Cherry Chocolate Kisses

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

A few years ago I discovered that Hershey’s makes mini kisses, sold in bags in the baking aisle at the grocery … ever since then I’ve been making tiny little kiss cookies, miniature versions of the larger, more familiar kiss or ‘blossom’ cookies.

Unfortunately for me the mini kisses are hard to find in this area, so whenever I’d visit family in Ohio I’d pick up a few bags of them to bring home. Super Walmart does carry them but the nearest one is about 40 miles away.

Here is the recipe from Pillsbury, using the regular Hershey kiss candy. To make the mini cookies, finely chop the cherries and roll the dough into balls about the size of a dime; the recipe will make about 8 dozen mini cookies.


Cherry Chocolate Kisses (from Pillsbury)

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tsp. maraschino cherry liquid
½ tsp. almond extract
3-4 drops red food coloring
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt (I use much less)
½ cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
granulated sugar, about ½ cup
about 48 chocolate Hershey kisses, unwrapped

In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, cherry liquid, almond extract, and food coloring; blend well. Add flour and salt; mi well. Stir in cherries, Shape dough into 1” balls; roll in additional sugar and place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until edges of cookies are light golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately top each cookie with a candy kiss, pressing down firmly (edges of cookies may crack). Remove from cookie sheets to cool completely. Tip: chocolate will stay soft for a long time; place the cookies in the refrigerator for an hour to set the chocolate.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.