Description
Candy Cane Kiss Cookies are festive, buttery sugar cookies rolled in colorful nonpareil sprinkles and topped with a minty candy cane Hershey’s Kiss. Soft and tender with a burst of peppermint flavor, these cookies are perfect for holiday celebrations and cookie exchanges.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups + 1 Tablespoon (260g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 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
Toppings and Finishing
- 1/2 cup (about 90g) nonpareil sprinkles
- 32–36 candy cane flavor Hershey’s Kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- Mix Dry Ingredients: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a large bowl, use a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to beat the butter and sugar on high speed until creamy and combined, about 3 minutes.
- Add Egg and Extracts: Add the egg, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract to the butter mixture and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again if needed.
- Combine Dry and Wet: Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until fully combined. The dough will be very thick.
- Form Dough Balls and Coat with Sprinkles: Roll dough into balls, about 1 scant Tablespoon (20g) each. Roll each dough ball generously in the sprinkles. If sprinkles don’t stick, try pressing dough balls into sprinkles on a plate or add 1 teaspoon water to dough.
- Chill Dough Balls: Place the sprinkled dough balls on a baking sheet or plate and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes up to 1 day. Cover if chilling longer than 1 hour.
- Preheat and Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges appear set. Centers may look under-baked—do not over-bake.
- Cool and Set Kisses: Remove cookies from oven and cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Press a candy cane Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie. Using a thin spatula, immediately transfer cookies to a large plate or multiple smaller plates carefully. Place plates in freezer for 10 minutes to quickly set the candy.
- Serve: Remove cookies from freezer and serve. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- You can make the dough ahead, roll into balls, coat with sprinkles, and chill up to 1 day. It’s important to coat right after making dough so sprinkles stick.
- Unbaked, sprinkle-coated cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen dough balls for an extra minute without thawing.
- Baked cookies also freeze well for up to 3 months.
- If peppermint extract is unavailable, omit or replace with almond extract for a classic sugar cookie flavor.
- Recommended sprinkles include nonpareils, sparkling sanding sugar, or regular jimmies style sprinkles.
- If candy cane-flavored Kisses are unavailable, regular chocolate or another flavor can be substituted.
- For a chocolate version, try a chocolate peppermint thumbprint recipe and bake dough balls as described.
- Use a thin spatula to transfer cookies carefully as they are soft before setting with Kisses.
- Chilling the dough balls firms them for neater shaping and better cookie texture.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 130 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 70 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 1.5 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
