Adorably festive candy cane kiss cookies come together with a handful of basic baking ingredients. These are drop-style cookies (no rolling pin needed!) with plenty of colorful Christmas sprinkles and candy cane-flavored Hershey’s Kisses pressed in the center. They’re the nut-free, peppermint version of classic peanut butter blossoms!
. I’ve also made some changes to the recipe, which are reflected in the printable recipe below.
What’s red and white and sweet all over? Well, a puppy in a holiday sweater, obviously. But also: THESE COOKIES! Similar to these Christmas cookie sparkles, but with a peppermint twist and a candy cane kiss!
Candy Cane Version of Peanut Butter Blossoms
These “blossom”-style cookies are like a candy cane-sugar cookie version of classic peanut butter blossoms. Same easy-to-make process, but instead of peanut butter and chocolate, you get a sugar cookie and candy cane flavor combo. They’re an excellent nut-free alternative if you need one, but also, who says you can’t make both?! *whispers* You should make both.
In fact, you can leave out the peppermint extract, swap the flavor of Hershey Kiss, choose your sprinkle color, and make these sugar cookie blossoms for pretty much any holiday! Have you tried these red velvet kiss cookies, or these Valentine’s Day sparkle sweetheart cookies? All so much fun.
By the way, if you love peppermint you’ll want to try these peppermint meltaway cookies next.
Here’s Why You’ll Love Them
- Very easy to make
- Simple ingredient list
- Change flavors by omitting the peppermint extract and swapping type of Hershey’s Kiss
- Soft and chewy cookie with a little crunch from the sprinkle coating
- Sparkly, colorful, striped, and so so festive!
Grab These Ingredients:
- Butter: A sugar cookie staple! Butter adds creaminess and delicious flavor. Make sure you have proper room temperature butter before beginning.
- Sugar: We use all granulated in these sugar cookies.
- Egg: An egg binds everything together. If you’re ever looking for an egg-free holiday cookie, these snowball cookies or peppermint snowball cookies are my top choice.
- Vanilla + Peppermint Extracts: Flavor! Be sure to use peppermint extract and not mint extract. I find the latter tastes more like toothpaste, and less like dessert.
- Flour: Sturdy all-purpose flour is the base of these cookies.
- Baking Powder: So the cookies rise.
- Salt: To balance the sweetness.
- Sprinkles: The FUN part! I recommend using either nonpareils (the teeny-tiny balls) or sparkling sanding sugar for rolling these cookies. Both add a delightful crunch when you bite into the soft cookies.. If you can’t find them, you can swap them for another flavor/color.
Can I make a chocolate cookie version? Yes, absolutely! See recipe Note below.
Best Way to Make Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
I love that these are simple drop-style sugar cookies—no rolling out cookie dough like we have to do when making traditional sugar cookies.
After the dough comes together, you’re going to roll the cookies and chill them just like we do when making brown butter sugar cookies.
Roll in Sprinkles & Chill
Arrange chilled dough balls on your lined baking sheet. Add the candy cane kisses after they’re done in the oven.
Avoid Candy Cane Kiss Puddles
3 Success Tips
Candy Cane Kiss Cookies Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until fully combined. The dough will be very thick.
- Roll dough into balls, 1 scant Tablespoon of dough each (each dough ball should weigh about 20g). The dough may seem dry, but the warmth of your hands will allow it to come together in a ball. Roll each dough ball generously in the sprinkles. If the sprinkles are not sticking to the dough balls, the dough may be too firm. Try pouring the sprinkles onto a plate and pressing the dough balls into the sprinkles. Or continue rolling the dough balls, as the warmth from your hands can help get the sprinkles to stick. If this still isn’t helping, beat 1 teaspoon of water into the dough to help make it a bit stickier, and then try again.
- Place sprinkled dough balls on a baking sheet or plate (whatever will fit in your refrigerator). Chill them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 1 hour, cover them.
- While the cookie dough balls are chilling, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Place the chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges appear set. The cookies may look under-baked in the centers; that’s ok—do not over-bake. Remove cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes.
- Press a kiss candy into the center of each, then, using a thin spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to a large plate or a few smaller plates (gently—they’re soft). Place the plate(s) of cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes to quickly set the candy in the cookie.
- Remove from the freezer and serve.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
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