Gingerbread Kiss Cookies

This is my official kick-off to holiday baking. Or rather, Christmas holiday baking. Because there’s always a holiday of some sort. I’ve made a handful of thumbprint cookies before but never a kiss or blossom cookie. I don’t really get why some people call them blossoms. Chocolate blooming from a cookie? They don’t look like flowers blooming.

Due to a fairly recent allergy diagnosis in my immediate family, making traditional peanut butter blossoms, aka kiss cookies, were out of the question. My next logical thought was Biscoff because it’s a fantastic substitution for peanut butter in just about any recipe or situation, but it just wasn’t screaming Christmas or holiday baking to me.

I had one of those light-bulb moments of o m g it needs to be gingerbread. Yes, seriously. Pillowy soft gingerbread cookies, lightly coated in sugar and topped off with a Hershey’s chocolate kiss. They’re out of this world incredible. I’m not even remotely exaggerating. Of course, you must be a huge fan of gingerbread flavored goodies… but I am, so I’m completely allowed to make that kind of statement. A-maaazing!
Make these, love these and never think about peanut butter or Biscoff again. Okay maybe that’s going too far.
*Notes: This is a very sticky dough that needs to be chilled prior to rolling. Factor in chill time when planning to make this. Also, this dough freezes well so a full batch can be mixed and only a portion cooked if desired.
Yield: Makes roughly 5 dozen cookies
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes
Gingerbread Kiss Cookies
Ingredients:
3C all purpose flour
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4C unsalted butter, softened
3/4C brown sugar
1/2C molasses
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4C granulated sugar
60 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped
Directions:
In a large bowl combine first six ingredients, set aside. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar. Add molasses, egg and vanilla, mixing until nearly combined. Mix in flour mixture, beating until fully combined.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 2-4 hours or overnight. Dough should be fairly firm but still easy to work with and roll. Remove dough 20 minutes prior to baking.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheet with silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
Shape dough into 1" balls, roll in sugar and space 2" apart on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Immediately press an unwrapped chocolate kiss into each cookie. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a covered container.
Slightly adapted from: McCormick

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Great idea! They look amazing!
Love this twist for a nut-free version, so perfect for the holidays!
Gingerbread is one of my all time fave Christmas flavors. Love the update to the classic PB blossom!
Adorable! And such a great substitution for peanut butter at the holidays. :)
LOVE this gingerbread/chocolate combo…GREAT idea!!
Gorgeous photos, girl! And these cookies look amazing.. I easily want a dozen to myself.
I love gingerbread and chocolate together
oh yum..I love this! I love soft cookies more than anything..I can’t wait to try these!
Love this! I love gingerbread so I bet the combo is great!
First, that cake plate is adorable. Second, there is no way my self-control would hold for these. I love how soft and chewy they are!
i unwrapped all my kisses last night to make cookies tonight. these kiss cookies are so addictive.
Love the idea of gingerbread ones
These look great, I’m bookmarking this!
just wanted to say i had the PLEASURE of devouring 3-4 of these at Mixed this weekend and they were AMAZING. Super soft gingerbread cookie! I loved it. And I love you. A lot. I can’t wait to see you again :) :) :)
these look fabulous! i LOVE ginger and chocolate together :)
These are so cute. I love kiss cookies. I usually end up eating all of the kisses though.
Rachel — December 3rd, 2012 @ 4:32 pm
I think all but one time I’ve bit the Kiss off before eating the cookie :)
These look delish! I must try them later.
They are so puffy and delicious looking!!
these look SO good. soooo festive!
Gingerbread is more festive than peanut butter,great idea !
What a fun combo Rachel – I love gingerbread and chocolate together! I so wish I had Hershey’s Kisses in the house right now.
Yeah and Thanks! I was looking for a different kind of kiss cookie to add on to my list! Yum!
These look so lovely! That’s the kind of gingerbread cookie that I will eat!
Yum! These sound amazing!! Thanks for sharing.
I also wanted to let you know that I featured you on my blog today
Hi! I made these last night and they turned out AMAZING! I think I love them more than the peanut butter version!
I posted about them on my blog, if that’s a problem just let me know and I will remove :)
Thanks so much for sharking this recipe!
Rachel — December 18th, 2012 @ 3:39 pm
So glad to hear you enjoyed them so much! And thank you for linking back :)
I am making the dough for these tonight for my Christmas gifts. Using this recipe as well as a few other favorites from your site.
Hey. loove the recipe, just beautiful cookies :)
I have one little problem, here in my country there’s no molases, is there any substitute for molases? maybe honey? or just skip the molases?
Pleaasee, let me know so i can bake this wonderful cookies as soon as i can :D
Rachel — December 28th, 2012 @ 3:41 pm
There are some great substitution suggestions on the Joy of Baking website: http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html Hope that helps!
These look great!! I would have loved to made them for this Holiday. On the other hand, I can happily eat gingerbread cookies all year long!