Gingerbread Kiss Cookies

If it were up to me, every dessert that I post on here would involve chocolate. Well, it is up to me, but you know what I'm sayin. I'm obsessed with anything and everything chocolate and I would not mind making everything chocolate flavored for the rest of my life. But, I realize that you all might not have the same preferences as I do and even if you do, you still might enjoy some variety. So, I've taken it upon myself to expand my palate for you guys, starting with this season's most popular flavor: gingerbread.


I think I may have had a gingerbread cookie once when I was little, but that's as far as my relationship with gingerbread goes and it's not much of a relationship since I don't remember what it tasted like. I do remember it tasted good though so I wasn't worried about not liking the flavor. I just never really made anything gingerbread so I wasn't sure where to start. I figured cookies would be a good place considering that's what everyone's been making these days.


But I didn't want them to be just regular gingerbread cookies, which kind of defeats the purpose of wanting to try new flavors since I'm mixing them with something else, but oh well! I like to be fancy and the idea of making gingerbread kiss cookies sounded pretty fancy to me when it popped up in my head. But as always, I'm late to the ball game. McCormick thought of it first!

I ain't mad at 'em though. Based on the picture, it looked like a pretty bombdotcom recipe so I just ever so slightly adapted it by decreasing the amount of molasses. By the way, molasses? Pretty smelly thing. Maybe I'm just not used to it, but it's definitely...different. And very strong. I'm not gonna lie, it kind of made me worry about how these would turn out. But in the worst case scenario, I would have my wonderful little Hershey's kiss to mask up any unfortunate taste, so I went forward with my plans.


Well, in conclusion, these are fab. And not just cause of my Hershey's kiss. I really liked the molasses flavor; it was different and it took a few cookies to get used to, but it's good! And I'm glad I decreased the amount because the flavor was pretty strong as it is and I couldn't really taste the spices. I could, however, definitely taste the gooey melted chocolate on top and it was the ultimate complement to these cookies.

Chocolate just makes everything better, case in point.

Gingerbread Kiss Cookies

Yield: 3-4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons molasses
1 egg, room temperature
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
48 Hershey Kisses chocolate candies, unwrapped

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy and well-combined. Add molasses, egg, and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

With mixer on low speed, gradually beat in dry ingredients until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Shape chilled dough into 1" balls. Then, roll balls in granulated sugar to coat. Place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately press a Hershey kiss into the center of each cookie. Cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.