, and the sprinkle coating should look glossy and intact. Because the dough is dark, the usual golden brown cue does not apply here, so rely on the texture at the edges rather than the color.

As soon as you pull the pan from the oven, press a Hershey’s kiss into the center of each cookie. Do this right away, while the cookies are still soft enough to hold the candy without cracking. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Press the kisses immediately after the pan comes out of the oven. Waiting even a few minutes makes the cookies firm enough that the candy will not sit as neatly.

That is the whole process. The dough comes together quickly, and the sprinkles and kisses are what turn a simple chocolate cookie into a holiday cookie tray favorite.

Recipe Tips

Roll the cookies in nonpareil sprinkles for the best coverage. Their small size and shape coat the dough more completely than larger sprinkles do, and they give the cookies that classic holiday look.

If you want a different candy topping, mini Reese’s peanut butter cups and Rolos are both great options. Regular milk chocolate kisses work well too, and mixing a few kiss flavors in one batch is an easy way to vary the tray.

For more general guidance, the source recipe also points readers to a separate post with 10 tips for baking perfect cookies.

This recipe is adapted from the original Chocolate Kiss Cookies recipe at Cake Me Home Tonight.

Ingredients

Here are the exact amounts for this recipe.

• 2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour
• 1 cup (86 g) dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups (250 g) granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup (160 g) holiday nonpareil sprinkles
• 48 Hershey’s kiss candies

The 48 Hershey’s kiss candies line up with the 4 dozen cookies this recipe yields, so every cookie gets one. Keep the sprinkles in a small bowl for rolling. Metric conversions in the source recipe card are calculated automatically and cannot be guaranteed for accuracy, so use a kitchen scale if you want the most precise result.

Let the butter, egg yolks, and milk come to room temperature before you begin, since the recipe calls for each of them that way.

Read through the list before you shop, because the dark cocoa powder and the instant espresso powder are the two ingredients people most often need to pick up.

Both are shelf stable pantry items, and both are used in small enough amounts that one container lasts through several batches of holiday baking.

Instructions

This recipe comes together in a few straightforward stages: mix, scoop, coat, bake, and top.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, dark cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream the unsalted butter and granulated sugar until light and creamy.
4. Add the egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract and mix to combine.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the cookie dough comes together.
6. Portion the cookie dough using a small cookie scoop, using 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. Roll the dough into a ball, then roll the ball in holiday nonpareil sprinkles. Place the coated dough balls onto the prepared sheet pan.
7. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes.
8. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately press a Hershey’s kiss into the center of each cookie.
9. Cool the cookies on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

A few small things make the steps easier. Line the pans before you start mixing so you are not scrambling at the end.

Roll the dough balls one at a time and coat each one fully in sprinkles, since any bare patch of dough will show once the cookies bake.

When you press the kisses in, hold each candy by the wrapper and set it straight down into the center so the chocolate stays upright as the cookie cools.

If you want the dough ready ahead of time, portion it with a cookie scoop and refrigerate the dough balls in a storage bag for up to 2 weeks, or freeze them for up to 3 months. Bring the dough balls to room temperature, roll them in nonpareil sprinkles, and bake as directed.

Notes

Store baked cookies in an airtight container or a resealable storage bag at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

Recipe details

Prep time is 20 minutes, cook time is 10 minutes, and the recipe yields 4 dozen cookies.

FAQs

Chocolate Kiss Cookies

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• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4 dozen 1x

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Description

Chocolate Kiss Cookies If peanut butter blossoms are a fixture on your holiday cookie tray, these chocolate kiss cookies are the dark chocolate version worth adding right next to them. Instead of a peanut butter base, each cookie starts as a soft dark chocolate cookie, gets rolled in nonpareil sprinkles, and is finished with a Hershey’s kiss pressed into the center.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup dark cocoa powder
1 tsp instant espresso powder
0.5 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1.25 cups granulated sugar
2 egg yolks, room temperature
0.25 cup milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup holiday nonpareil sprinkles
48 Hershey’s kiss candies

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Instructions

1-Preheat the oven to 350℉ (177℃): Preheat the oven to 350℉ (177℃). Line baking sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
2-In a medium bowl, whisk together the: In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, dark cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, and salt. Set aside.
3-In the bowl of a stand mixer: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream the unsalted butter and granulated sugar until light and creamy. Add in the egg yolks, milk, and vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the cookie dough comes together.
4-Portion the cookie dough using a small: Portion the cookie dough using a small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon). Roll the dough into a ball and then roll the ball in holiday nonpareil sprinkles. Place the cookie dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheet pan. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes.
5-Remove the pan from the oven: Remove the pan from the oven. Immediately press a Hershey’s kiss in the center of each cookie. Cool the cookies on the pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

• Prep Time: 20 min
• Cook Time: 10 min
• Method: bake

Keywords: Chocolate Kiss Cookies